Soil & Water Conservation District Guidebook 2008 - Minnesota ...

This Feedlot Water Quality project was completed in 2007. The
FLEVAL rating was 70, and the SWCD allocated $46,000 for
the project. The receiving water is the Platte River, which is
just beyond the feedlot, and there was a wetland basin in the
feedlot that had to be addressed.
Many feedlots have been upgraded by
the SWCD through Feedlot Water Quality Grants from BWSR,
and the SWCD has continued to submit applications with high
pollution ratings in riparian areas. However, the ability to clean
up some very problematic sites on other rivers will be reduced,
because new rules require those funds to be used only in TMDL
watersheds. The Little Rock Lake watershed is the only TMDL in
the county. Most of the feedlot problems in that watershed were
dealt with using Challenge Grant money over the past 10 years.
This change of direction for the FWQ funding is going to affect
the SWCD’s ability to address the Open Lot Agreement producers.
Work began in the Swan River Watershed
with the 319 grant that the Morrison SWCD received from
the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Several hundred
letters were sent to residents in the watershed in Morrison
and Todd Counties to solicit projects and to announce funding
available to assist with erosion control and nutrient management
planning. The Swan River was formerly listed as a
TMDL but de-listed due to the efforts of the SWCD in assisting
feedlot producers with their pollution problems. There is
still an interest in reducing the amount of phosphorus in the
watershed, mainly due to the vast number of poultry producers
spreading their manure on too few acres. Landowners
are coming forward at this time and both Todd and Morrison
SWCD technicians are developing plans for producers.
Top 5 Natural Resource Concerns
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Morrison Soil & Water Conservation District
The Army Compatible Use Buffer
(ACUB) program has been a successful conservation easement
program of the SWCDs in Morrison, Cass and Crow
Wing counties near Camp Ripley. Camp Ripley is one of the
few remaining soldier-readiness training sites in the country,
and the U.S. Department of Defense is attempting to secure
the 3-mile radius around it from further encroachment of
residential development. The three SWCDs stepped up to the
plate to convey the easements using the Reinvest In Minnesota
(RIM) Reserve profi le. The work in Minnesota is being
profi led across the country as a model for other ACUB sites.
SWCD staff are an integral part of the
county’s comprehensive land-use planning and the re-writing
of county ordinances. SWCD staff provided feedback
based on their work with feedlot producers to the county
that has driven several changes in the permitting process.
The SWCD’s recognition of environmental concerns on
shoreland use permits has also been well received.
Wetland Conservation Act administration
has required an increasing amount of SWCD staff time.
Morrison had 65 violations in 2006 and 40 to date for
2007. The SWCD resolved all of the 2006 with Restoration
Orders and did not have any appeals. This year, Morrison
has had two appeals to BWSR on the Restoration Orders,
which has required enormous time and staffi ng to resolve.
Reducing ag run-off
Protecting wetlands
Protecting surface waters
Nutrient management planning
Protecting ag land
Future Projects
The Swan River 319 grant will be completed in the next
3 years. An inventory of the tributaries is being conducted
in 2007-2008, and that should locate erosion-control needs
within the watershed. Several landowners have enrolled
for nutrient management planning and are working with
SWCD staff, NRCS specialists, and private consultants
to begin a better job of applying their manure with proper
calibrations of their spreaders and the use of soil testing.
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