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

DURING CONSTRUCTION ONE YEAR AFTER PLANTING
Pictured: Washington Conservation District staff designed,
supervised construction, and even helped with the installation
of four rain gardens on the Washington County Fairgrounds.
from stormwater runoff and illicit discharges by educating
citizens, municipal staff and offi cials, developers and
businesses.
The WCD water monitoring program
is one of the largest local government monitoring programs in
Minnesota. Current activities include monitoring 37 stream,
stormwater discharge, and/or water quality sampling sites,
55 lake water quality monitoring sites, over 100 lake gauges
for monitoring lake elevation, and four infi ltration monitoring
sites. Yearly summary reports allow partner organizations
to make sound water resource decisions. Monitoring budgets
and plans may be modifi ed on a yearly basis to address
changes in resource priorities and water quality concerns.
The WCD’s Wetland Specialist provides
Future Projects
Washington Conservation District
technical assistance to many local units of government
on issues related to wetlands. Of the nearly 30 local units
of government in Washington County that have authority
for administering the Wetland Conservation Act (WCA),
six have their own staff dedicated to WCA. The others
rely on the WCD Wetland Specialist. Considering the
documented impacts, approved mitigation plans and nonregulatory
wetland restoration since 1996, Washington
County has achieved no-net-loss of wetlands.
The Minnesota Land Cover Classifi cation
System (MLCCS) is a method of GIS land cover mapping
that describes what is on the ground based on the type of
vegetation and the amount of impervious surface. WCD has
collaborated with public agencies and private fi rms since
2004 to obtain countywide coverage, including an update
that was completed in 2007. WCD is working with several
communities that will use the MLCCS data for natural
resource decision-making and comprehensive planning.
Afton-Lakeland Gully – WCD staff, working with
the Middle St. Croix Water Management Organization,
obtained $8,500 in engineering design funds from the
AMSWCD NPEA Program and a $75,000 BWSR
Challenge Grant to stabilize an actively eroding gully.
The proposed project includes increasing upstream
water capacity and stabilizing the side slopes and
bottom of the gully.
Impaired Biota TMDL – Brown’s Creek is the fi rst
stream solely within Washington County to have
a TMDL performed. The work is being done in
cooperation with the Brown’s Creek Watershed District,
WCD, Emmons and Olivier Resources, Minnesota
Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Department of
Natural Resources, and the University of Minnesota.
The TMDL will address a lack of macroinvertebrate
population and diversity as well as the lack of a
coldwater fi sh assemblage within a designated trout
stream. The project has been broken into multiple phases
to address particular sections within the TMDL process.
Phase 1 of the study is complete and included monitoring
and stressor identifi cation on the creek. The remaining
phase(s) will address determining load allocations and
implementation to meet water quality standards.
175