In 2009 Federal, State, and Local partners began working together to inventory the health of lakes and streams in the Mississippi River (St. Cloud) Watershed; over 85% of Sherburne County is within this watershed. After identifying which waters were healthy and which were “ill” the watershed partners put their collective brain powers together to identify strategies to keep healthy water healthy and restore unhealthy waters.
Unfortunately, it would be nearly impossible to find the money to restore and protect all of the waters in Sherburne County let alone the entire Mississippi River (St. Could) watershed. As such, each water management unit within the watershed is using local criteria to prioritize which waters should be the focus of grant work will be over the next 10 years. Criteria for water within Sherburne County include: waters at the top of a drainage area, waters with a relatively small watershed, areas with active and willing participants (those people who will [are] voluntarily adopt practices to reduce pollution), waters were studies have been completed in the past and waters were a significant amount of time and funds have already been spent, waters where short-term progress is likely to be measured.
A watershed wide plan, which will identify the priorities, will be complete this spring. If you would like to find out what the health status and priority of your favorite fishing hole is, or you want to let us know why you feel your water should be priority over another you can do one of the following: 1) call or email Tiffany Determan (tdeterman@sherburneswcd.org), 2) post your input on the Mississippi River (St. Cloud) Facebook page, 3) attend a watershed public event; we are in the process of planning this event, watch the media for further details.
