Contact: Celi Haga
651-215-9008 (Office)
St. Paul, Minn. —The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) is charged with overseeing program implementation of the buffer law. The agency is seeking public comment on key policies that will be used for implementation of the program on public waters and public drainage systems.
The preliminary policies are available for review on the BWSR Buffer Program website: http://bwsr.state.mn.us/buffers/.
BWSR is looking for feedback on topics related to:
Comments from stakeholders and the public are an important part of the process, and will be considered as these policies are finalized. The BWSR Board will decide on final policies at its August 2016 Board meeting.
Information and comments on these preliminary buffer policies will be accepted until 4:30 p.m. on July 27, 2016. Comments may be submitted via email to buffers.bwsr@state.mn.us or via U.S. mail to David Weirens, Asst. Director for Programs and Policy, BWSR, 520 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155.
Contact: Celi Haga
651-215-9008 (Office)
St. Paul, Minn. – While the high waters from the heavy 2014 rains have receded, counties continue to recover from the damage left in their wake. Today the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) announced $3 million in grants as part of a third phase of flood relief funding. Fifteen counties will use the funds to implement conservation practices where human safety and health is a concern and to address erosion and water quality problems associated with imminent threats to private or public improvements.
“Our local government partners have done great work to determine the best practices to address water quality, health, and safety issues,” explained John Jaschke, BWSR Executive Director. “If there are wells at risk of contamination or roads in danger of washing out because of flooding, these funds will enable counties to take action and address those issues.”
The 15 local governments are: Brown Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), Carver SWCD, Lake of the Woods SWCD, Le Sueur SWCD, Martin SWCD, Nicollet SWCD, Redwood SWCD, Rice SWCD, Rock SWCD, Roseau County, Scott SWCD, Steele SWCD, Warroad River Watershed District, Watonwan SWCD, and Wright SWCD. BWSR anticipates that a second round of allocations in this phase will occur mid-summer. Those allocations will focus on projects that repair, rehabilitate, or replace existing conservation practices on private lands.
These funds are in addition to $7.8 million awarded in the two previous phases of flood relief funding.
For more information on BWSR’s Disaster Relief Assistance Program and a list of counties that received BWSR flood recovery grants in this phase, please visit: www.bwsr.state.mn.us.
Contact: Celi Haga
651-215-9008 (Office)
St. Paul, Minn. —Wrapping up a successful, almost two-year pilot period, the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources’ (BWSR) One Watershed, One Plan program begins the next phase of roll-out this week. The program aligns major watershed boundaries with prioritized, targeted, and measurable watershed plans that are developed and implemented locally.
“The One Watershed, One Plan program is a holistic and coordinated approach to addressing water quality improvements,” BWSR Executive Director John Jaschke said. “The pilot phase has shown that a broad range of stakeholders, including local governments, state agencies, and community members, can come together as true partners and make this planning process work. It’s a more efficient use of resources for local governments that is also good news for our state’s waters.”
Planning assistance available
At its March meeting, the BWSR Board approved the program’s plan content and procedures, which will be used by local governments around the state as they move toward this new approach to water management. As a result, up to $1.5 million in Clean Water Funds is now available for planning grants. These grants are used to support the work of eligible local governments to use a systematic, science-based approach to watershed management to develop plans that provide the greatest environmental benefits to each watershed. The deadline for submittal of grant applications is June 17th, 2016.
Statewide Transition
With a goal set by the Legislature of full statewide transition to One Watershed, One Plan by 2025, BWSR has developed a transition plan to provide guidance to local governments as they begin program work. That plan is now available for public review and comment on the BWSR website: www.bwsr.state.mn.us. Feedback should be submitted by May 4th, 2016.
Program background
Minnesota has a long history of water management by local government. One Watershed, One Plan is rooted in that history and in work initiated by the Local Government Water Roundtable (Association of Minnesota Counties, Minnesota Association of Watershed Districts, and Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts) in 2011 which recommended that the local governments charged with water management responsibility should organize and develop focused implementation plans on a watershed scale. That recommendation was followed by the legislation that would become One Watershed, One Plan, signed into law by Governor Dayton in 2015.
Five pilots were awarded grant funding in 2014:
For more information
More information about the program, including its guiding principles, operating procedures, the Transition Plan and the program’s boundary map can be found at the One Watershed, One Plan website: http://www.bwsr.state.mn.us/planning/1W1P/index.html. The Request for Proposals for planning grants can be found at http://www.bwsr.state.mn.us/grants/apply/index.html.