Pope SWCD Board

Tom Talle

Chairman

Keith Nygaard

Vice Chair

Randy Pederson

Secretary

Mike Billehus

Treasurer

D. Gary Reents

Public Relations

SWCD Staff

Holly Kovarik

District Manager

Kelly Erickson

District Technician

Jessica Oldakowski

Technician

Nicole Zmmmerman

Technician

NRCS Staff

Jeff Hellermann

District Conservationist

Melissa Behrens

Soil Conservation Technician

Kasey Wiechmann

Office Assistant

Pope County Ag Inspector

Barry Bouwman

(320) 634-7793Office

(320) 424-0194 Cell

Pope SWCD/NRCS Office

1680 Franklin Street N

Glenwood, MN 56334

(320) 634-5327

www.popeswcd.org

NORTH FORK OF THE CROW 1 WATERSHED 1 PLAN EFFORT IN PROGRESS

Pope SWCD has been working with watershed partners and other agencies on a pilot project with the state to develop a watershed based water plan that will prioritize projects and programs to reach beyond just our own County boundary. This process has just begun and will take about one more year to complete. Every County in the state of Minnesota is required to have a County Water Plan. This is the guiding document that we use to prioritize projects, funding, and assistance to improve our natural resources and working lands. This also aids in our ability to secure financial and technical assistance for private landowner projects. More information will be provided as this process progresses.

2015 ANNUAL REPORT & UPDATES

POPE SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

BUFFERS-NEW LEGISLATION PUTS SWCD’S AT THE FOREFRONT OF IMPLEMENTATION

Pope SWCD has been working closely with landowners in 2015. The entire County has been reviewed by staff using GIS. Landowners that have shoreland classification according to the Pope County Land Use Ordinance were notified this winter. There were 150 notices sent out to landowners. The Pope County Ordinance was adopted in the 1990’s and therefore a 50 foot vegetated buffer has been required since that time on certain streams, ditches, and lakes. Please give Jessica a call to sit down and visit about your property if you received a letter. Staff is waiting for additional guidance from the state on other areas identified where the shoreland ordinance does not apply. An alternative practice list will also be available for landowners sometime later this year. As soon as this information is available we will be contacting and sharing with landowners. The biggest clarification has been that private ditches entering into a public drainage system are not included for this buffer initiative at this time. Even though we are waiting for additional details from the DNR and the official map, staff are available to discuss your situation and potential options. The deadlines will come fast and SWCD staff wants to ensure that you have adequate time and info to implement to meet these new requirements. Pope SWCD has created a new buffer fact sheet which can be accessed online at www.popeswcd.org or at our office.

Pope County and the Pope SWCD have participated in the Bonanza Valley Ground Water Management Area as part of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources current project to analyze 3 pilot areas in the state that have sensitive groundwater features. The initiative began almost a year ago and will continue through most of 2016 according to the current schedule. The purpose of this initiative is to analyze water appropriation impacts and the Department of Natural Resources permitting process. The Pope SWCD role is as an advisory member to the process and staff has been providing feedback on any sort of impacts this may create for water appropriation permit holders in Pope County. Several local landowners who are water appropriation users have also been a part of these important discussions to ensure water sustainability in our groundwater aquifers. The DNR has finished the draft report which can be found at the link below. For more information visit this website at: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/gwmp/area-bv.html. The Pope SWCD monitors 23 observation wells annually for the DNR.

The MAWQCP is a voluntary program and an opportunity for landowners to take the lead in implementing conservation practices to improve water quality. Those who implement and maintain approved farm management practices will be certified and in turn obtain regulatory certainty for a period of 10 years. Certified farmers are deemed in compliance with any new water quality rules or laws during the period of certification. Farmers interested in becoming certified also receive priority status for technical and financial assistance for implementation of additional practices.

Pope SWCD staff has begun to reach out to producers regarding this new program. There was 1 operation certified in 2015 and 2 applications signed. For more information on how to become certified in the Minnesota Ag Water Quality Certification Program visit www.mda.state.mn.us/awqcp or contact our office at (320) 634-5327.

Pope SWCD is the local government unit that was delegated with the responsibility for implementing the Wetland Conservation Act in Pope County. There were over 75 contacts made in 2015 on various requests including wetland mitigation, site reviews, violations, plat reviews, restoration orders, training, and general implementation of the Wetland Conservation Act. This is funded by the State and the County provided match in 2015 for the implementation of this program.

Three Wetland Reserve Program (WRP)/Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) projects were completed in 2015 for a total of 46 acres. Pope SWCD administers the RIM program for the state portion of the program and the Natural Resources Conservation Service administers the federal WRP portion. They do this in partnership with Ducks Unlimited. This year’s work included inspections of 100 easements, paperwork for conservation plan updates, encumbrance for funding requests, and processing payments. Pope County SWCD has about 200 easements that they oversee with private landowners. These projects remain in perpetuity for improving water quality and quantity and provide habitat for wildlife. They remain as private property.

BONANZA VALLEY GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT

AREA

MINNESOTA AG WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

WETLAND CONSERVATION ACT

WETLANDS RESERVE PROGRAM/REINVEST

IN MINNESOTA

Dorrich Dairy was the first certified farm in Pope County.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION Pope SWCD receives funding from a variety of sources for programs and project implementation. The SWCD is not a taxing authority and depends on funding support from the County and other

partners. The Pope SWCD works very closely with Federal partners to leverage and provide additional technical assistance for Pope County landowners. The Pope SWCD receives funding from Pope County in the amount of $77,100 which supports staff costs for all programs and $15,000 of this amount is used specifically to implement the Wetland Conservation Act. This financial information represents all funding including cost share to landowners. Most of the funding from federal sources

and state sources are for landowner projects.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Federal  State  County  Local 

BWSR Minnewaska Phase II     $          56,509        

BWSR City of Glenwood AIG     $          10,313        

MN Ag Water Quality Cer fica on     $            1,800        

MDA Targeted Township     $          14,735        

MPCA CWP     $          32,320        

MDA Rosholt     $          71,016        

DNR Aqua c Habitat     $            5,377        

BWSR Farmbill     $          43,530        

BWSR AIG Minnewaska     $            3,035        

BWSR AIG Emily     $          34,342        

BWSR CWF Sub‐Watershed Minnewaska     $        113,667        

Minnesota Conserva on Corps     $          10,000        

BWSR Conserva on Delivery     $          18,592        

BWSR Wetland Conserva on Act     $          15,581        

BWSR Water Plan     $            8,217        

BWSR Easement Delivery     $          11,003        

DNR Observa on Well     $            4,200        

BWSR CWMA     $          12,326        

BWSR State Cost Share     $                   ‐          

Reinvest in Minnesota     $          48,752        

County Alloca on        $          62,100     

County WCA Match        $          15,000     

NRCS EQIP  $          520,000           

NRCS CSP  $          632,700           

NRCS WRP  $          222,940           

NRCS CRP  $       2,296,634           

Local           $  136,208  

$26

$1

LEVERAGING STATE AND FEDERAL FUNDING

County Federal/State/Local

January 2015 Page 5

2015 PROJECTS COMPLETED

Other Program Accomplishments Water Quality Certified Farms 1 Water Quality Certified Farm Applications 2 DNR Observation Wells 23

2014 ANNUAL REPORT Page 6

Farmbill Update

The Pope SWCD staff works closely on Farm Bill programs including Conservation Reserve Program and Continuous Conservation Reserve Program. A staff person is funded by a grant to complete this work including landowner contacts, site visits, and conservation plans to enroll into these private lands conservation programs.

In 2015, there were 2,012.5 staff hours committed to this work through the SWCD. There were over 268 initial contacts which resulted in the following enrollment acres:

1,421.72 acres enrolled; 110 contracts completed

9 Contracts Wetlands; 153.21 acres

8 Contracts Filter Strips; 33.39 acres

27 Contracts Riparian Buffers; 183.13 acres

Contract Continuous CRP Buffers; 218.5 acres

60 Contract Continuous CCRP; 521.99 acres

EDUCATION The Pope and Stevens County Water fest and Conservation Days were held reaching approximately 600 5th and 6th grade students. Participated in Glacial Hills educational day with about 70 students teaching edible aquifers. The annual poster contest was completed in 3 schools reaching 150 students. Materials were sent to 20 area churches for Stewardship week. Rosholt Field Day was held in August with over 100 landowners and agency partners attending. Held a Nitrate Water Testing Clinic at the fair. A Conservation Tour and meeting was held in June with over 60 participants that shared conservation projects and programs implemented.

Pope SWCD participated in booths for the Pope County Fair and Community Expo and presented at serval events throughout the year. SALES PROGRAM UPDATES

POPE SWCD HOSTED CONSERVATION CORPS

INTERN

2015 

Rain Barrels (#)  4 

Grass Seed purchased (acres)  2,100 

Bulk Weed Fabric (feet)  34,993 

Tree Products (#)  595 

Trees and Shrubs (#)  19,189 

Irriga on Management  16 

Drill Rental by landowner (acres)  992 

Packer Rental (acres)  298 

Crimper Rental  2 

Tree plan ng (# of trees)  6,525 

Installing Weed Barrier Fabric (feet)  34,242 

Mowing (acres)  87 

Grass Seeding custom by SWCD (acres)  193 

Other Services (acres)  379 

Joe Ayres-Johnson was the Conservation Corps intern in 2015. Pope SWCD applied for a grant to be able to have

an intern in their office from late May to mid August 2015. Pope SWCD has been fortunate for the past 5 years

to have this additional assistance in implementing conservation.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

In 2013, Pope Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) received a grant through the Board of Water and Soil Resources to prioritize projects and target implementation efforts using a GIS-based water quality analysis. The SWCD retained Houston Engineering, Inc (HEI) to perform the terrain analysis for the larger project. Initial work was completed by Peter Meade of Becker SWCD and Pope SWCD staff. The project identified areas contributing relatively high amounts of sediment and nutrients downstream to Lake Minnewaska, Lake Malmedahl, Lake Pelican, and Lake Strandness which are all impaired waters and part of a study recently completed. The study identified these lakes as not meeting the state’s water quality standards. The project identified locations for potential projects based on the landscape, land use, and pollution loading data. This information has informed the Pope SWCD, NRCS, and other partners as to the areas with the highest priority for implementing projects that will have the highest economic benefit for the funding received in the grant. The Pope SWCD and NRCS staff began to build relationships with producers in these sub watershed areas to complete projects in a treatment chain for the most impact to the downstream impaired water. Projects have been identified and are being designed for installation in 2014 and 2015.

PRACTICE:

TERRAIN ANALYSIS YEAR COMPLETED:

2015 BENEFITS:

PRIORITIZATION TARGETING PROJECTS MEASUREMENT OF ECONOMIC IMPACT TOOL TO IMPLEMENT COUNTY WATER PLANNING PARTNERS:

POPE SWCD POPE COUNTY HOUSTON ENGINEERING NRCS PROJECT COST:

$35,000 BWSR CLEAN WATER FUNDS 25% MATCH REQUIRED WATERSHED:

CHIPPEWA RIVER

MINNEWASKA, PELICAN

SUBWATERSHEDS

PROJECT

STREAM POWER INDEX TOOL

Image credits: Houston Engineering

LAKE EMILY SUBWATERSHEDS

TERRAIN ANALYSIS PROJECT

STREAM POWER INDEX TOOL

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

In 2015, Pope Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) received a grant through the Board of Water and Soil Resources to prioritize projects and target implementation efforts using a GIS-based water quality analysis. The SWCD retained Houston Engineering, Inc (HEI) to perform the terrain analysis for the larger project. The project identified areas contributing relatively high amounts of sediment and nutrients downstream to Lake Emily which is an impaired water and part of a study recently completed. The study identified these lakes as not meeting the state’s water quality standards. The project identified locations for potential projects based on the landscape, land use, and pollution loading data. This information has informed the Pope SWCD, NRCS, and other partners as to the areas with the highest priority for implementing projects that will have the highest economic benefit for the funding received in the grant. The Pope SWCD and NRCS staff began to build relationships with producers in these sub watershed areas to complete projects in a treatment chain for the most impact to the downstream impaired water. Projects have been identified and are being designed for installation in 2016 and grant funding has been secured to implement these projects.

PRACTICE:

TERRAIN ANALYSIS OF 132 ACRES

YEAR COMPLETED:

2015

BENEFITS:

PRIORITIZATION TARGETING PROJECTS MEASUREMENT OF ECONOMIC IMPACT TOOL TO IMPLEMENT COUNTY WATER PLANNING IMPLEMENTATION OF BMPS

PARTNERS:

POPE SWCD POPE COUNTY HOUSTON ENGINEERING NRCS

PROJECT COST:

$38,158 BWSR CLEAN WATER FUNDS 25% MATCH REQUIRED

WATERSHED:

CHIPPEWA RIVER

Image credits: Houston Engineering

Page 9

DOMESTIC WELL NITRATE TESTING PROGRAM

Pope SWCD worked with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to test domestic wells in targeted townships as shown on the map to the left. These Townships will

include: Leven, Westport, Glenwood, Grove Lake, Bangor, and Lake Johanna.

The quality of drinking water is important for every well owner. Nitrate is one of the most common ground water contaminants found in rural areas. Drinking water with

high nitrate concentrations can cause serious health effects in infants and the presence of nitrates may be an indicate of other contaminants in water.

Wells in these townships may be at risk to nitrate contamination due to the type of geology and depth to groundwater . We coordinated with homeowners in these

targeted townships to offer a free nitrate testing for their wells. A letter and testing kit was sent in the fall of 2015 to landowners affected. The information provided by the testing will help these families and provide valuable information on the presence

of nitrates in drinking water. We are waiting on the final report. Over 900 letters were sent to landowners in these townships. We had about a 30% return rate of the kits that were sent. If you have questions please call our office and ask for Holly.

Cooperative Weed Management Program 2015 Annual Update

Invasive weeds are a problem everywhere and have negative affects to the area they invade upon. Invasive plants will have affects on reducing crop yields, reducing native vegetation populations, and some species can disturb the soil. It is important to understand the best management methods available. The Pope Cooperative Weed Management Area (CWMA) is working to address the invasive species problems in agriculture areas and native prairies in the county. The CWMA has been working on many goals over the past 7+ years such as educating the public, controlling species with chemical and biological methods, and scouting sites for present and future treatments. There have been many accomplishments over the years and there is a noticeable improvement in the county from the work of the program. Locations of treatment areas and known infested locations are shown on the map to the right. In the future we hope to keep up the program, further educate the public, and help other counties improve their programs.

The main invasive species we focused on are:

Wild Parsnip (8 Sites) Leafy Spurge (3 Sites) Common Tansy (2 Site) Spotted Knapweed (4 Sites) Plumeless Thistle (1 Site)

If you want to learn more about the CWMA program visit the website at www.weedwatchers.org.

One shoreline restoration project was completed in 2015 on Lake Minnewaska. The projects were funded through the Pope SWCD with a DNR

Shoreline grant.

The SWCD plans to implement more restorations in

2015-2016.

1680 Franklin St North

Glenwood, MN 56334

IN THIS ISSUE IMPORTANT DATES

Board Meetings are held the third Tuesday of each month at 7am.

The public is welcome to join us.

Pope SWCD and USDA prohibits discrimination in all their programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex (including gender identity and expression), marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, political beliefs, genetic information, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s income is derived from any

public assistance program.

March 17 SWCD Board Meeting

April 21 SWCD Board Meeting

May 17 SWCD Board Meeting

June 21 SWCD Board Meeting

Page 1: 1 Watershed 1 Plan, Buffers

Page 2: Bonanza Valley Groundwater , Wetlands, WRP/RIM, MAWQCP

Page 3: Financial Information

Page 4: Financial Information

Page 5: 2015 Project Repor t

Page 6: Farmbill, Sales Program, Education Program, Intern

Page 7: Minnewaska and Pelican subwatershed Water Quality Decision Suppor t App

Page 8: Emily subwatershed Water Quality Decision Support App

Page 9: CWMA, MDA Nitrate Testing, Shoreline Restoration Program

SWCD BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Randy Pederson, Mike Billehus, Tom Talle, D.Gary Reents, and Keith

Nygaard

Check out our revised website at www.popeswcd.org!