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Dahl works with landowners to clean up watershed Tuesday, March 23, 2004
Agri News staff writer
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Linda Dahl's job is to work with landowners and community members to clean up the Whitewater Watershed.
Dahl is project coordinator for the Whitewater Watershed Project, a joint powers board established in 1989.
The project's goals were detailed in the early 1990s when residents gathered to adopt a mission and set actions and objectives, Dahl said. Those goals continue to be the guiding force for the watershed project as it enters its second decade.
The goals encompass a broad range of topics, including: soil erosion, nutrient management, education, surface and ground water, forestry, stream bank erosion, biological diversity, farmland protection and diversification, and urban areas infrastructure development.
The Whitewater Watershed Project works to address those issues in Olmsted, Winona and Wabasha counties, the three counties that lie in the 205,000-acre watershed.
The main focus is working with landowners to install conservation on the land, in hopes of improving water quality in the river. Landowners in the Whitewater Watershed can qualify for cost-share above and beyond what landowners in other watersheds receive. Cost-share dollars are provided by the federal government through Public Law 566.
"I think the more tools that are available, the more opportunity of meeting (water quality goals)," Dahl said.
About 8,700 acres in the watershed are under contract through PL566, Dahl said. The contracts vary in length from three years to 10 years, depending on what the landowner needs to do to address soil and water quality concerns.
Dahl said the Whitewater Watershed Project wants to fix problems on as many acres as possible. The project has goals of enrolling 168 acres in grassed waterways, installing 6 miles of terraces and completing nutrient management plans for 30,000 acres. Some projects, such as manure structures, don't qualify for PL566 funding, but Dahl can still help farmers through other programs.
"We all work together," she said.
The Whitewater Watershed Project is funded on an annual basis, so Dahl said it's best to act now.
"This isn't going to be here forever," she said. "It's a good time if people have a need to at least look into it."
The Whitewater Watershed Project is governed by a six-member board. Each county has one county commissioner and one at-large member on the governing panel. Dahl is the only employee.
She's responsible for preparing for board activities, grant writing and seeing grants through to completion. She's also involved in educational activities.
One educational activity she's working on is a storm drain stenciling project in St. Charles. She's also involved with citizen volunteer stream monitoring in the Whitewater.
There are 13 volunteers who monitor the Whitewater, Dahl said. Some monitor at bridge accesses. Others monitor the river on their land. Ideally, volunteers monitor the river weekly to look for clarity and chart temperature and recent precipitation, she said. The watershed project also asks that volunteers monitor the river daily after at least one storm event.
The data is compiled and shared with the public as an educational tool, Dahl said. |
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