Red Lake Watershed District10 Year Overall Comprehensive Plan

Red Lake Watershed District

&

HDR Engineering, Inc.Thief River Falls, Minnesota

Presentor:

Corey Hanson, Water Quality Coordinator

Red Lake Watershed District

Overview of the Red Lake Watershed District- Location -

Major Subwatersheds of the RLWD

5,990 Square Miles

Land Use – 41% Agriculture

RLWD Projects

Engineering Projects• Impoundments and Dams• Ring Dikes• Ditch Inspection• Ditch Cleaning• Permit Inspection• Stream Gauging• Snow Sampling• Clearing and Snagging

RLWD Projects- Water Quality -

•Long-Term Water Quality Monitoring

–Over 30 sites

–At least 4 samples per year

–Lake and Stream Monitoring

•Special Studies

–Clearwater Lake Water Quality Model, Habitat/Bioassessment, Tile Drainage Study

•Water Quality Improvement Projects

–Erosion Control

–BMP Implementation

10-Year Plan – RLWD Concerns

• Agricultural and Urban Flooding• Water Quality• Natural Resources• Water Supply• Economy• Recreation

Elements of the Plan

• General Description of the District• Description of Water Resources • Economic Development• Historic Flood Problems• FDR/NRE Overall Watershed Goals and Objectives

– Water quantity, quality, erosion, natural resources

• Implementation Plans for each subwatershed• Annual Monitoring and Evaluation Program• Projects

Plan Process

1. Public Involvement

2. Hydrologic Model

3. Inventory and Assessment

4. Development of Long-Term Goals

5. Describe Ways of Measuring Success

6. Develop a Financial Toolbox

Public Involvement

• Identify issues – Ag & urban flooding– Water quality– Natural Resources– Water Supply– Economy– Recreation

• Consensus

Overall Advisory Group

• Citizen Advisory Committee

• Technical Advisory Committee

• Broad array of stakeholders

• Give them power to make decisions

• Give credibility to the plan and justify implementation plan

Overall Advisory Group

• Community-based assessment of problems (restoration) and opportunities (prevention)

• Citizen involvement can increase chance of success• Constituency of advocates• Demonstrate solutions that can be applied to other

communities• Citizens and stakeholders foot the bill, so they should

have input• Use RLWD website (www.redlakewatershed.org) to

share information

Defining and Ranking Issues in Subwatersheds - Example

Order Issue SeverityRanking

(1=high / 12=low)Comments

ABank stabilization and erosion (e.g. Lost River, Greenwood) - RLWD to provide report 3 d

BChannelized reach of the Clearwater River and Ruffy Brook (seeking new channel); USACE project cut 1

C Sand/sediment transport; impacts wild rice pump intakes; spring; no sampling during flooding 3 a,d

D Ditch bank sloughing and stabilization 3 a

E Sediment from commercial wild rice production 4

F New development of homes at Walker Brook Lake 2 low priority in this category

G Maple Lake and other lakes erosion of shoreline 2 g, j, t, u, v

H Ag erosion western half 4 i

I Wind erosion on beach ridges 4 h

Clearwater Subwatershed Natural Resources Enhancement Issues Ranking

Hydrologic Model

• 14 Subwatersheds modeled using GIS and HEC-1 interface (ArcView and HEC-GeoHMS)

1. Determine Sub-watershed Boundaries and Drainage Flow Directions – Raw Data came from MN-DNR

2. Terrain is then Pre-Processed to Arcview Format using Arc-GIS software.

Standard Geo-HMS Processes

Standard Geo-HMS Processes

3. A Digital Elevation Model of the study area is Created within Arcview

4. Flow Accumulation and Flow Direction Grids are generated next.

Standard Geo-HMS Processes5. Based on the DEM, Flow Acc, and Flow Direction Grids, Arcview can determine the Minor Watershed Boundaries, and the streams and channels within those watersheds.

6. Stream and Sub-basin characteristics such as length, slope, mannings value, and basin centroid, are then determined within Arcview.

Standard Geo-HMS Processes7. A sub-basin curve number, and a design Rainfall is then Applied to the watersheds. Also Tc or Time of Concentration is then calculated for each watershed. This data is then imported back into ArcView from Microsoft Excel.

8. Geo-HMS then generates a schematic, legend, and background map file for the entire study area watershed. This model is then exported from Geo-HMS to HEC-HMS. You now have a working Model.

Examples of Models

• Examples of Models

HeartsvilleCoulee

Lost River Red Lake River

LowerBadger

Burnham Creek

GrandMarais

PoplarRiver

HillRiver

Clearwater River

Beau Gerlot

MapleLake

StormLab

Example Calibration

RLWD Hydrologic Model Calibration - Clearwater River @ Plummer

0

500

1000

1500

2000

Date

Flow

s (c

fs)

HEC-GeoHMS

Clearwater River Gage

Benefits

We can now use the model to help determine the benefits of new projects.

• Ditch improvements, easements, diversions, retention, crop residue management, floodplain management, and changes in land use

Pre- and Post-Project Flood Areas

Pre-Project Flooded Area

Post-Project Flooded Area

Inventory and Assessment

• Inventory and Assessment of Water and Land Resources Related to Priority Concerns in the Watershed– GIS data layers– Information from other agencies– Natural Resources Assessment

Natural Resources Assessment

• Use GIS to develop base resource maps

• Consult NR professionals to refine maps and develop goals, objectives, strategies,and priorities for each subwatershed

• Present products to committees

Natural Resources Assessment• Existing Resource Analysis

– Large habitat blocks, quality habitats, sensitive species, public/conservation lands, wildlife concentration lands

• Restorable Resources– Farmed wetlands, partially drained wetlands, unstable

waterways, water quality improvement areas, potential sediment yield

• Priority Natural Resource Areas– CRP and RIM lands, large private parcels, watershed

management initiatives, infrastructure, most productive agricultural land

Natural Resources Assessment

Natural Resources Assessment

Development of Long-Term Goals

• 10-yr implementation strategy

• Address priority concerns

• Tangible outcomes are keys to success of plan

• Workshops with committees for water quantity, water quality, erosion, and natural resources

Setting Flood Prevention/Protection Goals

• Vision Statement– We envision a reduction in flood damages with active

cooperation and education of constituents and public partners

• Goals– Reduce peak flows by 10% – Reduce runoff volume contributing to peak flows by

30,000 ac-ft– Identify special projects to implement– Education– Floodplain management programs

Early, Middle, Late Concept

• Early– Moves ahead of major flood flows– Increase speed of removal to reduce peak flows

• Middle– Typically coincides with flood peak – Slow down to reduce flood peaks downstream

• Late– After the major flood flows– Slow down to reduce downstream peak flood flows

Early, Middle, Late Concept

Describe Ways of Measuring the Project’s Success

• Specify levels of flood protection– I.E. Ag protection for a 10-yr 24 hr storm

• Water quality improvements

• Habitat Improvements– Acres of buffer strips, acre-feet of water, acres

of habitat

Develop A Financial Toolbox

• Projects benefit multiple groups – multiple sources of funds

• Identification of funding partners

• Review levy funding mechanisms

• Water can be controversial• Planning process should be consistent over subwatersheds,

even though subwatersheds have different goals• Try to return natural functions to the landscape where practical• Think long-term with low-maintenance solutions• Develop broad based understanding of the complicated nature

of water management• Recognize past solutions that worked and did not work for

meeting goals• Utilize existing studies and reports when setting goals• Create a set of goals for each subwatershed

www.redlakewatershed.org

Points to Consider END THE