The return of redhorse species to a stretch of the Sand Hill River in Polk County reflects improving trends that could lead to removal from the state’s impaired waters list.
A $55-an-acre payment – available through a cover crop demonstration grant the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources awarded to the Faribault County Soil and Water Conservation District – offset the risk of trying something new.
The goal of the Brainerd-area based training was to present an overview of engineering practices and how they function, where to best implement them, and what skills are needed to plan them.
Native plants and grasses buffering the remeandered creek will create a swath of wildlife habitat stretching from the Rothsay area to the Red River near Kent.
The Big Stone Soil and Water Conservation District’s Clean Water Fund-backed work with farmers to curb field erosion will save topsoil while it reduces sediment and phosphorus loading to Five Mile Creek, which feeds Marsh Lake and the Minnesota River in far-western Minnesota.