Comfort Lake Forest Lake Watershed District : Education & Outreach

Education & Outreach

The purpose of the education and outreach program is to effectively communicate the activities of the Comfort Lake - Forest Lake Watershed District (CLFLWD) to Stakeholders as well as increase the awareness of the Stakeholders as to water resource issues and their roles in improving the quality of our water resources.

Gregg Thompson, a Landscape Restoration Specialist with the Association of Metropolitan Soil and Water Conservation Districts, gives a presentation at a CLFLWD hosted workshop on how shoreland owners can create plantings and gardens that look beautiful, stabilize their lakeshore and work to keep water clean.

Presentations to Cities, Townships and County officials, the preparation of newsletters, fact sheets and flyers, and conducting tours of CLFLWD activities are important aspects of the education and outreach program.

Projects

Modeling

Watershed-wide hydrologic and hydraulic model (floodplain delineation). The models provide a technical tool that will be used to evaluate regional projects for flood control and in association with our current water quality modeling effort will allow Board to proactively plan for the future (completed 2005).

Watershed-wide water quality model and design services project. The project determined load allocations to our water resources and developed a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP)(through the evaluation and design of projects) centered around addressing needed projects in order to either improve our maintain the quality of our water resources. The modeling efforts and resulting CIP are designed to meet or exceed the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements for all major lakes in the watershed. The resulting report "Watershed and Lake Water Quality Modeling Investigation for the Development of a Capital Improvement Plan," was completed in December 2007.

Studies

Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). There are currently five lakes within CLFLWD which are listed as impaired by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) due to excessive nutrients [Bone, Comfort, Moody, School and Shields lakes]. Because of their listing, TMDL studies/plans are to be completed on the lakes. Furthermore, already available data reveal that a few more lakes within the District will be listed as impaired as soon as the data are analyzed by MPCA. For this reason, the CLFLWD recently submitted a TMDL work plan application to the MPCA for Clean Water Legacy funding to undertake a multi-lake TMDL. The recently completed water quality (load allocation) model will provide the majority the needed information to complete the TMDLs, therefore reducing the effort and monies needed to complete the task. The District's TMDL work plan was recently approved and funded by the MPCA and a contract MPCA signed in December 2007. Therefore the CLFLWD will be undertaking the TMDL studies on its impaired lakes in 2008 and 2009. An approved TMDL will expand funding opportunities to remediate the impairments.

Rules Development

Rules and Regulations. In order to fulfill requirements mandated by the State, as well a provide guidance to local communities, the CLFLWD recently completed its proposed rules and regulations (September 2008). The draft rules focus on upholding the integrity of the goals and objectives listed in the CLFLWD Watershed Management Plan.

The CLFLWD will use the Citizen Advisory Committee and Technical Advisory Committee, to review and comment on the draft rules. Local community representation will be an important component to the Technical Advisory Committee, in order to get "buy in" and form a strong partnership with our local communities. It is this strong partnership which will ultimately provide the best protection for our water resources. The CLFLWD Rules can be found here.

Capital Improvement Program (CIP)

The CLFLWD recently adopted a 15-year Capitol Improvement Program (CIP) developed as part of their recently completed "Watershed and Lake Water Quality Modeling Investigation for the Development of a Capital Improvement Plan," project. The CIP provides a prioritized list of potential projects with preliminary designs to address water quality and quantity issues identified in the the modeling effort. The CIP also provides a schedule, cost estimates and modeled results the projects will have on the water quality of the District's water resources. The resulting CIP is included in the "Watershed and Lake Water Quality Modeling Investigation for the Development of a Capital Improvement Plan."

Educational Articles

The CLFLWD has recently been publishing educational articles in the local newspapers in order to educate the public on water resource issues. the following a a list of recent articles: