Water resources are dynamic systems, fluctuating with climate, shifting with seasons, and changing over years and decades. The management of water resources requires an equally dynamic strategy.
Adaptive Managment
The Comfort Lake-Forest Lake Watershed District utilizes adaptive management to improve and maintain our local water resources. Adaptive management is a cyclical approach of implementation, evaluation, and course correction that reflects the dynamic nature of water resources. The District follows an adaptive management structure to react to changing conditions while also remaining mindful of the long-term goals for District resources.
One of the primary goals of the District is to restore and maintain lake water quality as appropriate to each individual lake. Excess nutrients are the main factor responsible for degrading water quality in most Minnesota lakes. In-lake conditions do not necessarily respond quickly to changes in the watershed. Therefore, the District bases its adaptive management decisions on a combination of diagnostic tributary monitoring and project effectiveness monitoring, in addition to in-lake water quality monitoring.
You can learn more about the District’s adaptive management philosophy in the 2022-2031 Watershed Management Plan.
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