The Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) recently awarded Stearns County a grant for $25,000. This money will be used to establish a Coalition of Lake Associations (COLA) to aid lake associations in the development of lakeshed assessments and management plans. The project will enable the already planned lakeshed assessments for School Section, Little Birch, Sylvia, McCormic, Bear and Big lakes to be completed. Half a million dollars in grants were awarded to local governments across the state for 21 conservation and natural resources projects and activities. The grants are competitive challenge grants provided through the state’s Local Water Resources Protection and Management Program, which helps counties, watershed districts and watershed management organizations carry out priorities identified in a county or watershed comprehensive local water plan. Local governments provide matching dollars for the projects. Funding was recommended by the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCMR). Of the total amount, $444,000 came from the Environmental Trust Fund and $56,000 came from the Great Lakes Protection Fund. Projects selected for funding include inventory/mapping, land and water treatment, education/information, and regulation/ordinances/planning. Ron Harnack, BWSR executive director, says that these grants encourage strong public/private partnerships that will help the state address local water management priorities. “These challenge grants present an opportunity for the state of Minnesota to support implementation of high priority projects and activities that have grown out of local water management plans,” he said. John Velin, LCMR executive director, says that one of LCMR’s goals is to find and fund high priority local water management projects and activities. “These challenge grants provide a great way for us to partner with BWSR to accomplish this goal with local governments,” he said. Projects are driven by local priorities. Stearns County will develop a lakeshed management and implementation project for the Sauk River Chain of Lakes. Local governments submitted 66 applications for a total of $1.5 million in challenge grant funding requests.
