you are here > about us > plans > planning retreat > thalweg
Thalweg
Date: 5/27/99 4:47 PM
Received: 5/28/99 11:26 AM
From: Rivers Council of Minnesota, info@riversmn.org
To: Karen Plass, slrcac@cp.duluth.mn.us
Welcome to Thalweg, Electronic Newsletter of the Rivers
Council of
Minnesota
Volume 1 Number 4 - May 26, 1999
Thalweg is a line connecting the deepest part of a stream
channel and
marking the greatest surface velocity. Rivers Councilís new Thalweg
email
newsletter will connect you with deep and timely information in the
fastest way possible.
"Thalweg" is of German derivation and means "valley way."
Itís used to
delineate the path of a political boundary between states, particularly
in a meandering waterway like the Mississippi River.
To unsubscribe, please contact <info@riversmn.org>
with an unsubscribe
message.
For more information about the Rivers Council of Minnesota,
including how
to become a member, please visit our web site at <www.riversmn.org>
WHAT THE 1999 MINNESOTA LEGISLATURE DID FOR RIVERS:
Most of the new law enacted in 1999 that pertained to rivers was
contained in the omnibus funding bill for environment and natural
resources programs and projects. It becomes Chapter 231, Laws of 1999,
and contains a total of $641,500,000 in new funding for the biennium.
The river-related items break down as follows:
Funding through the Pollution Control Agency
*$4,696,000 for clean water partnership grants to local governmental
units.
*$642,000 for community technical assistance and education for local and
basin-wide water quality protection.
*$750,000 for studies to determine total maximum daily load allocations
to improve water quality.
*$250,000 for emergency spill equipment to protect water quality in the
Mississippi river north of the metropolitan area.
Funding through the Department of Natural Resources
*$340,000 for the Mississippi Headwaters Board to assist in implementing
their comprehensive plan.
*$34,000 to the Leech Lake Band of Chippewa for their implementation of
the above.
*$2,950,000 for watershed district grants within the Red River basin for
flood damage reduction, comprehensive watershed plans, and a basin
information repository.
*$350,000 to the Cannon River Watershed Partnership to protect, conserve
and enhance the ecological integrity of the overall watershed.
*$100,000 for a new concept - birding trails - along the Mississippi and
Minnesota rivers for education and enjoyment.
*$1,100,000 for a new stream protection and improvement revolving loan
program that will provide 90 percent of the total cost of a project to
a
political subdivision to protect or improve a stream.
Funding through the Board of Water and Soil Resources
*Grants are given in the following amounts to:
$70,000 to the St. Louis River Board;
$200,000 to the Minnesota River Basin Joint Powers Board;
$100,000 to the North Shore Management Board;
$54,000 to the Southeast Minnesota Resources Board; and
$32,000 for stream bank stabilitzation on the LeSueur river.
$368,000 is for local grants for floodplain management in the southern
Minnesota river basin study area 2.
The Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission, which
assists the state
in programs and education on the St. Croix and Mississippi, but did not
receive a funding recommendation from the governor, received $371,000
in
this law.
Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources Projects:
*$350,000 to the Science Museum to quantify the contribution of
streambank erosion to riverine suspended sediment concentrations.
*$300,000 to the Minnesota River Basin Joint Powers Board for restoration
and management projects on the river.
*$800,000, with a $374,000 match requirement, to Greening the Great River
Park for tree planting in the Mississippi and Minnesota river metro area
floodplains.
*$1,200,000 for DNR to do trout stream protection.
*$458,000 to the DNR for a statewide freshwater mussel survey.
Finally, the omnibus funding bill contains two provisions
dealing with
riparian forest lands; one calling for peer review of the Forest
Resources Council's riparian management guidelines issued last summer,
and the other requiring the DNR to monitor and report on the extent and
condition of riparian forest lands. For those who like to recreate along
rivers, but not necessarily on them, there is money and direction for
new
or resurfaced trails along certain rivers.
Report prepared by John Helland, House Analyst, and member,
Rivers
Council of Minnesota Board of Directors.
Governor Ventura subsequently vetoed a number of proposals
including
funding for the trout stream initiative.
Defining Success: Readers Respond:
In last weekís Thalweg, RCM Program Director Barb Liukkonen reported
on
her work with the St. Louis River Citizens Action Committee, and
specifically on indicators of success they identified. She explored the
issue of defining success for watershed work, arguing for the validity
of
local measures of success:
"I'd suggest that the definition of success SHOULD be
established and
celebrated locally: as continued or increased citizen participation,
informed decision-makers, increased public access and enjoyment of
healthy rivers, and improvements in the water resources. People who live
in the watershed and care about their local rivers will be the ultimate
arbiters of whether their watershed organization has been successful."
She invited reader comment on the issue; remarks we received are
summarized below:
"You almost have to have been living under a rock to not know it has been
the grass-roots non government movement of which we have been a huge
part, that has pushed and prodded both the public and sadly even
government into action."
Scott Sparlin Coalition for a Clean Minnesota River
<yasure@mailcity.com>
"If there is no logical link between organizational activity
and resource
condition, then the members are wasting their time. A good evaluation
design will use a series of linkages to show different levels of impact
and use different indicators at each level. Some are direct results of
organizational activity and some require corollary actions by other
actorsÖOne perspective uses a sequence of "resources -- goods and
services --- local action --- well being" to distinguish among impact
levels. The organization controls it only up to goods/services, from
then on other people's behavior and other factors contribute to impact.
George Honadle <Ghonadle@aol.com>
"It IS difficult to quantify success in watershed projects.
Sometimes I
think our measure of success won't be evident until we see how much
effort the following generation(s?) are willing to put into natural
resource management. Personally, I think we are starting to make a
difference. But, I can probably go back to some water quality monitoring
stations that were used in the early 90's and if sampled for the same
parameters today, I suspect one would see close to the same numbers. I
believe land uses are a key element in the health of our natural
resources. In most areas land uses have intensified through the 90s, and
with that intensification has come greater pressure on limited
resources." Terry Bovee, <terry.bovee@health.state.mn.us>-----------------
End Forwarded
Message -----------------