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   WALKER—Cass County Soil and Water Conservation District Conservation Manager Dana Gutzmann shared an update at the Tuesday, Feb. 6 commissioner’s board meeting regarding area Watersheds.

   A 2020-2022 progress summary for the Leech Lake River Comprehensive Watershed was briefly shared with Gutzmann highlighting the program purchased two storm scepters in partnership with the City of Walker. Gutzmann stated these will save 16.5 pounds of nitrogen, 3.28 pounds of phosphorus and 2,500 tons of sediment per year. Board Chair Neal Gaalswyk for an explanation regarding how much a pound of phosphorus was. Gutzmann informed the board that one pound of phosphorus pollution can produce 500 pounds of algae, therefore by reducing the phosphorus the program reduced algae growth by over 1,600 pounds.

   Another highlight noted during the meeting was that $392,921 was given to landowners for conservation projects and $655,706 was contributed to conservation projects by landowners. Currently the Leech Lake River Comprehensive Watershed is in phase two of funding with development of the phase three work plan being available this spring.

   Gutzmann then requested the board to motion and approve a revised work plan budget for the 2022-2023 Mississippi River Headwaters Watershed. It was noted the reason for the revision was due to Beltrami County receiving funds for storm water projects from Enbridge which needed to be spent within a certain time frame and allowed more projects to be added to the current work plan. The motion was made and approved unanimously.

   Finally Gutzmann requested a motion be made to approve the 2024-2025 Mississippi River Headwaters Watershed Work plan. The board motioned and approved the request unanimously.

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