Issue 4

February, 2015

International Watershed
Coordination Program Highlights

Rainy-Lake of the Woods

Watershed News

INTERNATIONAL WATERSHED COORDINATION PROGRAM

The International Watershed Coordination

Program (IWCP) continues to enhance collaboration across the
border on watershed
science, management
and stewardship in the
Rainy-Lake of the
Woods Watershed.
This fall/winter, the
IWCP has placed a
significant focus on the
coordination of civic
engagement activities
and development of
tools, partnerships and
initiatives that promote
basin-wide communication and water stewardship.
With a push in Minnesota towards prevention planning for
aquatic invasive species (AIS), the IWCP
has promoted discus-

sions between local

agencies responsible
for AIS prevention
planning that focus on
working together on
strategies and sharing
resources for outreach
and education.
The IWCP is also working with the Ontario
Ministry of Environment
and Climate Change
and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to
promote a coordinated
approach to recruiting
citizens to take water
clarity readings and
samples in the well
established citizen
monitoring programs of
the two agencies (see
back page).

these organizations with

common goals from Canada
and the U.S. together to
compare success stories
and network with each other
(see back page). Other civic
engagement initiatives include development of a watershed website, web-based
tours of the watershed and
sister projects between Ontario, Manitoba and Minnesota.
For more information, please
contact Kelli Saunders,
IWCP Coordinator, at:
ksaunders@lowwsf.com

As well, a Lake Association Network Event

is being planned for
summer 2015 to bring

Local Success Story

munity responsibility to
the long term sustainability of our watershed has
gained strong support
from business, media
After four successful sumand individuals who all
mers, the Lake of the
share the same passion
Woods District Property
for lake life. Water qualOwners Associations
ity is a common concern
(LOWDPOA) LakeSmart
program will be back on the throughout the waterwater in 2015. LakeSmart is shed and we need to
an environmental outreach take responsibility for it
as individuals, and as a
program delivered to communities and individuals in
the Lake of the Woods
area. Two university students represent LOWDPOA, visiting waterfront
property owners to help
educate them on the importance of healthy shorelines;
their direct impact on water
quality, and what we can do
to help in our own front
yards. This message on the
need for personal and com-

LakeSmart set to
launch into its 5th
season

community said Association president Robert Bulman. We hope this program will continue to help
us build relationships and
maybe even help answer
that recurring question;
what can I do? For more
information, contact Susan
McLeod, Exec. Director,
LOWDPOA at 807-5484337 or
susan.mcleod@lowdpoa.com

Collaborative Research and Partnerships

Citizen Water Quality
Monitoring: Joining
Forces Across the Border
There are three well established
citizen monitoring programs in this
basin that provide an opportunity
for citizens to participate in water
quality monitoring and contribute
much-needed data to agency databases for long term monitoring
of water quality trends.
The Citizen Lake Monitoring Program in Minnesota started at University of Minnesota in 1973 and
moved to Minnesota Pollution
Control Agency (MPCA) in 1978.
Volunteer numbers peaked
around 2008 but numbers have
declined a bit since then. Volun-

teers take clarity readings using Secchi disks 2x/month May through September; they also take observations
such as presence of algae, colour
and recreational suitability. The state
has approximately 1000 volunteers,
but there are only 189 volunteers in
the watershed. In order to capture
samples in more remote areas, like
the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
Wilderness, campers/canoers can
offer to do sampling when they are
visiting. The Citizen Stream Monitoring Program started in 1998 to measure water clarity in streams using a
modified Secchi disk. There are currently approximately 350 volunteers
across the state, but only 7 In the
basin. The data collected from both
programs are incorporated into
MPCAs water quality assessment

process and for statistical trend

analyses on water clarity over time
(see pca.state.mn.us/cmp).
The Lake Partner Program in Ontario began in 1996 and volunteers
collect water clarity (Secchi) and
total phosphorus data 6 times per
year with analyses done by the Ministry of Environment and Climate
Change. Across the province, there
are 600 volunteers; in the basin,
there are about 67 volunteers monitoring on 27 lakes (www.desc.ca).
The two agencies are working together to enhance involvement of
citizens in the basin and to compare
data across the border. For more
information, please contact the
IWCP Coordinator at
ksaunders@lowwsf.com.

Cross Border Communication and Binational Stewardship

First Rainy-Lake of the
Woods Watershed Lake Association Network Event
Underway
Plans are underway to host a binational Lake Association Network
event in summer 2015. As part of
the strategy to enhance communication and build partnerships across
the border at the local, regional and
international level, the International
Watershed Coordination Program
(IWCP) is hosting an event that will
gather lake associations in the ba-

sin together.

full day event.

There are over 30 lake associations in the watershed, all with

many dedicated members who are
involved in a wide variety of water
stewardship initiatives. Bringing
these organizations together will
allow members to learn from each
other and also to hear from resource professionals on resources
available to them to aid in stewardship programming.

For more information, please contact Kelli Saunders, IWCP Coordinator at 807-548-8002 or
ksaunders@lowwsf.com.

The event is tentatively scheduled

for mid-August and will likely be a

IJC Recommends all 32 Projects to Governments from Lake of the

Woods Basin Water Quality Plan of Study
The International Joint Commission (IJC) has recommended that
the governments of Canada and
the U.S. undertake all 32 projects
identified in the final Lake of the
Woods Basin Water Quality Plan
of Study to address the complex
water quality challenges facing the
basin.
At a total estimated cost of $8.4
million, these projects would support a broadly-based and coordinated binational approach to adISSUE 4

dress issues facing the basin: binational monitoring tops the list to
provide long-term, consistent data
to track trends in nutrients, contaminants and aquatic invasive
species (AIS); 11 projects to improve algal bloom management,
reduce their severity and frequency, and assess risks associated with algal toxins; 7 projects to
strengthen ongoing AIS prevention
measures and pursue control efforts; 7 projects to better under-

stand contamination sources, assess the vulnerability of water resources and establish protective
measures; 6 capacity building projects to engage all basin interests
on water quality management and
promote greater cooperation
among agencies.
To see the news release and report, please link to: http://
www.ijc.org/en_/news?
news_id=479
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