Cottonwood-Middle Minnesota River 1W1P
CW-MM 1W1P
The Cottonwood-Middle Minnesota Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan (CWMP)began in April 2023 with planning grant funds awarded by BWSR, through the One Watershed One Plan program, in late August of 2022. Grant Administration/Coordination and Fiscal Management is being provided by the Redwood-Cottonwood Rivers Control Area.
The counties of Brown, Cottonwood, Lyon, Murray and Redwood, their respective SWCDS, Area II MN River Basin Projects, RCRCA and the City of Springfield comprise the 13 members of this Memorandum of Agreement. Blue Earth County and SWCD, and Yellow Medicine County and SWCD have opted out of the planning due to having <5% of their counties within the watershed boundary. The Policy Committee meets the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 2:00 PM at the Springfield Area Community Center. Information pertaining to the Policy Committee can be found below.
Houston Engineering, Inc. was selected to provide consultant services to draft the Plan document and guide the partners through the process to prioritize subwatersheds and target best management practices and activities that will provide measurable results. Plan approvals were received from the BWSR Southern Region Committee on December 9, 2024 and the BWSR Board on January 22, 2025.
Committees are busy establishing the necessary documents and information to apply for Watershed Based Implementation Funds by April 30, 2025. Summer 2025 is the anticipated start for the implementation grant. Implementation grants will be held by RCRCA who will oversee Plan management. A full-time coordinator will be hired to manage the Cottonwood-Middle Minnesota CWMP as well as the Redwood River CWMP this is currently in development.
Full details of this project and its status can be found at www.rcrca.com
