Yellow Medicine One Watershed One Plan

The Yellow Medicine One Watershed One Plan (YM1W1P) was developed as one of five pilot One Watershed One Plan projects in Minnesota. The goal of the program is to allow counties to transition from county-based water management planning to watershed-based planning and allowing LGUs to work collaboratively toward the common goals. Ten local governments entered into a Memorandum of Agreement to develop the Plan with Grant Administration/Coordination and fiscal management provided by the Area II.  , these responsibilities were transferred to the Yellow Medicine River Watershed District (YMRWD). The LGUs consist of:  Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon and Yellow Medicine Counties, their respective SWCDS, YMRWD and Area II.  Redwood County and SWCD opted out of the planning due to having <5% of the county within the watershed boundary. The mission of these organizations, along with the state agencies that cooperated in developing this Plan, is to work together with citizens to restore and protect the water resources of the Yellow Medicine River Watershed.

This plan addresses three priority concerns: (1) mitigate altered hydrology and minimize flooding; (2) minimize the transport of sediment, excess nutrients, and bacteria; and (3) protect and preserve groundwater quantity and quality. These priorities were established as the result of an extensive process in which stakeholders identified their priority concerns and the potential threats to the resource if these three goals were not addressed. In addition, prioritizing implementation efforts was determined to be based on projects that offer multiple benefits and that are cost effective. It was also determined that implementation efforts that address mitigating altered hydrology and minimizing flooding will address the other priorities as well.

Once the Plan was approved by BWSR and locally adopted, the 10 members entered into a Memorandum of Agreement(link) in November 2017 for implementation of this Plan with grant administration and fiscal management provided by the Yellow Medicine River Watershed District.

Watershed-Based Implementation Funds (WBIF) are available to landowners and land operators for Best Management Practices BMPs located within the priority subwatersheds as identified in the map below:

The Policy Committee will hold its meetings at 1:00  PM on the 2nd Monday of the months of February, April, August and November.  Meetings are held at the Yellow Medicine River Watershed District in Minneota, MN.

For current information about the YM-1W1P, please click here.

The final Plan document is available by clicking on:

YELLOW MEDICINE 1W1P FINAL PLAN - 10/06/16