“One Watershed, One Plan” Announced For Pine River Watershed

Crow Wing County, Cass County, the Cass County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Crow Wing Soil and Water Conservation District, announces the beginning of planning for the development of the Pine River watershed “One Watershed, One Plan” Comprehensive Water Plan or “1W1P”.

As part of planning efforts, Crow Wing County is hosting a public information “kick-off” meeting and open house on Monday, May 7th, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Ideal Township Community Center. “Mr. Walleye” Gary Roach, long-time Pine River Watershed resident, renown fisherman, and lifetime guide will be speaking about the value and importance of the Pine River Watershed. Residents within the watershed are invited to attend to learn more about the Pine River Watershed, the 1W1P planning process, and have an opportunity to provide input on priorities and concerns within the watershed and ask questions of planning participants.

Crow Wing County’s existing comprehensive water plan was approved in 2013 and was the first of its kind watershed-based land protection model for county water planning in Minnesota. “The Pine River One Watershed, One Plan is the next logical step in the evolution of water planning in Minnesota” according to Environmental Services Supervisor Jake Frie. A “1W1P” is a water plan that aligns local water planning on major watershed boundaries with strategies towards prioritized, targeted, and measurable implementation plans. 1W1P is rooted in the work initiated by the Local Government Water Roundtable in 2011 which recommended that the local government charged with water management responsibility should organize and develop focused implementation plans on a watershed scale. That recommendation was followed by the legislation that would become One Watershed, One Plan, signed into law by Governor Dayton in 2015.

A watershed is an area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet such as a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or a point along a stream channel. The Pine River Watershed is 800 square miles and exists in central Cass and northern Crow Wing Counties.

For more information, please visit www.crowwing.us, search “1W1P”, or contact the Land Services Department at (218) 824-1010 or [email protected] for more information about the Pine River Watershed and 1W1P planning process.