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Hawk Creek Watershed group reports long-term monitoring, $18 million in local projects and multiple water impairments
Summary
The Hawk Creek Watershed Project briefed the board on monitoring, funding and local projects; officials said the program has drawn about $18 million into the region and that several water bodies in the watershed remain listed as impaired.
Heidi Raunhorst, representing the Hawk Creek Watershed Project, told the Kandiyohi County Board of Commissioners on April 1 that the joint-powers watershed partnership has a nearly 30-year history of monitoring, projects and outreach and has brought roughly $18 million into the local economies it serves.
Raunhorst said about $10 million of those funds were grant dollars and roughly $8 million were low-interest septic-loan funds. She said approximately $1.5 million in federal Section 319 (Clean Water Act) and other funds were encumbered for work in the watershed at the time of the presentation.
The Hawk Creek partnership is a joint powers agreement among Chippewa, Kandiyohi and Renville counties; Raunhorst noted Kandiyohi County contains about 30% of the Hawk Creek watershed. She described three primary program areas: long-term water-quality monitoring, implementation of on-the-ground best-management projects and education/outreach.
Monitoring work includes participation in the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s pollutant-load monitoring network (six long-term sites) and the MPCA watershed restoration and protection (WRAPS) cycle. Raunhorst said Hawk Creek performed intensive WRAPS monitoring in 2010–11 and again in 2020–21; the 2020–21 effort included 22 WRAPS sites (seven lakes and 15 streams).
Raunhorst summarized a recent water-quality snapshot: Hawk Creek subwatersheds show elevated total suspended solids and total phosphorus; MPCA’s 2024 impaired-waters list names 19 impairments across 45 water bodies in the Hawk Creek watershed. In the Kandiyohi County portion specifically, she said there were 28 impairments in 19 water bodies.
She highlighted recent on-the-ground projects and shoreline restorations in Kandiyohi County, described collaboration with county drainage authorities and noted education activities such as field days, youth outreach and citizen-monitoring training. Raunhorst said Hawk Creek maintains partnerships with multiple agencies, including the MPCA, Minnesota Department of Agriculture and local SWCDs.
Commissioners asked follow-up questions about funding sources and monitoring responsibilities; Raunhorst said Hawk Creek uses federal, state and partner funds for monitoring and expects additional funding opportunities to arise in future grant cycles.
