F25AC00357

The project is located on the headwaters of the Minnesota River and will provide a wide range of benefits to communities in both MN and SD including ecological water quality and flood control.

Most notably, the project will address deficiencies from previous flood control projects to enhance fish passage through the region through a two phased watershed approach that reconnects 780 miles upstream with 9 miles of downstream river.

The project will restore longitudinal connectivity and fish passage between the Whetstone Minnesota, Little Minnesota rivers and their tributaries with Big Stone Lake.

These streams range from ephemeral to continual discharge and provide a multitude of important habitats for all life stages of numerous fish and wildlife species.

Phase 1 includes revisions to the Little Minnesota River floodway channel by decreasing the slope of a permanently fixed flood control weir structure and constructing a rock arch rapids structure.

These revisions will restore nearly 100 percent fish passage at all life stages from the Little Minnesota River and the Jorgenson River to Big Stone Lake.

Phase 2, located 26 miles south near the foot of Big Stone Lake, will permanently restore 100 percent of channel forming flow to the historic Whetstone River channel via reconnection of the historic Whetstone River to the Minnesota River and current Whetstone River.

Upper Minnesota River Watershed District

THE NATIONAL FISH PASSAGE PROGRAM WORKS TO RESTORE NATIVE FISH AND OTHER AQUATIC SPECIES TO SELF-SUSTAINING LEVELS BY RECONNECTING HABITATS FRAGMENTED BY BARRIERS. THE PROGRAM ALSO STRIVES TO DELIVER BENEFITS TO HUMAN COMMUNITIES THROUGH INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS AND OTHER ACTIONS THAT INCREASE RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS.

15.685 - National Fish Passage

FWS Headquarters (HQ) [DOI - FWS]

Fish and Wildlife Service Region 6: Mountain-Prairie [DOI - FWS]

Roberts, South Dakota United States

County-Wide

F24AS00062 National Fish Passage Program Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Restoring River, Floodplain, and Coastal Connectivity and Resiliency (F24AS00062)