Lower Otter Tail River TMDL Implementation Plan

The Otter Tail River is located in west-central Minnesota with the mouth of the river at Breckenridge, Minnesota. The confluence of the Otter Tail River and the Bois de Sioux River at Breckenridge is considered to be the headwaters of the Red River of the North. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has listed a stream reach in the Lower Otter Tail River (LOTR) as impaired for exceeding the turbidity standard for aquatic life, which is currently set at 25 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU). The 2004 303(d) list identifies the impaired reach as the "Otter Tail River, Breckenridge Lake to Bois de Sioux River", Assessment Unit ID (AUID) 09020103-502. This 8.2 mile segment of the Otter Tail River is the last reach downstream before the confluence with the Bois de Sioux River and will be referred to as the Lower Otter Tail River (LOTR) in this report. Wilkin County and the Wilkin Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) have elected to implement activities to reduce erosion, sedimentation, and turbidity using a phased approach. Clean Water Legacy (CWL) Act funds will be used in conjunction with existing state and federal conservation programs to install conservation practices that reduce erosion, sediment, and turbidity. All of these programs will be targeted in high priority areas of the watershed where they will have the most beneficial impact on the impaired reach of the LOTR itself. CWL activities will terminate June 2009 when the current Legacy Act Funding runs out. Other existing state and federal programs will be promoted on an on-going basis. Phase II of the implementation plan will run through 2017, after a re-evaluation of project activities and gains through the first Phase of the implementation plan is completed in 2010.