Mississippi River-Winona Watershed: Watershed Restoration & Protection Strategy

The Mississippi River - Winona Watershed (MRWW) covers 419,200 acres in Wabasha, Winona, and Olmsted counties in southeast Minnesota. The Whitewater River falls within this watershed and is well known for its state park and trout fishing. The Whitewater River discharges into the Mississippi River at Weaver Bottoms, an important Mississippi River backwater and waterfowl staging area. A majority of the watershed supports a thriving agricultural economy with 29.3% of land being cropland and 27.0% being hay/pasture. Forest covers a large portion of the watershed as well, and only a small percentage of the watershed is developed. The largest city in the watershed is Winona (population 27,000), located on the Mississippi River.
This Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS) document is meant as a foundation of technical information that can be used to assist in development of tools and prioritization of efforts by local governments, land owners, and other stakeholder groups. The information can be used to determine what strategies will be best to make improvements and protect good quality resources, as well as focus those strategies to targeted locations.