Leech Lake River Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy Report

The Leech Lake River (LLR) Watershed consists of approximately 854,659 acres (1,335 square miles) in
the northern part of the Upper Mississippi River Basin. The watershed includes parts of Beltrami, Cass,
and Hubbard counties. Major communities in the watershed are Laporte, Benedict, Walker, Federal
Dam, Boy River, Whipholt, Longville, and Hackensack. The watershed also includes part of the Leech
Lake Reservation (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe). The LLR Watershed has approximately 277 total river
miles, and contains over 750 lakes with a total acreage of 166,374 acres. The watershed is located in
Minnesota’s Northern Lakes and Forest ecoregion. It is a largely forested, with about 46% of the land privately held, with the remaining portion of land state, county or federal public land, or held by tribal landowners. Twelve stream segments in the watershed (Assessment Unit Identifier (AUIDs)) were assessed for aquatic life use; eight of these were assessed for aquatic recreation use. Ten of the twelve stream segments fully support aquatic life use. The remaining two segments did not support aquatic life use and were determined to be impaired. Acknowledging that a protection strategy is important for all lakes and streams within the LLR Watershed in maintaining existing high quality waters, but also realizing that limited implementation funds will be available, the LLR Watershed Technical Team utilized all available knowledge about the water resources of the LLR Watershed to focus implementation strategies.