Public Input Needed at St. Charles Waterside Chat

The public is invited to attend an upcoming Waterside Chat on Thursday, March 24, 2022 in St. Charles, MN to help identify where in the Whitewater watershed we need to focus efforts to improve and protect our area streams and groundwater resources.

The Waterside Chat will be held at the St. Charles Community Center (830 Whitewater Ave, St. Charles) beginning at 6pm. Refreshments will be provided. The Waterside Chat will include a short presentation of prioritized issues, followed by discussions to help answer the following questions:

• Where in the watershed do we need to focus work to improve water quality?
• What specific actions should be funded through the plan?
• What actions are community members willing to use on their land?

The Whitewater Subwatershed is part of a larger effort in a planning area known as the Mississippi River-Winona and La Crescent Watershed (WinLaC).  This watershed planning area covers nearly 480,000 acres in Houston, Olmsted, Wabasha and Winona counties.  The WinLaC Partnership is working together to develop a comprehensive management plan for the watershed and needs input from the public in developing a ten-year comprehensive management plan.  Local leaders need to hear from landowners, farmers, business owners, public employees, nonprofit leaders, students, educators, and those who recreate in the area.

The WinLaC website includes interactive maps as well as a short survey to find out what matters most to the community and what actions community members think should be included in the Plan. 

The WinLaC Partnership planning effort is locally-led; its leaders include representatives from four counties (Houston, Olmsted, Wabasha and Winona), four soil and water conservation districts (Olmsted, Root River, Wabasha and Winona), a watershed district (Stockton-Rollingstone-Minnesota City) and the City of Winona.  For more information about this meeting or this planning effort, contact Sheila Harmes, Winona County Watershed Coordinator at (507) 457-6522.

One Watershed One Plan (1W1P) is a program through the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) that supports local governments in developing comprehensive watershed management plans.  Funding is available through the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment.