ENRTF ID: 244-FH PROJECT TITLE: Peatland Restoration in the Lost River State Forest. I. PROJECT STATEMENT The Lost River Forest is a state forest located in Roseau County, Minnesota. Lost River Forest contains approximately 72 square miles of wetlands along the Minnesota-Manitoba border between the cities of Roseau and Warroad Minnesota. Outdoor recreation opportunities in the include camping, fishing, hunting and trails designated for hiking and snowmobiling. Like many large tracts of public land in northern Minnesota, this project area consists of extensive networks of ditches constructed in the early 1900’s to convey surface and subsurface water through the project area promoting agricultural production. Currently agricultural production is very limited. The project area includes Judicial Ditch 61 (JD 61) that removes hydrology from the existing wetlands within the project limits through conveyance resulting in degradation of the peatland wetlands which impacts aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Restoring hydrology to peatland communities within the Lost River State Forest would provide ecological benefits to the plant communities and habitat through restoration of hydrologic connections between peatlands and streams in addition to reducing transport of phosphates, nitrates and suspended sediments through the existing drainage system into Lost River downstream. The purpose of this project is to assess restoration of peatlands impacted by JD 61 in the Lost River State Forest. Due to size of the Lost River State Forest, the scope of work in this application has been divided into two (36 square mile) phases. The assessment will consist of collecting soil characteristics, water level, floristic diversity, elevation data, restoration feasibility across the ditch corridors. These features will be incorporated with existing GIS datasets to generate a decision matrix which will select the appropriate restoration strategy at each ditch segment. The results of data analysis will be a report detailing areas suitable or not suitable for restoration and potential restoration constraints due to impacts on infrastructure, road systems or private property. Preliminary hydrologic and geotechnical reviews were completed in the early 1980s as part of the Flood Water Retention Program Flood Control Effectiveness instituted by the Lower Red River Watershed Management Board and the MNDNR. Geotechnical analysis as recent as 2008 has been completed for recent phases of the project. This data will be utilized as historic and supportive data for the project summary report. Comparison of historical reports and geotechnical logs have identified trends within the project area that indicate the need for additional data prior to proposing restoration measures. This project presents similar challenges faced across public lands in northern Minnesota. Often addressing wetland restoration requires analysis of both the physical characteristics of the wetlands and the interconnection of public infrastructure or private lands to determine the potential of restoration and develop restoration techniques that are applicable to the project. The goal of the project is to assess a broad large scale project and develop a methodology that can be replicated on similar watershed scale wetland restoration projects throughout northern Minnesota. II. PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND OUTCOMES Activity 1 Title: Existing Data Review and Data Collection Selection ENRTF BUDGET: $4,604.00 Description: Review of all available existing historic data that includes aerial photos, geotechnical, county soil survey, NWI and geologic data. Complete pre-selection of data cross sections to create efficiency during field assessments. Licensed Minnesota professional soil scientist in cooperation with Watershed Specialist will review all available historic data. GIS specialist in cooperation with Watershed Specialist will determine cross section locations prior to field assessments. Outcome Completion Date 1. Historic Data Review August 2020 2. Selection of Data Collection Sites for Phase I and II August 2020 Activity 2 Title: Collect peat humification data and elevation data ENRTF BUDGET: $94,374.80 Description: Peat samples and elevation data will be collected at each cross section, located at each 1- foot interval drop in elevation across the ditch laterals. The peat samples will be located 10 meters and 100 meters from the edge of ditch or edge of spoil/roadway. MN Professional Soil Scientist/Classifier will determine humification using VonPost method. Elevation data will be collected 100 meters on either side of the ditch by Watershed specialist. Watershed Specialist will collect peat sample locations and cross section data of roadways or spoil bank, where present. Outcome Completion Date 1. Field Data Collection for Phase I September 2020 2. Field Data Collection for Phase II September 2021 Activity 3 Title: Generate decision matrix and compose report ENRTF BUDGET: $36,667.20 Description: Data collected from the field will be converted to a shapefile format, the elevation and soil data will be combined with existing GIS datasets to create a decision matrix. The results of the decision matrix will be compared to potential constraints of adjacent properties and infrastructure landscape position. A final report will be generated, detailing the process, data results and restoration strategy best suited to the health of wetlands and water quality benefits. Outcome Completion Date 1. Summary of Phase I Field Data December 2020 2. Summary of Phase II Field Data December 2021 3. Decision Matrix for Phase I and II June 2022 4. Final Project Report June 2022 III. PROJECT PARTNERS AND COLLABORATORS: Roseau Watershed District will be the fiscal agent receiving funds for the project. Roseau County and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will be cooperating partners in the project. Roseau County Administers JD61 and the Department of Natural Resources oversees the parcels within the project limits. Previously funded projects and studies have been successful with the same project partners. Some of these include; The Palmville Fen Restoration Project, Hay Creek Setback Levees and Norland Impoundment, Roseau River WMA Pool 2/Pool 3 Project and The Beltrami Island State Forest/Headwaters Project. The project partners have two active projects, The Roseau Lake Rehabilitation Project and The Roseau River Restoration Project. The following local agencies will assist by providing technical input: Minnesota Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), US Fish and Wildlife Services, US Forest Services and the US Army Corps of Engineers. Outside services required to complete the project include soil classification, environmental and GIS services. IV. LONG-TERM IMPLEMENTATION AND FUNDING: The long-term implementation of the project is to complete large scale peatland restoration within the Lost River State Forest. The restoration of hydrology and vegetation of these wetland complexes will provide numerous ecological and water quality benefits both within and downstream of the Lost River State Forest. Secondly a result of the project will develop a methodology that can be replicated on similar watershed scale wetland restoration projects throughout northern Minnesota and a “road map” for watershed scale restorations that provide sustainable strategies to improve water quality, ecological integrity and resiliency to climatic change. Additional funding requests will be required for engineering and construction of peatland restoration in the Lost River State Forest. Long-term monitoring and maintenance will be implemented on future funded restoration projects to assure all constructed peatland restoration measures are adequately functioning as designed in addition to monitoring the ecological and biological diversity of the peatland wetlands.