On Wednesday, June 26th, 2024, the Board of Water and Soil Resources approved the Kettle & Upper St. Croix Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan at their board meeting. Thanks to all of the local partners, staff, policy members, state agencies, and stakeholders of the watershed that provided input, information and guidance throughout the planning process! Local partner staff are now hard at work to get things set in place to receive funding and begin the implementation of the plan! Please see the links below for the final version of the management plan and its appendix.  

Kettle/Upper St. Croix Comprehensive Watershed Management Plan

 Kettle/Upper St. Croix Appendix

Upcoming Kettle/USC Policy Committee Meeting: Thursday, December 12th - December Meeting Agenda                           

Our Next Advisory Meeting: TBD

Please reach out if you would like to join virtually!

 Story Map                                                                                         

Click the link and learn about the Kettle/Upper St. Croix Watersheds!

Story Map Link

What is 1W1P?

Historically, water management was developed and administered by individual counties. Management of watersheds varied greatly as soon as you would cross into a different county. Many county management plans also failed to identify and tailor to the particular needs each watershed in their county required to make lasting and meaningful improvements to the water resources in the area. 

In the last decade, the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) began developing a management method that encouraged the development of a comprehensive management plan for an entire watershed, that would bring local government units together to create the plan, and would not be bound to local jurisdictional boundaries. Enter One Watershed One Plan Comprehensive Watershed Management. 

The 1W1P process brings local government units together to create a systematic, watershed-wide, science-based management plan for each watershed that are in their counties. Completed plans across the state have created more collaborative partnerships, brought in more funding at the local level, and have implemented meaningful practices that have created watershed improvements that can be measured and documented. By the end of the planning process, the Kettle/Upper St. Croix Watersheds will have a management plan that will do the same.  

Who is Involved in the Kettle/Upper St. Croix 1W1P

The partners in the Kettle/Upper St. Croix 1W1P include Carlton County, Pine County, Carlton SWCD, Kanabec SWCD, and Pine SWCD. The planning effort is lead by a steering team that is comprised of partner staff. The Policy Committee, made of elected officials from both County's Boards and SWCD Supervisors, will approve the content of the plan, serve as a liaison to their representative boards and act of behalf of their board.

Public Kickoff Events

Thank you to those that made it out to our public kickoff events on June 3rd and 10th! Your input on the watershed is a valuable part of our planning process! The information you have provided will be used to help us prioritize the needs of the watershed. See the report from the events below!

Kettle/Upper St. Croix Kickoff Events Report