Land Owner Assistance

Goals

Conferences & Workshops

Highlights

Project Sites

Links

Glossary

The Red River Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council and the Red River Regional Council (RRRC) sponsor the overall watershed project in response to reports of degraded water quality and aquatic habitat in the Red River Watershed.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that nearly 300,000 miles of rivers and streams in 49 of 50 states are identified as impaired for one or more uses. In 1998, EPA reported that nonpoint source pollution was considered to be the leading cause of impairment with 60% of streams and rivers impaired by agriculture. Furthermore, EPA findings indicate the leading pollutants of surface waters include sedimentation (siltation), pathogens, and nutrients. Throughout the assessed watersheds, 70%-90% of natural riparian ecosystems were found to be degraded or missing entirely because of human activities.

Riparian buffers in eastern North Dakota currently comprise a small part of the overall watershed areas, and the project sponsors believe that existing forest buffers strategically located along major rivers, streams, and drainages could be increased through proper management procedures and selected riparian vegetation plantings.

Recent research has established that healthy riparian corridors provide significant benefits to a watershed including:

• Filter and store sediment, nutrients, pesticides, and metals from upland surface and groundwater through infiltration, uptake, and transformation.
• Control the hydrodynamic interaction of the stream with the adjacent uplands, stabilizing stream banks, moderating flood discharges, and improving groundwater recharge.
• Support high biological diversity and productivity of vegetation, mammals, birds, and fish.

The Riparian Project works to influence land management choices and increase local resource managers', landowners', and general public awareness about the importance of riparian areas to the health of our river system. This is accomplished through the establishment of demonstration sites, hosting workshops and training sessions, publishing articles, and leading tours of project sites. As a Riparian Project partner, the North Dakota Forest Service (NDFS) hosts landowner information meetings along priority reaches to increase awareness and interest. In cooperation with NRCS EQIP program, the project purchased a stream table that is presented at schools, eco-education camps, conferences, and agricultural shows throughout the Red River Basin and North Dakota.

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The North Dakota Unified Water Assessment for 1999 listed 3000 miles of rivers and streams as partially supporting aquatic life and anther 7400 miles as fully supporting, but threatened. Fifty percent of the watersheds within the North Dakota portion of the Red River Basin are categorized as needing restoration. The major stressor for these affected basins is listed as agriculture with includes impacts from nutrient and sediment runoff.

Healthy riparian corridors provide significant benefits to a watershed. These vegetated zones filter and store sediment, nutrients, pesticides, and metals through the processes of infiltration, filtering, uptake, and transformation

The Red River Basin Riparian Project goal is to directly assist and educate landowners about the restoration, protection, and effective management of riparian areas within the Red River Basin. This assistance will result in long-term measurable improvements in the ecological/ecosystem health of the river system.