The 2027-2036 Brown's Creek Watershed District Management Plan was approved by the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) on August 27, 2026 and adopted by the BCWD Board of Managers on September 9, 2026.
Final Plan:
Appendices:
- Appendix A: Surface Water Resource Summary Table [PDF]
- Appendix B: Summary of Climate and Precipitation Projections [PDF]
- Appendix C: Summary of Civic Engagement Input [PDF]
- Appendix D: BCWD Aquatic Plant Management Policy [PDF]
- Appendix E: Brown's Creek Watershed District Rules [PDF]
- Appendix F: Land and Water Resources Inventory [PDF]
- Appendix G: Cooperative Agreements [PDF]
Note: Updates will be made for plan accessibility by the end of the year. In the meantime, reach out if you need help accessing any part of the plan.
Capital Improvement Focus
Approximately 35% of the annual budget should be allocated to the district’s Capital Improvement Program, which means that a third of BCWD’s budget goes to construction projects that have a direct benefit to the surface water or groundwater resources in the watershed. In addition, the managers decided that the Capital Improvement Program budget should be allocated to the watershed’s impaired resources in the following manner (as described in more detail in section 3.4):
- 40% to Brown’s Creek
- 30% to lakes and ponds
- 15% to wetlands
- 10% to uplands and ecological health
- 5% to groundwater
Main Issues and Goals
- Stormwater Runoff Management: Improve the quality and quantity of stormwater runoff to reduce impacts (e.g., pollutant loadings, loss of groundwater recharge, alterations to wetland hydrology) to downstream waterbodies.
- Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control: Protect the water bodies in the watershed from the impacts of sedimentation, excessive streambank and shoreline erosion, and adjacent upland erosion.
- Stream Management: Improve the water quality and ecological integrity of Brown’s Creek and its tributaries.
- Lake Management: Restore the water quality of degraded lakes and protect the water quality in lakes that meet state water quality standards.
- Wetland Management: Maintain or improve the quality of the watershed’s wetland systems.
- Floodplain and Flood Management: Protect and manage flood storage areas to reduce impacts of flooding and promote groundwater recharge.
- Groundwater Management: Protect the quantity and quality of groundwater to maintain baseflow to the groundwater-dependent natural resources in the watershed and contribute to protecting drinking water supply for human health benefits.
- Ecological Health: Promote the ecological integrity and connectivity of the ecosystems in the watershed.
- Monitoring and Data Collection: Collect high-quality monitoring data that can be used to support cost-effective management decisions and evaluate performance in achieving the goals of this plan.
- Regulations: Maintain a clear and effective permitting program to protect surface water and groundwater resources and prevent flooding in the watershed.
- Recreation: Manage the natural resources in the watershed to enhance their recreational value.
- Education, Outreach, and Stewardship: Provide education and outreach services to all audiences to promote good stewardship of the water and natural resources.
- Land Conservation: Identify and pursue opportunities to preserve and restore land in the watershed to protect the quality of downstream resources.
- Funding: Maintain a tax levy that is adequate to conduct the activities of the district but minimizes impact on taxpayers.
- Pollutants of Emerging Concern: Collaborate with watershed partners to further collective understanding of how these pollutants are impacting the watershed and steps that can be taken to mitigate these impacts.