Little Rock Creek Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Study

Little Rock Creek, from the headwaters to the Mississippi River, was listed on Minnesota's 303(d) List of Impaired Waters in 2002 for biological impairment. The stream was listed based on fish samples collected in 1999 by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). Portions of Little Rock Creek have had a self-sustaining population of Brown Trout since 1907. DNR fisheries surveys noted that a decline of trout populations in the early 1990's.

NEW - Stakeholder Newsletter (Winter/Spring 2008 Edition)

Little Rock Creek TMDL Facts:
- Benton SWCD has a Joint Powers Agreement Contract with MPCA to complete Phase II of the TMDL.
- Upper Mississippi Basin Management Plan: The MPCA recognizes that the implementation of the Little Rock Creek Biota TMDL is the highest
   priority TMDL for the Mississippi River - Sartell Watershed.
- The Little Rock Creek TMDL Study is a pilot biota project.
- Project partners include: MPCA, Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR), MN Department of Agriculture, MN DNR, Morrison County,
   Natural Resources Research Institute - University of Minnesota.

The Little Rock Creek TMDL Study began June 15, 2006 and is scheduled to be completed June 30, 2009. There was a total of $86,638.60 budgeted for this TMDL study, and as of the beginning of 2007 $15,581.67 had been expended.


                              Annie Felix, SWCD Water Plan                                                     Amy Robak, NRCS Intern, collecting
                            Technician taking stream samples                                                                     stream data

Phase II Goals: Identify "stressor(s)" within watershed and develop protocol for biological TMDLs. The MPCA will use the Little Rock Creek TMDL Study to help create an analytical and reproducible protocol for biological TMDLs. To date, no biological TMDLs have been completed in Minnesota because no approved protocol exists.
                       
                                                                               DNR Fisheries conducting electro-fishing