May 2014 — Since its inception, this southeast Minnesota watershed district has focused on flood protection and sediment control with projects like pond clean-out, stream bank stabilization, cover crops and culvert replacement. Dramatic elevation drops and intensive ridge top farming cause water to move fast and soil to erode, so the work is much needed.

Because people who lived here before us acted on their convictions, folks who now own land drained by Speltz Creek, Straight Creek, Bear Creek, Rollingstone Creek, Peterson Creek, Stockton Creek and Garvin Brook have a special opportunity to take care of drainage and erosion issues on their own land. They can also serve on a board of watershed district managers that sets local priorities and approves funding requests.

At a recent Watershed District meeting the current board and an interested citizen reviewed three pending projects and the annual audit. The agenda also touched on a planning survey conducted in 2008. Should this small entity with only $8,000 in annual tax revenue continue to exist? Do residents need to work together this way? Citizens weighed in with a resounding, “Yes!”

To accomplish its goals, the Stockton-Rollingstone-Minnesota City Watershed District works with Winona County planning staff, the local Soil and Water Conservation District, towns in the District and the State of Minnesota.

But while District managers value these ties, they also believe landowners’ knowledge and initiative are needed to get water work done.

“There is no ideal farming,” says District manager Duane Wirt. “We all need to improve.”

The District is a local, special-purpose unit of government with the power to tax and the responsibility to use those funds to solve and prevent water-related problems within its boundaries.

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