Barr worked closely with the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District’s administrator, staff, and managers to prepare the district’s 2017–2026 watershed management plan. We helped the district develop and implement an intensive stakeholder engagement process to gather feedback from residents, cities, and regulatory agencies. Working closely with the administrator, Barr assisted the district with establishing goals and action items, as well as defining an implementation program to be carried out over the life of the plan.
Barr and district staff members collaboratively updated all sections of the plan, including the district’s strategic overview—an abbreviated, graphic-rich summary document intended to make the plan more accessible to a wider audience. The 2017–2026 watershed management plan was submitted for 60-day review in June 2016. After Barr helped the district respond to comments received on the draft plan, the plan was formally adopted in April 2017.
Concurrently, Barr and the district developed a comprehensive watershed restoration and protection strategy (WRAPS) report through a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency grant. The WRAPS evaluated restoration strategies for each impaired water body in the district (three lakes and two streams) and protection strategies for the district’s many unimpaired water bodies. This information was incorporated into the watershed management plan and used to create a total maximum daily load (TMDL) report that addresses all of the district’s impaired water bodies. All of this work culminated in a 2017–2026 watershed management plan, which documents prioritized implementation items for the district for the next 10 years.