As the engineer for the Riley-Purgatory-Bluff Creek Watershed District for more than 40 years, Barr has helped develop numerous versions of the district’s watershed management plan. Recently, we worked with the district to develop its fourth-generation, 10-year watershed management plan. The current plan update was developed with input from district managers and staff as well as officials from cities, state agencies, the Metropolitan Council, and Hennepin and Carver counties. Through an intensive public engagement process, input was also gathered from watershed residents and lake associations.
Stakeholders cited project prioritization as an issue of high importance. As a result, Barr assisted the district by working with stakeholders to develop a prioritization tool that uses several criteria to compare and prioritize issues and projects quantitatively in terms of district goals and project benefits. The methodology was adjusted and enhanced during the planning process in response to feedback from the citizen advisory committee, technical advisory committee, and board of managers.
Projects identified in district studies, partner studies, and cities are included in this prioritization process. Projects are sorted by major watershed, upstream to downstream, and ranked from most to least beneficial in terms of benefit-priority lists. The benefit-priority lists are living documents, which are updated as new projects are identified and existing proposed projects are modified.
Barr is currently helping implement the plan and associated projects.