Red Lake Watershed District to host meetings on Pine Lake and Four Legged Lake

The Red Lake Watershed District Board of Managers will host a public open house for landowners for two potential projects in the District. The open house will be held at the Gonvick Community Center located at 170 Main Street, Gonvick, MN 56644, on July 12, 2016. The Four Legged Lake public meeting will be held between 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm. The Pine Lake public meeting will be held between 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm. The public is invited to attend at their convenience.  There will not be a formal presentation. Staff from the Watershed District and project teams will be on hand to discuss each project, answer questions, and take comments from attendees. 

Myron Jesme, District Administrator, noted a region-wide goal was established to reduce peak flows along the Red River of the North (Red River) by 20 percent during a flooding event similar to the 1997 flood. In order to reach this goal, each tributary of the Red River has been provided with both peak flow and volume reduction goals as set forth in the Red River Basin Commission’s (RRBC) Long Term Flood Solutions (LTFS) Basin Wide Flood Flow Reduction Strategy Report. Several large-scale modeling efforts have been conducted throughout the Red River Basin to assist in determining the amount of effort required to meet the flow and volume reduction goals in each tributary basin of the Red River. 

Pine Lake and Four Legged Lake subwatershed have been identified as areas where retention can be added to reduce peak flows at Crookston. There are also potential opportunities to modify the Pine Lake and Four Legged Lake control structures to provide benefits to the lakes and adjacent land areas such as reducing flood risk to local landowners, enhancing environmental conditions within the lakes, and adding recreational benefits.

The Pine and Four Legged Lake public meetings will offer the public and interested stakeholders an opportunity to review the project information and provide public comment.