The watershed is characterized by undulating and rolling slopes upstream and becomes gently sloping downstream. The area is generally rural. Corn and soybeans are the primary crops, and pigs and cattle are the primary livestock production. Cities in Minnesota include Madison, Dawson, Boyd, Canby, and Hendricks.
What's being done
Monitoring and assessment
The MPCA conducted intensive watershed monitoring in the Lac qui Parle River watershed in 2015-16. The stressor identification process is underway to determine what is stressing the biological communities in impaired reaches. Modeling was completed in 2017 for use in development of the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy due in 2020.
Lake Hendricks was assessed in 2007-2008:
Strategy development for restoration and protection
A Clean Water Partnership diagnostic study and implementation plan was completed in 2003. Since then, grants were used to complete the implementation plan through the Clean Water Partnership program and federal 319 grants.
A Lac qui Parle-Yellow Bank TMDL and implementation plan were completed in 2013 to address bacteria, turbidity, and low dissolved oxygen.
Lake Hendricks is a glacial lake on the South Dakota-Minnesota border. South Dakota’s Department of Environment & Natural Resources developed a TMDL for total phosphorus and accumulated sediment, which was approved by EPA Region 8 in April 1999; MPCA also reviewed and accepted this TMDL:
