Leech L Watershed

[Lee Borgersen]

      Grant passed to protect fish habitat, Leech Lake Watershed

Jun 17, 2016


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The Legacy Bill was passed on the last day of the 2016 Minnesota legislative session and included an appropriation of $1.425 million to the Leech Lake Watershed Foundation and the Minnesota Land Trust to protect fish habitat in cold water lakes, according to a press release from the Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation.

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Lindsey Ketchel, Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation executive director, proposed the grant which "supports targeted efforts to protect an additional 600 acres of critical shorelands and diverse forest habitat in Aitkin, Cass, Crow Wing and Hubbard Counties through a fee title acquisition in Ponto Lake Township of Cass County and permanent conservation easements."

Focus of the Outdoor Heritage Grant

Tullibee, also known as cisco, are an important forage fish for walleye, northern pike, muskellunge, and lake trout. Tullibee require cold, well oxygenated waters—a condition most common in lakes with deep water and healthy surrounding watersheds. This cold-water fish is a "canary in the coalmine" signaling three major threats to Minnesota's sport fishery and clean water—degraded watershed health, shoreline development, and climate warming. Deep, cold-water tullibee lakes with high quality, well-oxygenated waters and natural, undisturbed land cover and shorelines will offer the best chance for tullibee and other fish populations to survive these threats.

There are 68 cold water lakes considered "refuge lakes" for tullibee in Minnesota and 38 of these are found in the grant's four-county target area. These north central Minnesota lakes attract people nationwide for their natural states, beauty, fishing, and other outdoor recreational opportunities.



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A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that drains off of it goes into the same place—a river, stream or lake. Heather Baird, Department of Natural Resources aquatic habitat specialist, reports that "fisheries research has shown that healthy watersheds with intact forests are essential for good fish habitat. If a lake's watershed has less than 25 percent land disturbance and 75 percent or more of its landscape remains forested and permanently protected, the lake has a high probability of sustaining clean water and a healthy lake ecosystem to support fish."

This Outdoor Heritage Grant will be used for a 200-acre fee title acquisition to expand state forest land and conservation easements on 400 acres of private land all benefitting 38 tullibee refuge lakes and their watersheds.

How to obtain more information on conservation easements

Conservation easements are individually tailored agreements through which landowners voluntarily limit the use and development of their property to permanently preserve its natural or scenic features.

These "conservation values" may include wildlife and plant habitat, lake or river shoreline, or wetlands.

"Landowners may choose to donate or sell a conservation easement. The donation of conservation easements is a popular option for landowners which provides a potential for income tax deductions while supporting the conservation and protection of lakes, forests, wetlands, and rivers" observes Pat Collins, Minnesota Land Trust northern region program manager. For more information contact Lindsey Ketchel at the Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation at 218-675- 5773 or Pat Collins with the Minnesota Land Trust at 218-336- 2031.