In 2019 the Metropolitan Council embarked on an effort to create a Priority Waters List. Building upon the approach used to create the Council Priority Lakes List, this new Priority Waters List will include an update to the priority lakes criteria and establish priority river and stream criteria. The Council is incorporating concepts derived from an ecosystem services approach to establish the Priority Waters List criteria. This process involves determining the important provisioning, regulation & maintenance, and cultural services provided by lakes, rivers, and streams within the Twin Cities metro area and then prioritizing waters based on those that provide the most valued services.
The Council works with city, county, watershed, state, and federal partners to manage regional water resources through monitoring, assessment, planning, and implementation of projects. Given the large number of surface waters in the region, it is infeasible for the Council and its partners to effectively monitor and evaluate all waters regularly. The Priority Waters List will be used by the Council to focus its resources on waters of highest value to the region.
The previous Priority Lakes List (introduced in 2003 and updated in 2015) has been used successfully to help target Council monitoring efforts and guide interactions between the Council and its local and regional partners. However, the Priority Lakes List has never been fully utilized to drive Council water resources work, partly because a parallel list of rivers and streams does not exist. Without clear river and stream priorities it has been challenging to tailor the Council’s monitoring and assessment programs to better serve the region.
This poster will outline the ecosystem services approach used in this project and present a preliminary Priority Waters List. The Council will seek feedback from local, regional, and state partners before finalizing the Priority Waters List.
Speaker(s)
Emily Resseger, Henry McCarthy, Erik Herberg, Metropolitan Council