As part of the Nutrient Budget Study being conducted for Lake of the Woods, the Foundation is providing support for the establishment of a tributary monitoring program for the Canadian streams flowing into the Rainy River and Lake of the Woods.

The purpose is to measure nutrient loadings into the Rainy River and into Lake of the Woods from Canadian tributaries.  Although many of the streams in Minnesota are monitored, nutrient loads on the Canadian side have not been measured.  This information was identified as a key data gap in the preliminary nutrient budget research being undertaken for the Foundation by Kathryn Hargan at Trent University.  Monitoring will help refine the nutrient budget for the lake, and identify tributaries with the highest nutrient loadings to help focus possible reduction strategies.

A consortium of agencies are collaborating on this research, including our Foundation, Ontario Ministry of Environment, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, the Watershed Program of the Rainy River First Nations, and Trent University researchers working on the Nutrient Budget for Lake of the Woods.  The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is also participating to ensure that comparable methods and analyses are employed on both sides of the international border.