[Excerpts from Jan. 16 USACE St. Paul Press Release]
The Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, and the Wild Rice Watershed District signed an agreement Jan. 10 to begin a $2.2 million, two-year feasibility study that will look at flood damage reduction and natural resource restoration on the Wild Rice River.

This study is an offshoot of the Red River Reconnaissance Study, which was completed by the Corps of Engineers in 2001. The goal of the reconnaissance study was to provide a broad, preliminary overview of the Red River basin's water resource-related problems, concerns and opportunities, as well as to determine if there was a potential for federal participation in solutions. The Wild Rice River Feasibility Study is the first of three, and potentially more, sub-basin feasibility studies that will follow up the reconnaissance study.

The Corps of Engineers and Wild Rice Watershed District will equally share the cost of completing the study. It will be completed in two phases, with a one-year long first phase to gather information and preliminary assessment and screening of the measures mentioned above. The second phase, which should also last around a year, will provide a more detailed study and design of measures that show good potential for implementation.

Full Release
Red River Reconaissance Study (845K MS Word File)

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