The Upper St. Croix Watershed Alliance (USCWA) was formed in 2006 by river and lake organizations in the Upper St. Croix – Eau Claire Rivers Watershed to protect and improve water quality and habitat within the watershed.
A series of monthly meetings was held from May through October 2006 to better understand watershed-level issues and priorities, and to lay the groundwork for a DNR Lake (Watershed) Protection Grant application.
During the winter of 2006-07, the grant application was drafted by water scientists at UW-Stevens Point who are acting as consulting partners to the Watershed Alliance. The purpose of the grant is to fund watershed-level information gathering and analysis activities.
The Friends of the St. Croix Headwaters, a qualified Non-profit Conservation Organization (NCO), was selected to submit and manage the DNR Lake Protection Grant application.
A public discussion of the grant application was held on March 21, 2007 and a review of volunteer match hours was held on April 21, 2007.
The Lake Protection grant application to provide funding for the 2008-10 period was submitted to the DNR in late April 2007 and approved in late June 2007. The grant-funded project is “Creating regional watershed based groundwater, hydraulic, and nutrient models for local-scale use in the Upper St Croix – Eau Claire Rivers Watershed.”
The grant-funded study and final report were completed in February 2011.