_edited.png)
Whiskey Creek Enhancement
Whiskey Creek is a tributary to the Red River of the North located in Wilkin County, MN. The Whiskey Creek subwatershed is approximately 157 square miles in area and extends from northeast of Rothsay in Otter Tail County flowing through the Red River Prairie eco-region in Wilkin County. Whiskey Creek outlets near Kent, Minnesota into the Red River of the North.
Surveys of Whiskey Creek show shows that mild to significant sediment buildup within the creek over the last several decades. Sedimented waterbodies have a reduced channel hydraulic capacity, resulting in more frequent breakout flows. Breakout flows tend to scour the landscape, causing erosion as they cut new channels through tilled fields and ultimately deposit the eroded material back in the channel. Whiskey Creek has been identified by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency as impaired for macroinvertebrate, fecal, coliform, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity.
Whiskey Creek in the News
Project Benefits:
The stream restoration of Whiskey Creek will remove excess sediment from the streambed and re-establish the channel’s natural gradeline. The project proposes to strategically place side inlets and sediment basins to reduce nutrient and sediment loadings to the stream in the future.
The project proposes to establish natural aquatic and wildlife habitat. The improved water quality should improve the aquatic habitat for native fish and macroinvertebrate species. In addition, the expansion of riparian buffer areas will establish natural habitat for plants and animals.