Summary
Halsted Bay’s water quality grade (D) is among the worst in the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) due in part to excessive nutrients. To help improve water quality in the area, the MCWD recently purchased the 112-acre Halverson Farm in Minnetrista, which drains into Six Mile Marsh and Creek shortly before it enters Halsted Bay.

The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) is committed to a leadership role in protecting, improving, and managing surface waters and affiliated ground water resources within the District, including their relationships to the ecosystems of which they are an integral part. In fulfilling its mission, MCWD is looking to use every available tool to protect and enhance water resources.  Land owners have the opportunity to contribute by conservation easements, selling their property or a habitat restoration agreement.

Land protection is one of many tools MCWD uses to meet clean water goals.

The health of a water body is a reflection of the land use in the area of land that drains to it, or its watershed. As the intensity of human land use increases, water quality goes down and habitat is degraded.  

Traditionally, water quality protection tools have operated just before polluted water reaches its downstream destination (a lake, river, or stream).The Land Conservation Program works to protect land at critical watershed drainage areas and restore degraded habitats upstream. By doing this we reduce the need for expensive infrastructure downstream, reducing costs for taxpayers and developers.