Southeastern Minnesota Soil Erosion

Susceptibility in the Root River Watershed

Proposed by
Matthew Brueske
And
Dakota Dorn

Project Background
The goal of this project is to locate areas that are highly susceptible to soil
erosion in the Root River Watershed. The Root River Watershed is located in south
eastern Minnesota. It has a drainage area of over one million acres with 2,471 miles
of streams and 3,008 farms (NRCS, 2015). The watershed encompasses parts of
Fillmore, Olmsted, Mower, Houston and Winona counties in Minnesota and
Winneshiek County in Iowa. Due to the large size of the watershed, our study area
will consist of four HUC 8 sized watersheds, equaling to about 20,000 acres total.
The study area is located in the northeastern section of Fillmore County, MN. Within
the study area, trout streams located in close proximity to erosion prone land will be
identified. These streams could take precedence of maintaining water quality over
streams that are farther away from erosion prone landscapes. This information
could then be given to local governments or non-profit organizations to try and
implement land saving practices with landowners. Over 95% of the watershed is
privately owned. With a number this high, it will take outside agencies to approach
these landowners to help implement land saving practices By locating which areas
are most susceptible to erosion, remediation efforts can be pinpointed and
resources can be used in a more productive manner. Best Management Practices
(BMPs) can be implemented and Riparian Zone management (RZM) can be started
in high risk areas of the watershed. The trout streams in the Root River Watershed
are some of the best in the state and hold a significant value to those who use them
for recreation. It is important to protect this environmental and recreational
resource. Without proper land management the trout streams may become polluted
and uninhabitable by aquatic life.

Objectives:
1. Define the problem: Which areas within our study area of the Root River
Watershed have the highest susceptibility of soil erosion?
2. Data Gathering: Obtain data from Minnesota Geospatial Geocommons
3. Process data for analysis: Data will be clipped to our specific study and
projected into NAD 1983 UTM Zone 15 N.
4. Input Data: Data will be entered into EVAAL erosion monitoring tool set.
5. Analyze: Results will be used to help direct erosion mitigation efforts. Areas
of high susceptibility could be shown to local conservation agencies. Future

studies could include contacting landowners about enrolling in land

conservation programs.
Data
The first piece of data needed was an outline of the specific watersheds we
would be analyzing. This data was obtained from the Minnesota Geospatial
Commons. The watershed outlines were a shapefile containing all of the watersheds
from across the state. In order to complete the project, we needed to obtain
multiple other data sources. Other data sources included trout streams, major rivers
and LiDAR from the Minnesota Geospatial commons. Soil Classification data was
obtained from the Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO). A land use land
cover dataset was also necessary in our research and this dataset was obtained
from the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Preliminary processing will have
to be done to clip the collected data to our study area within the Root River
Watershed. There are not many data concerns with the datasets being used in this
research. With the exception of the streams and soil data, all of the data is seven
years old or newer. Therefore, there is only a limited concern with data quality. The
two datasets that are older than seven years only raise minor concerns that pertain
to accuracy. These datasets display spatial data that does not change greatly in a
short amount of time. Since they are slower changing, the datasets should be
accurate enough to use in our research.
Project Approach
The Wisconsin DNR has created a toolset called Erosion Vulnerability
Assessment for Agricultural Lands (EVAAL). Although our study area is located in
southeastern Minnesota, we will be utilizing this tool to locate erosion prone areas.

This tool incorporates three different aspects used to analyze soil erosion. Using the
Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), Stream Power Index (SPI) and locating internally
drained areas (IDA) will create the model. These three different inputs combined
together create a map showing the different areas and various vulnerability indices
for the study area. If desired, these areas could then be aggregated to areas such as
property boundaries.
In order to use this tool efficiently, there needs to be processing on the data
before it can be input. The tool works most efficiently on areas that are smaller than
20,000 acres, so our study area had to fall within that constraint. The DEM used has
to be three meter resolution or less, otherwise it will not accurately predict erosion
susceptibility. The DEM we acquired is one meter resolution and meets that
requirement. The toolset cannot recognize where culverts are located, which allow
for water to flow below roadways or between fields. In order for these culverts to be
recognized, digital dams need to be created. This will involve manipulating the
LiDAR data by manually creating the dams within ArcMap. These dams will then
allow the tool to run correctly and not have an effect on the erosion index outcome.
Expected Results
After performing analysis our expected results will be a raster showing an
index of which areas are most susceptible to erosion within our study area. The
raster will be classified into different indices predetermined by the EVAAL toolset.
The results will then have government land and private land datasets overlaid in
order to see which areas should be targeted with high priority. Once these particular
land areas have been identified, this information can then be distributed to local

governments or agencies such as The Nature Conservancy in order to help start

land management practices.
Conclusion
Soil erosion is a big problem across the world. Most people do not realize the
impact it can have on local landscapes, or how it may affect local agriculture. Not
only does erosion affect the landscape, it can also have an effect on many other
aspects of an ecosystem such as streams and rivers. It is important to identify these
important areas and protect them from future degradation. Being able to identify
locations that may be susceptible to erosion will allow for preventive measures to
be put in place. BMPs such as riparian buffers, silt fences, and straw cover are
examples of possible preventive measures to lower the amount of erosion.
Landscapes and popular recreational areas that may have succumbed to erosive
processes could be preserved for many generations.
References
Benzer, N. (2010). Using the Geographical Information System and Remote Sensing
Techniques for Soil Erosion Assessment. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies,
19(5), 881-886.

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. (2012). Root River Watershed Monitoring and
Assessment Report. Retrieved from http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/viewdocument.html?gid=17986

Mitasova, H., Hofierka, J., Zlocha, M., & Iverson, L. R. (1996). Modelling topographic
potential for erosion and deposition using GIS. International Geographical
Information Systems, 10(5), 629-641.

MN NRCS Root River Watershed | NRCS. (n.d.). Retrieved March 5, 2015, from
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/mn/technical/dma/rwa/?
cid=nrcs142p2_023617

Tonello, M., Frieburger, C., Nuhfer, A., & Sutton, S. Riparian Zone Management and
Trout Streams: 21st Century and Beyond.Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Fisheries Division.