Tour ACD Projects!

Photo: Screenshot of interactive map of ACD projects throughout Anoka County

ACD serves all of Anoka County's 369,000 residents, spanning 284,000 acres, 72 lakes, 446 miles of streams and rivers and critical groundwater resources. ACD staff have been busy working on projects to improve and maintain natural resource throughout Anoka County. Projects include lakeshore & streambank stabilizations, rain gardens, habitat restorations, and many more. Learn more about what is going on in your neighborhood by taking an interactive project tour today! For more information contact Kathy Berkness, Office Administrator, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

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2023 Progress on ACD's 10-Year Stewardship Plan

ACD identified several keystone endeavors for each of the foundational natural resources: Surface Water, Ecological Resources, Groundwater, and Soils as well as Community and Operation. We also recognize the foundational knowledge provided by monitoring, inventory, analysis and planning. As we make progress on these endeavors, we'll have a positive impact on the quality of life in Anoka County. Listed below are achievements from 2023. Each year, it's important to take stock in how well we progressed in the prior year. 

Foundational Knowledge
Monitor - 123 monitoring sites including lakes, rivers, wetlands, groundwater, and precipitation involving quantity, quality and biology.
Inventory - Photo inventory of Rum & Mississippi rivers, Oak Glen Creek, and Martin, Linwood, and Coon Lakes. Aquatic plant inventory of Lake George and Highland Lake. Restorable wetlands and buffer law compliance inventories.
Analyze - Completed Centerville Lake Stormwater Retrofit Analysis (SRA). Advanced Rum and Mississippi SRAs. Completed Subwatershed Analysis (SWA) for Ford Brook and Rum River drainage areas.
Strategize - Annual work plans for ACD, local WMOs, Rum and Lower St. Croix watersheds. Participate in regional planning initiatives.

Surface Water
Stabilize Riverbanks - 3,041 ft. of Rum Riverbank.
Improve Quality of Priority Waters - Martin and Typo Lakes improving. Projects on Lake George, Golden Lake, Mississippi and Rum Rivers.
Stabilize Lakeshores - 180 linear ft. of lakeshore on George and Golden Lakes.
Enhance Hydrologic Function - Pond modification treating 86.8 acres for water quality and stormwater attenuation.
Remove Pollutants - 123 lbs Total Phosphorus and 117 tons Total Suspended Solids reduced.
Treat Urban and Rural Runoff - Enhancing treatment of 97 acres of urban runoff.

Ecological Resources
Protect Priority Ecological Corridors - Two RIM conservation easements totaling 52.4 acres including 3,750 ft. of Rum River frontage. Assumed management of 126 acre wetland bank.
Restore and Enhance Wetlands and Uplands - 50 acres-Prairie, 29 acres-oak savanna & woodland, 29 acres-wetland, 10,000 ft²-riparian habitat, and 2,000 ft²-lakeshore habitat.
Rescue Rare Species - 900 rare plants rescued and planted into 5 protected sites.
Control Invasive Species - 41 acres-buckthorn, 2.6 acres-non-native Phragmites, 5 acres-wild parsnip, 1 site-round-leaf bittersweet, 1 site-golden creeper, 10 sites-knotweed, 1 site-tansey, 0.5 acres-spotted knapweed.
Maintain Projects and Practices - 74 sites inspected.

Improve Rural and Urban Habitat - 12,015 ft². of riparian and shoreline buffers. 

Groundwater
Provide Leadership and Coordination - Serve on metro groundwater sustainability workgroup. Pursue funding for Groundwater Specialist. Pass MASWCD resolution for groundwater conservation funding from DNR user fees.
Reduce Use - Comment on DNR water appropriation permits to reduce waste.
Reduce Contamination - 6 failing septic system fixed, 15 wells sealed.

Community
Inspire Behavior Change - 71 projects installed.
Engage Residents - 167 site consultations, 38 project designs, 5 volunteer events, 354 tree sale customers.
Increase Awareness - Completed Our Riverbank Connection video and accompanying online quiz, 26,507 views of Our Connection video series, presentations to 400+ participants on a variety of topics, workshops, monthly snapshot, quarterly newsletter, active blog, and social media.
Assist with Regulatory Compliance - 99.9% buffer law compliance, Wetland Conservation Act guidance.

Soils
Promote Agricultural Soil Health - Cost share funding promotion, 1 project-10 acres.

Operations
Deliver Commitments On Time and On Budget - Closed out 8 grants.
Recruit, Train, Retain Expertise - Added P.E. licensure, no resignations.

For more information on ACD's 2023 activities check out the full 2023 ACD Annual Report or contact Chris Lord, District Manager, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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2023 ACD Technical Assistance Summary

ACD staff provide technical assistance for a wide-variety of projects each year. Many of the requests for assistance come directly from landowners interested in improving natural resources on their individual properties. Technical assistance is also provided for projects in collaboration with county, city, and watershed entity partners. The table below summarizes 2023 technical assistance provided by ACD staff. 

Assistance usually begins with a site consultation. Consultations typically include a conversation with the landowner, desktop review of the site using GIS mapping software and available data sets, and a site visit to discuss options. If the landowner is interested in pursuing a project, ACD can provide design and installation oversight services. Maintenance guidance is also provided for previously installed projects.

For more information contact Mitch Haustein, Stormwater & Shoreline Specialist, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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ACD's New Grading System

2022 Report Card
ACD recently took the time to look back on 2022 and take stock in how well we've been doing to implement our 2021-2030 Natural Resources Stewardship Plan. We looked at 24 Keystone Endeavors across four priority natural resources, our human resource (community), and internal operations. We also considered foundational knowledge gained through monitoring, inventory, analysis and planning. 

10-year Goals
A prerequisite to gauge success was to define clearly our 10-year expectations and aspirations for each keystone endeavor based on our current and anticipated staff and financial capacity. Some goals are easily quantified measured while others are more subjective. 

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ACD Projects Dashboards: Tracking and Visualizing Conservation Benefits

 When projects are installed, ACD staff calculate and document the benefits produced by them. Measurable benefits for water resource improvement projects include metrics such as nutrient and sediment reductions to local waterbodies. For ecological projects, the total area restored or enhanced is quantified. Until recently, these numbers lived in project-specific documentation, but they can now be viewed altogether in ACD's new interactive projects dashboards.

With dashboards, you can explore the cumulative benefits produced through projects such as habitat restorations, streambank stabilizations, pollinator plantings, and stormwater best management practices. Many projects have multiple benefits; for example, rain gardens trap and filter polluted stormwater while also providing habitat for pollinators. Altogether, these tools provide a user-friendly way to track achievements within and across years.

You can apply filters based on location, date range, and project type. For example, selecting the "Last Year" option in the date range dropdown will give you a summary of all conservation benefits achieved in 2022. Pan throughout the map and click on the points to learn more about individual projects. The gauges will adjust to summarize the benefits produced by the projects you're viewing.

ACD Contact: Breanna Keith, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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2020 ACD Technical Assistance Summary

ACD staff provide technical assistance for a wide variety of projects each year. Many of the requests for assistance come directly from landowners interested in improving natural resources or addressing concerns on their properties. Technical assistance is also provided for projects in collaboration with county, city, and watershed entity partners. The table to the right summarizes 2020 technical assistance provided by ACD staff.

Assistance begins with a site consultation. Consultations typically include a conversation with the landowner, desktop review of the site using GIS mapping software and available data sets, and a site visit to discuss options. If the landowner is interested in pursuing a project, ACD can provide design and installation oversight services. Maintenance guidance is also provided for previously installed projects.

Additional information about active projects and those previously completed is available on ACD's project tracking map.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Shortlist/index.html?appid=d1e76c3d808743c1b149bde24c990894

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