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Spring - u r 1 5 TALK Page 3 i i /' / sixteen. first-order tributaries located in fourteen counties. 'Ilia 1990 population of the watershed is estimated at about 330,000 people. The St. Croix Watershed Network has designated the entire watershed of the St. Croix River as its project area. by Dan cGuiness Administrative Director innesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission In 1994, after atwo- year study recommended by the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources. the Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission adopted a final report containing 38 recommendations. Among those was a recommendation encouraging interests within the St. Croix Watershed to form a network to work together to augment what has already been done through federal and state legislation to protect the resources of the St. Croix River and its watershed. The Commission, in 1994, assisted in the formation of the St. Croix Watershed Network and encouraged funding for startup costs by the McKnight Foundation. With foundation funding, the Network has recently been holding meetings throughout the watershed. The following is some basic information about the watershed and the Network that is working on its behalf: Location The St. Croix River enters the Mississippi . ~ River just downstream of Hastings, Minnesota. The St. Croix River, like the . . Mississippi. flows along - between Minnesota and Wisconsin, along the eastern edge and north of - the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. Tht; watershed of the St. Croix river, a major subwatershed of the Mississippi. covers 7.760 square miles of landscape. of which 4,828 (6296) is in Wisconsin and 2.932 square miles (3896) is in Minnesota. Within the watershed there are The Relationship of Watershed Health to River and Human Health While the relationship between the health of a watershed and the health of a river have long been discussed. strong support, both from the scientific community and the general public, has only recently surfaced. Most recently, on the Mississippi River, both the Izaak Walton League, in its report RPStnring the B River and the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee. in its report ~'ac the Threat: An ssissipni River clearly documented that relationship. The health of subwatersheds of the Mississippi determine the health of the Mississippi. The waters of the St. Croix River, along with the waters of the Minnesota River and. the main stem of the Mississippi itself, set the stage for the health of the Mississippi River as it begins its journey south through ten states to the Gulf of Mexico. - Continued on page 3».