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Summer 1999 ATE ALA Page 5 Proposed News Release: ° .®® ~' 3~ Images of your Lake's Watershed Within the next two years the public will have access to 3D models of lake watersheds within the state of Minnesota. It will provide a very powerful and valuable tool in protecting the health of our lakes. The 1998 Minnesota Legislature authorized through: Laws of Minnesota 1998, Chapter 401, Section 4 "200,000 in fiscal year 1999 to identify watershed boundaries for lakes greater than 100 acres in a geographical information system format. This appropriation is added to the base in fiscal year 2000 only." DNR Waters, in cooperation with local officials, lake organizations and citizens, is heading up this project. Once completed, lake watersheds will be available in an electronic format called a Geographic Information System, or GIS for short. This means that there will be a computer model of each lake's watershed. This is not just a mapping project. It will be a working 3D model of a lake and its. watershed. Some of the model's capabilities will be: • Predicting and tracing which way water flows at any point within the lake watershed, • Calculating flow volumes within any part of the lake watershed, and • Assisting in planning, trouble shooting and predicting potential watershed problems. Local planners, water managers, lake associations, and consultants can use these 3D models of lake watersheds as building blocks. Once the technical work is done on each lake watershed - fine tuning or ground truthing of the watershed will be needed. This will rely on local observation and input from citizens, lake organizations, local governments and officials. Final adjustment to the model will then be made. It is anticipated most lakes greater than 100 acres will be completed during the two year project. The information should be available to the public through various sources, including local DNR offices. For further information about the project, please contact: Russ Schultz DNR Lake Management Specialist 1601 Minnesota Drive Brainerd, MN 56401 218-828-6171 E-mail: russ.schultz@dnr.state.mn.us Equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from pro- grams of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is available to all individuals regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, age or disability. Discrimination inquiries should be sent to: MN/DNR, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155-4031; or the Equal Opportunity Office, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. 20240. The work that provides the basis for this publication was supported in part by funding under a cooperative agree- ment with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The substance and findings of that work are dedicated to the public. The author and publisher are solely respon- sible for the accuracy of the statements and interpreta- tions contained in the publication. Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Govern- ment.