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State and local officia]s attended the official ground-breaking for the Lazarus Creek Dam near Canby, MN, in the Lac qui Parle-Yellow Bank Watershed District. Ron Harnack, BWSR Execu- tive Director presents the state "check" for $1.4 million to officials of the watershed district for the project. Other state officials attending include Sen. Gary Kubly, Sen. Dennis Frederickson, and Rep. Aaron Peterson. Lazarus Creek is a tributary to the Lac qui Parle River, originating in eastern South Dakota upon a plateau up to 700' higher in elevation that the plains below. The watershed of the project is 21 square miles. The major problem within the watershed and downstream is reduced farm income resulting from floods, erosion, and sedimentation. property was obtained with assistance from the BWSR and Area II MN River Basin Projects, Inc.. In late 1990 the SCS notified the District that the project no longer met the feasibility criteria due to changes in de- termining the federal cost-benefit ratio. Planning and design by the SCS ceased. Lazarus Creek Flood Control Project is an earthen dam 62' in height, and 1350' in length, with a 48" pipe outlet struc- ture. It is designed as a dry dam, and will only impound waters during significant rainfall or runoff events. The 100 year storm flow reduction is 66.2%, reducing the cfs from 4982 to 408 cfs. Total cost of the project is estimated at $1.84 million and has taken over 35 years to come to fruition. The project site was first proposed in 1967 by the SCS Area Engineer in a report to the Yellow Medicine SWCD. It was renamed the LQP-25 in 1977 among 200 plus sites with strong flood control potential within the Minnesota River Basin. In 1985 LQP-25 was deemed feasible and cost beneficial to be constructed by the federal government under the P.L. 83- 466 Program, which assisted local governments in the planning, design, and construction of flood control projects. The SCS preliminary design work began in 1986. The Lac qui Parle-Yellow Bank Watershed district, the project sponsor, purchased a 200 acre tract of land at the proposed site as it became available for sale. Full title to the In 1995 BWSR andArea II staffbegan updating the previous SCS design taking into consideration the chang- ing environmental concerns. An EAW was developed with a resulting `no impact' finding of fact. Houston Engineer- ing was retained as the consultant for final design, permitting assistance, and construction management in 1997. In 1999 $1.375 million was appropriated by the legislature to Lac qui Parle Watershed District for the project but was subsequently vetoed by Governor Ventura. In 2001 the legislature appropriated $1.4 million but it was again vetoed by Governor Ventura. Finally, in 2003 the legislature again appropriated $1.4 million to the watershed district for the project and it was signed into law by Governor Pawlenty. The project will reduce flood flows which will reduce erosion, especially streambank, reduce the introduction of sediment and nutrients into the downstream water courses, reduce economic losses of downstream farmers, townships, counties, and cities. The project will also allow for the installation of downstream road retentions which are not possible under existing hydrologic conditions. -8-