Over the past several decades, an impressive amount of research and monitoring has been conducted in the Rainy-Lake of the Woods watershed. For more than 15 years, the Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation had led the production of the State of the Basin Reports, working with the Territorial Planning Unit of Grand Council Treaty #3, members of the International Multi-Agency Arrangement (government agencies, U.S. Tribal, non-governmental organizations), and the International Joint Commission watershed Board.
These reports, published in 2009, 2014, 2022 and due again for publication in 2027, detail a wide range of topics: physical characteristics of the watershed, water chemistry and nutrients, aquatic ecosystem health, emerging threats and an overview of information gaps and monitoring needs identified at those times.
The most recent volume underscored the emerging risks to the basin from aquatic invasive species, erosion and water levels changes during floods and droughts, nutrients that drive harmful algal blooms, impacts of contaminants, and the complex changes the watershed faces as the global climate changes.
The State of the Basin Reports reflect the very latest in knowledge and understanding gained through scientific inquiry and Indigenous traditional knowledge - an embodiment of the principle of "two-eyed seeing". Reports are published in both a long-form, technical format and a summary document intended for general public audiences.
Your donation supports our work to protect the
Lake’s water quality for future generations.
