Programs

Find a Service Center

Root Watershed

Updated 03/25/2005

Meeting Schedule

This document requires Adobe Acrobat.

Root Watershed Meeting Schedule (16 KB)

Description of Watershed

The total estimated area in the watershed is 1,045,300 acres. This watershed is located in Dodge, Fillmore, Houston, Mower, Olmsted and Winona Counties in Southeast Minnesota, and Winneshiek County in Northern Iowa.

The land uses in this watershed consist of cropland, forestland and pastureland. The watershed area is a combination of the Eastern Minnesota Till Prairies and the Northern Mississippi Valley Loess Hills resource areas. The topography is nearly level to gently sloping with streams having narrow, shallow valleys in the till plains. In the loess hills the topography is sloping to hilly in the uplands with large and small tributaries of the Mississippi River forming narrow bottomlands. Soils are deep and medium textured and moderately fine textured. Drainage varies from well drained to somewhat poorly drained in the upland areas and from well drained to poorly drained on stream terraces. In the loess hills, steep, stony, and rocky soils are also common.

In the cropland areas of the watershed, there are about 3,000 farms. Cropland covers 599,800 acres. The primary crops are corn, soybeans and hay. Other crops include small grains, vegetables and sorghum.

Pastureland in the watershed comprises about 99,700 acres. Much of the pastureland in this watershed is located in rough and steep areas. Most of these pastures are overgrazed. The primary forage species are Kentucky bluegrass and white clover. When managed with prescribed grazing other cool season species such as timothy, smooth bromegrass, and quackgrass express themselves.

There are a number of producers who have improved their pastures or converted cropland to pastures for dairy and stocker operations. These pastures are often improved cool season grasses along with legumes such as alfalfa or various clover species.