A plan to help counties coordinate plans for improving the Root River is moving forward as the new year approaches.

Resource Specialist Justin Hanson updated the board on “One Watershed, One Plan” Tuesday. The plan aligns Mower County’s Soil and Water Conservation District’s watershed planning with Winona, Fillmore, Houston, Olmsted and Dodge counties under the Root River Watershed District.

“It’s a brand new way of doing planning,” Hanson said.

Mower County addresses each waterway in its water plans, but up until now, it’s just addressed projects in Mower County. “One Watershed, One Plan” brings the counties together to plan and coordinate projects and work on the Root River, so the counties are working together.

Chiefly, the plan brings together all the stakeholders for the Root River, which has a headwaters in eastern Mower County near LeRoy. Deer and Bear Creeks are also tributaries for the river. What comes off the land in Mower has an impact downstream, Hanson noted.

“It’s very important that we have a good plan in place,” Hanson said. “The end result is that we want good planning so that we can go back and tie that into grant opportunities.”

On Tuesday, Commissioner Tim Gabrielson, who has served on the water board, was appointed as Mower County’s representative for the “One Watershed, One Plan” policy committee.

The aim is for this to be a grassroots effort that sets the plans in motion, then the committee will dissolve. At least at this point, there are no plans to form a new government body.

“We’ve gone to great lengths to make sure this doesn’t turn into or even feel like another layer of government,” Hanson said. “We’re bringing this group together for the sole purpose of putting a plan together.”

However, County Coordinator Craig Oscarson warned that there’s a chance for a joint power board forming if necessary.

Hanson talked to the board about the plan in September. If the plan works well, Hanson envisions it being a model for other, similar partnerships across the state.

While it’s a bit complicated to be the first county working on the plan, Hanson said it will be good to coordinate the plan in the long run.

“We’re going to be doing management planning the right way, the responsible way,” Hanson said.