The mandate of the International Lake of the Woods and Rainy River Watershed Task Force was to review and make recommendations regarding the bi-national management of the Lake of the Woods and Rainy River Basin and the IJC's potential role in this management by July 15, 2011.

Announcements

Final Report Issued

The Task Force submitted its final report to the International Joint Commission on July 15, 2011. The final report reviews the ways that Canada and the United States work together to manage water quality, quantity, and related issues in the Lake of the Woods and Rainy River watershed. The report provides recommendations to address five themes for improving bi-national governance for priority issues in the watershed:

• a summit convened by the IJC to encourage the development of a watershed vision, common goals and objectives;
• combining two existing IJC Boards into a single International Watershed Board with a water quality mandate encompassing all boundary waters in the watershed;
• increased support for the existing Multi-Agency Arrangement’s work on water quality science efforts in the watershed;
• increased local participation in watershed management governance; and
• a review of water-level regulation on Lake of the Woods.

The submission of this report completed the work of the Task Force and the International Joint Commission held public hearings on the report from July 21 to August 31, 2011.

Informed by the report and the record of comments from the public, the IJC will make its recommendations to the U.S. and Canadian Governments by January 31, 2012.