How one Minnesota community came together and restored a beloved trout stream

South of Bemidji, tucked among the pine trees of northcentral Minnesota, lies one of the region’s premier coldwater trout streams: the Kabekona River. The waters run clear, and the fish are abundant. There aren’t many spots in the area like this, and anglers hurry to its shores each season for their chance to catch a variety of trout native to the area.

Despite its reputation as a great fishing destination, the Kabekona River has been sitting on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) impaired waters list for several years because it wasn’t considered safe for swimming. Specifically, the river had an E. coli issue — a devastating impairment for a trout stream, because trout fishing requires wading in the water for extended periods of time.

However, thanks to years of restoration efforts, community engagement, and local partnerships, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has finally proposed its removal from the impaired waters list.

In 2016, during the first MPCA watershed monitoring cycle, scientists gathered enough data from the river to confirm the water was, in fact, unsafe for aquatic recreation because it had excessive E. coli bacteria. This alarmed local partners, who knew the river supported a substantial trout population.

Further testing revealed a suspected culprit — a herd of cattle that entered the water on a daily basis. Their pasture cut right through the stream.

“We didn’t want to just point our finger at the cattle,” said Phil Votruba, a project manager for the MPCA. “The river is 16 and a half miles long. We needed specific data to confirm the source.”

The Hubbard County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) confirmed the cattle as the source through microbial source tracking, a test that looks at DNA in water samples.

“They did the additional monitoring, source tracking, and fundraising,” Votruba said. “It was all paid for locally.”

Once experts identified the farm where cattle were entering the stream, they knew exactly how to fix the river. First, local partners needed to install an exclusion zone to prevent the cattle from physically standing in the river all day. Second, they needed to plant new vegetation along the stream to stabilize the land and reduce soil erosion. Finally, a solar-powered drinking water source had to be established for the cattle, who were used to drinking from the river at all hours of the day. But before any of this work could be done, they needed buy-in from the farmer.

“This was essentially a pasture, so the farmer wasn’t breaking any laws,” Votruba said. “You can’t just walk in and tell them what they must do. You have to build a relationship. Thankfully our partners knew these folks, which made all the difference.”

Partners from Hubbard County and Trout Unlimited, a nonprofit dedicated to improving water quality for trout and salmon, got to know the owner of the property over several years. This long-term relationship built a foundation of trust between the two groups and ultimately set the project up for success. After working together to create a plan, the county turned to community members to help raise money for the project.  

“We reached out to townships, the Kabekona Lake Foundation, local businesses, and even the ice racers,” said Jake Shaughnessy, a watershed planner for Hubbard County SWCD. “The community really came together to raise the funds needed for this work.”

Once word got out about the project, donations poured in for a multitude of reasons.

“A lot of people remembered fishing that stream as kids,” Shaughnessy said. “At every township meeting we attended, someone had a story. They felt a strong connection to the river. Others gave because they knew the landowner and wanted to support them as a longtime member of the community. And for the lake foundation, protecting the Kabekona River meant protecting their lake.”

With funding in place, volunteers from Trout Unlimited and Hubbard County completed the restoration projects over the course of a few summers. The cows grew accustomed to their new drinking water source, the farmer was happy with the solutions, and the water samples improved. After several years of monitoring, well beyond the two-year requirement, data showed bacteria levels were consistently within safe levels. The MPCA confirmed the Kabekona River meets water quality standards for recreation and proposed its removal from the 2026 impaired waters list.  

“This didn’t happen overnight,” Votruba said. “It took almost a decade of monitoring, partnership, and trust. But when you see a community come together to protect a high-quality trout stream like this, it’s a reminder of what can happen when people care about their water.”