Establishing a Foundation for Ecological Infrastructure Investments in the Red River Basin

This report details the first phase of the 'Building Capacity for Ecological Infrastructure Investments in the Red River Basin' initiative, a partnership between the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the Red River Basin Commission (RRBC). The project aims to develop a Decision Support System (DSS) to help municipalities and counties in the Red River Basin (RRB) evaluate the cost-effectiveness of ecological infrastructure investments—such as restoring natural environments—compared to traditional 'hard' infrastructure for flood control and water quality management.

• The Red River Basin (RRB) covers 116,500 square kilometres across Manitoba, North Dakota, and Minnesota, and is characterized by high agricultural productivity but suffers from chronic flooding and severe water quality degradation, with Lake Winnipeg described as the most eutrophied large lake in the world.
• A data gap analysis revealed that while most biophysical, infrastructure, and socioeconomic data are available, there is a critical lack of high-resolution elevation data (LIDAR) in the Canadian portion of the basin. Coordinated collection of this missing data is estimated to cost between US$0.9 million and C$3.4 million.
• The proposed Decision Support System (DSS) is intended to be a freely available, online tool that utilizes cloud computing and an 'agnostic' architecture based on the Open MI protocol to ensure compatibility between various existing models and datasets across different jurisdictions.
• The project identified several existing models that could be integrated into the DSS, including SWAT for water quality and land-management impacts, HEC-RAS for flood forecasting, MIKE-11 for flow reduction strategies, and SPARROW for predicting contaminant loads in unmonitored locations.
• Three case studies were selected to pilot the DSS: the restoration of the Giroux Bog in the La Coulee sub-watershed (Manitoba) to reduce nutrient inputs and slow floodwaters; the Palmville Fen restoration (Minnesota) to provide regional flood control and protect the cities of Roseau and Wannaska; and the USDA's Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP) to prioritize resources for water quality improvement.
• The AWEP initiative in the RRB received US$2,615,352 in 2010 funding to implement six strategies: Sugar Beet Cover Crop, Beach Ridge Erosion Reduction, Restricted Flow Sediment Pool, Water Flow Retardation, Stream Bank Erosion Reduction, and Other Activities.
• A primary obstacle to the DSS is the lack of an overarching vision and defined goals for the basin, as well as the need for harmonized data-gathering protocols to ensure compatibility across state and provincial boundaries.
• The report recommends that the DSS be designed in a stepwise fashion, starting with pilot locations, and include functionalities for flood and drought forecasting, water quality, water supply, and infrastructure cost-benefit analysis.

APA

Voora, V., Gislason, R., Zubrycki, K., & Perlmutter, S. (2011). Establishing a Foundation for Ecological Infrastructure Investments in the Red River Basin. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/establishing_foundation.pdf

Chicago

Voora, Vivek, Robin Gislason, Karla Zubrycki, and Sara Perlmutter. Establishing a Foundation for Ecological Infrastructure Investments in the Red River Basin. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2011. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/establishing_foundation.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Voora |first1=Vivek |last2=Gislason |first2=Robin |last3=Zubrycki |first3=Karla |last4=Perlmutter |first4=Sara |title=Establishing a Foundation for Ecological Infrastructure Investments in the Red River Basin |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=2011 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/establishing_foundation.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{voora2011establishing, author = {Voora, Vivek and Gislason, Robin and Zubrycki, Karla and Perlmutter, Sara}, title = {{Establishing a Foundation for Ecological Infrastructure Investments in the Red River Basin}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2011}, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/establishing_foundation.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }