Project Summary

The Otter Tail River Management,  Inc (OTRM) is a non profit organization that was formed in 2021 to improve the environmental and recreational quality of a section Otter Tail River.  The OTRM focus is only on the portions of the Otter Tail River between the outlets into Otter Tail Lake upstream to the Rush Lake dam.  We are referring to this segment as the "OTTR".

The OTTR segment is entirely in Otter Tail County, Minnesota in the Ottertail and Rush Lake townships.

The OTTR is made up of a 4.4 mile natural river channel, 9 man-made canals, one primary inlet and two outlets. The canal network is made up of 3 through canals and 6 terminal canals. The combined length of the 3 through canals is 1.5 miles and the combined length of the 6 terminal canals is 1.3 miles.

Tributaries to the OTTR segment include the Ottertail River, upstream from Rush Lake as well as a small stream originating at Head and Round Lakes.

The OTTR segment is used primarily for recreational purposes, including boating, fishing, kayaking, canoeing, floating, and swimming. It is described by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as, “a slow-moving, easily navigable river.”

There are 176 Properties with a 911 address on the OTTR segment. The OTTR is the only access to Otter Tail Lake via watercraft for the all riparian property owners on the segment. There are no notable commercial properties or resorts on any part of the OTTR segment.

Although the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency describes “the Otter Tail River Watershed stands out for its generally good water quality, according to new draft reports by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). A majority of its streams and lakes support fish and aquatic insect communities, and recreation,” the network is currently facing significant environmental and boat navigational issues that are increasingly getting worse at an accelerated rate and must be addressed in order to restore the segment.

The root causes of the issues seem to be isolated to a few sedimentary issues and widespread vegetative issues.