Minnesota Administrative Rules
Agency 158 - Natural Resources Department
Chapter 6115 - PUBLIC WATER RESOURCES
STANDARDS AND CRITERIA FOR GRANTING PERMITS TO CHANGE THE COURSE, CURRENT, OR CROSS-SECTION OF PUBLIC WATERS
Part 6115.0170 - DEFINITIONS

Subpart 1. Certain terms.

For the purposes of parts 6115.0150 to 6115.0280, certain terms or words used are interpreted as follows: the word "shall" is mandatory, not permissive. All distances unless otherwise specified are measured horizontally.

Subp. 2. Alteration.

"Alteration" means any activity that will change or diminish the course, current, or cross-section of public waters.

Subp. 3. Beds of public waters.

"Beds of public waters" means all portions of public waters located below the ordinary high water level.

Subp. 3a. Boat storage structure.

"Boat storage structure" means a structure that is supported on the bed of a public water and has walls, a roof, and either an open well for boats or a floor from wall to wall.

Subp. 3b. Boathouse.

"Boathouse" means a floating structure that is moored by spuds, cables, ropes, anchors, or chains; may be intended for habitation; and has walls, a roof, and either an open well for boats or a floor from wall to wall. Boathouse does not include a houseboat or boat storage structure.

Subp. 4. Breakwater.

"Breakwater" means an offshore structure intended to protect a shore area, harbor, or marina from wave and current action, erosion, or sedimentation.

Subp. 5. Commissioner.

"Commissioner" means the commissioner of natural resources.

Subp. 6. Department.

"Department" means the Department of Natural Resources.

Subp. 7. Dock.

"Dock" means a narrow platform or structure extending waterward from the shoreline intended for ingress and egress for moored watercraft or seaplanes or to provide access to deeper water for swimming, fishing, or other water-oriented recreational activities.

Subp. 8. Drainage.

"Drainage" means any method for removing or diverting waters from public waterbasins or public water wetlands. The methods include, but are not limited to, excavation of an open ditch, installation of subsurface drainage tile, filling, diking, or pumping.

Subp. 9. Drawdown.

"Drawdown" means a temporary lowering of water levels, for a maximum duration of two years.

Subp. 9a. Ecology of the waters.

"Ecology of the waters" means the natural aquatic environment, including organisms, physical characteristics, and interactions between and among the organisms and their surroundings.

Subp. 9b. Energy exchanger.

"Energy exchanger" means a structure designed for placement on the bed or excavated into the bed of public waters for the purpose of exchanging energy for heating or cooling and includes accompanying hoses or lines connecting the energy exchange components.

Subp. 10. Excavation.

"Excavation" means the displacement or removal of the sediment or other materials from the beds of public waters by means of hydraulic suction or mechanical operations.

Subp. 11. Fill.

"Fill" means any material placed or intended to be placed on the bed or bank of any public water.

Subp. 12. Filter.

"Filter" means a transitional layer of gravel, small stone, or fabric between the fine material of an embankment and riprap shore protection materials.

Subp. 13. Floating structure.

"Floating structure" means any structure, except for boathouses, watercraft, and seaplanes, that is supported entirely by its own buoyancy and can be removed from public waters before winter freeze-up by skidding intact or by disassembly with hand tools.

Subp. 14. Floodplain.

"Floodplain" means the areas adjoining a watercourse which has been or hereafter may be covered by the regional flood.

Subp. 15. Floodway.

"Floodway" means the channel of the watercourse and those portions of the adjoining floodplains which are reasonably required to carry and discharge the regional flood.

Subp. 16. Harbor.

"Harbor" means either an inland or offshore area protected from waves which is intended for the mooring of watercraft.

Subp. 16a. Houseboat.

"Houseboat" means a motorboat that has either a pontoon or a flat-bottomed hull configuration and a permanent enclosed superstructure that houses, at a minimum, built-in sleeping, cooking, and toilet facilities.

Subp. 16b. Ice ridge.

"Ice ridge" means a linear mound of lakebed materials pushed up onto the lakeshore by the action of ice.

Subp. 17. Inland boat slip.

"Inland boat slip" means an inland excavation generally having a uniform width which serves as a protective area for launching and mooring of a single watercraft.

Subp. 18. Inland excavation.

"Inland excavation" means any excavation intended to extend the cross-section of public waters landward of the natural or preexisting shoreline.

Subp. 18a. Local government unit.

"Local government unit" has the meaning given in part 8420.0111, subpart 38.

Subp. 18b. Local origin.

"Local origin" means a source for live plant materials and their propagules that is limited to areas of the same region where the plant materials are proposed to be planted, not to exceed 200 miles from where the plant materials are proposed to be planted.

Subp. 19. Low-water ford type crossing.

"Low-water ford type crossing" means a stream crossing which conforms to the natural cross-section of the stream and utilizes the placement of a suitable substrate to allow vehicular passage without confining the stream flow within culverts or other hydraulic enclosures.

Subp. 20. Marina.

"Marina" means either an inland or offshore commercial mooring facility for the concentrated mooring of seven or more watercraft or seaplanes wherein commercial ancillary services common to marinas are provided.

Subp. 21. Maximum.

"Maximum," with respect to storage capacity, refers to the most severe design condition, including surcharge (floodwater storage).

Subp. 22. Mining activity.

"Mining activity" means the construction, reconstruction, repair, relocation, expansion, or removal of any facility for the extraction, stockpiling, storage, disposal, or reclamation of metallic or nonmetallic minerals. Facilities include all mine pits, quarries, stockpiles, tailings basins, and any structures which drain or divert public waters to allow mining. Ancillary facilities such as access roads, bridges, culverts, and water level control structures are not mining activities.

Subp. 23. Mooring.

"Mooring" means any containment of free-floating watercraft that provides a fixed fastening for the craft.

Subp. 23a. Mooring facility.

"Mooring facility" means a concentrated area intended solely for the mooring or containment of seven or more watercraft or seaplanes by docks, mooring buoys, or other means.

Subp. 23b. Native plants.

"Native plants" means indigenous plant species growing in an ecological classification system province or a major watershed in Minnesota prior to European settlement.

Subp. 24. Offshore.

"Offshore" means the area waterward of the ordinary high water level of a public water.

Subp. 25. Ordinary high water level.

"Ordinary high water level" means the boundary of public waters as defined in Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.005, subdivision 14.

Subp. 26. [Repealed, 27 SR 529]

Subp. 26a. Permit.

"Permit" means a public waters work permit required under Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.245.

Subp. 27. Port.

"Port" means a water transportation complex established and operated under the jurisdiction of a port authority pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, chapter 458.

Subp. 28. Port facility.

"Port facility" means any facility useful in the maintenance and operation of a port. Facilities include, but are not limited to, transportation facilities, terminal and storage facilities, floating and handling equipment, power stations, and other facilities necessary for the maintenance and operation of a port.

Subp. 29. Principal spillway.

"Principal spillway" means a spillway designed to convey water from an impoundment at release rates established for the structure.

Subp. 30. Professional engineer.

"Professional engineer" means an engineer registered to practice in Minnesota.

Subp. 30a. Project.

"Project" means a specific plan, contiguous activity, proposal, or design necessary to accomplish a goal. As used in parts 6115.0150 to 6115.0280, a project may not be split into components or phases for the sole purpose of gaining an exemption from permit requirements.

Subp. 31. Public water or public waters.

"Public water" or "public waters" means those waters of the state identified under Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.005, subdivision 15 or 15a, or 103G.201.

Subp. 31a. Public water wetlands.

"Public water wetlands" means those public waters of the state identified as public water wetlands under Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.005, subdivision 15a, or 103G.201, as shown on the public water inventory maps.

Subp. 31b. Public waterbasins.

"Public waterbasins" means those public waters of the state identified as public waterbasins under Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.005, subdivision 15, clauses (1) to (8), or 103G.201, as shown on the public water inventory maps. Public waterbasins includes public water wetlands reclassified as public waters according to the procedures in Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.201.

Subp. 31c. Public watercourse.

"Public watercourse" means those public waters of the state identified as natural and altered natural watercourses under Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.005, subdivision 15, clauses (9) and (10), or 103G.201, as shown on the public water inventory maps.

Subp. 31d. Public waters inventory or protected waters inventory.

"Public waters inventory" or "protected waters inventory" means the map prepared by the commissioner on file with the auditor of a county under Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.201.

Subp. 31e. Public waters work permit.

"Public waters work permit" means a permit issued by the commissioner under Minnesota Statutes, section 103G.245.

Subp. 32. Reconstruction.

"Reconstruction" means the rebuilding or renovation of an existing structure, where the cost of such work will exceed 50 percent of the replacement cost.

Subp. 33. Regional flood.

"Regional flood" means the flood which is representative of large floods known to have occurred generally in Minnesota and reasonably characteristic of what can be expected to occur on an average frequency in the magnitude of the 100-year recurrence interval.

Subp. 34. Retaining walls.

"Retaining walls" means vertical or nearly vertical structures constructed of mortar-rubble masonry, handlaid rock or stone, vertical timber pilings, horizontal timber planks with piling supports, sheet pilings, poured concrete, concrete blocks, or other durable materials and constructed approximately parallel to the shoreline.

Subp. 35. Riprap shore protection.

"Riprap shore protection" means coarse stones, boulders, cobbles, artificially broken rock or concrete, or brick materials laid loosely or within gabion baskets against the slope of the existing bank of a public water.

Subp. 36. [Repealed, 27 SR 529]

Subp. 36a. Shoreline zone.

"Shoreline zone" means an area immediately waterward of the ordinary high water level that may include the littoral area of a water body.

Subp. 37. Structure.

"Structure" means any building, footing, foundation, slab, roof, boathouse, deck, wall, dock, bridge, culvert, or any other object extending over or under, anchored to, or attached to the bed or bank of a public water.

Subp. 38. Structural height.

"Structural height" means the vertical distance from the natural bed of the stream or watercourse measured at the downstream toe of the control structure or from the lowest elevation of the outside limit of the control structure, if it is not across a stream channel or watercourse, to the maximum storage elevation.

Subp. 39. Swellhead.

"Swellhead" means the difference between the headwater elevation necessary to pass the regional flood through the proposed structure and the tail water elevation below the structure.

Subp. 40. Temporary structure.

"Temporary structure" means any dock, floating structure, watercraft lift, watercraft canopy, or other structure that can be removed from public waters by skidding intact or by disassembly with hand tools.

Subp. 41. Watercourse.

"Watercourse" means any channel having definable beds and banks capable of conducting generally confined runoff from adjacent lands. During floods water may leave the confining beds and banks but under low and normal flows water is confined within the channel. A watercourse may be perennial or intermittent.

Subp. 42. Water level control structure.

"Water level control structure" means any structure which impounds or regulates the water surface elevation or flow of public waters, including dams regulated under the provisions of parts 6115.0300 to 6115.0520.

Subp. 42a. Watercraft canopy.

"Watercraft canopy" means a structure or device with a fabric covered roof and without walls or a floor that is placed on the bed of a public water, is designed to shelter watercraft, and is designed and constructed so that all components may be removed from the lake or stream bed on a seasonal basis by skidding intact or by disassembly with hand tools.

Subp. 42b. Watercraft lift.

"Watercraft lift" means a structure or device without walls that is placed on the bed of a public water, is designed to lift watercraft above the level of the public water when not in use, and is designed and constructed so that all components may be removed from the lake or stream bed on a seasonal basis by skidding intact or by disassembly with hand tools. A watercraft lift may be designed to include a fabric covered roof.

Subp. 43. Wharf.

"Wharf" means a permanent structure constructed into navigable waters as a part of a port facility for berthing or mooring commercial watercraft, or for transferring cargo to and from watercraft in an industrial or commercial enterprise, or for loading or unloading passengers from commercial watercraft, or for the operation of a port facility.