Whisky Creek, Barnesville Township is a proposed river restoration project between Sections 18 and 23, Barnesville Township, Clay County. This portion of the stream between 120th Street South and County Highway 2 consists of a straightened legal ditch and is also known as Clay County Ditch No. 34.

Currently, Whisky Creek and downstream waterways are impaired for sediment (turbidity). The main causes for this are severe bank erosion and breakout flows causing field erosion and carrying large volumes of sediment downstream. The current ditch capacity is approximately between a 1.5-year to 2-year event depending on location, at which time breakout flows begin.

The project will focus on restoring 5.26 miles of straightened ditch to 6.72 miles of a two-stage stream channel, installing sediment best management practices for flow coming into the restored stream, installing grade control structures, and establishing and permanently protecting 202.9 acres of native vegetation (including pollinators) in the restored and expanded stream habitat and wildlife corridor.

To keep downstream flooding from becoming worse than existing conditions, several spoil locations will be constructed to contain approximately the 5-year runoff event to allow for higher flows to breakout in the same locations as they currently do prior to the project.