For an outlay of $5,000 and 60 hours of staff time, the county will be receiving about $70,000 from the U.S. Forest Service toward the installation of culverts intended to improve passageways for fish.
Bill Parish of the Cook County Highway Department presented the opportunity to the county board Tuesday, November 10, 2009. A letter to County Engineer Shae Kosmalski from Keith Anderson, a conservation engineer representing a northeastern Minnesota Soil and Water Conservation District joint powers board, states that the Superior National Forest has been granted funds for culvert upgrades on county infrastructure within the boundaries of the forest.
The joint powers board has been working with the Cook County Highway Department on assessing the condition of culverts and their impact on water resources within the Lake Superior Coastal Zone.
The funding from the U.S. Forest Service requires a county match. The work will include soil analysis, design, and construction of the culverts and must be completed by September 2010, Parish said.
According to Anderson, the Forest Service has other potential funding sources that may fund more projects of this kind.
Parish recommended that the county board approve the partnership, since culvert upgrades and replacements would need to be done anyway.
The board approved the project unanimously.
Leave a Reply