Edwin E. Thoreson Inc. will be busy early this summer completing the latest large Poplar River erosion control project, called the “Ullr Tightline.” The intervention is designed to prevent excess sediment from entering the river that flows through Lutsen Mountains and Superior National at Lutsen golf course and empties into Lake Superior at Lutsen Resort. The Cook County Soil & Water Conservation District is overseeing the work.
Recent heavy rains necessitated some “tidying up” of Phase I of the project, District Manager Kerrie Fabius told the Poplar River Management Board at its bi-monthly meeting on June 4, but this is common for projects that are not completed yet, she said. Phase II is scheduled to be completed by July 15.
In the planning stages is the next big project, the “Caribou Highlands Flowpath.” It will address numerous drainage issues that have been leading to excess sediment in the river.
The two projects are being funded through a federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant totaling just under $589,000. The two other projects being funded by this grant, on Mystery Mountain and Eagle Mountain, will be smaller and easier, said board president Tom Rider. They are slated for next summer.
Karen Evens of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) reported that the MPCA continues to work on developing a standard— called the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)—for the maximum amount of sediment considered safe for the organisms living in the river. University of Minnesota researcher John Niebur is studying the range of sediment in streams up and down the North Shore, Evens said. “Poplar River lit a fire under the subject of sediment on the North Shore.”
After the research is completed, the MPCA will submit its TMDL to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its approval. This process will include the solicitation of input from the public.
Evens said the MPCA plans to increase the sampling being taken from the upper regions of the river where less development has taken place if funding allows. Tait, Caribou, and Pike lakes, which all have homes around their shorelines, are part of the upper watershed of the Poplar River, she said.
Obtaining Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding for Poplar River sediment-reduction projects was a challenge, Evens said, because agricultural practices in the lower Great Lakes have caused problems that are greater than sediment in the Poplar River. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has identified Poplar, Knife, Namadji, and St. Louis rivers as top priorities in the Lake Superior region; the population of St. Louis County is much denser than that of Cook County, however, so getting this funding was a bit of a coup. Cook County’s grant application successfully proved that several projects could make a big impact.
Evens indicated that weather patterns are affecting this region’s rivers. “The way storms are pounding us now is different from pre-1980s,” she said, using as an example a recent storm that dumped four inches of rain in 48 hours.
Ultimately, said Evens, the river’s health will be achieved through both regulatory oversight and community initiative. Potential partners include area landowners, the Poplar River Management Board (comprised of landowners), the Cook County Soil & Water Conservation District, the Cook County Planning & Zoning Department, the MPCA, the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and the U.S. Forest Service. Evens suggested that these partners could develop a way to monitor the river for new areas of concern in the future. More funding will be needed to complete some projects that have already been identified.
On a lighter note, the board spent a few minutes discussing the fact that Lutsen Mountains still had patches of snow. “Manmade snow is really durable!” said co-owner Tom Rider. They have snow in June every year, he said. It is much heavier and denser than regular snow, and when spring weather causes repeated thawing and freezing, the manmade snow gets even denser and turns icy. With temperatures in the 90s in the Cities, said Karen Evens, this could be a tourist draw!
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