The Poplar River Management Board (PRMB) recently found out it did not get a $1,000,000 Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant it had applied for, but it continues to forge ahead to apply for new grants. “There’s a tremendous amount of competition for a small amount of money,” said Tom Rider, board member and co-owner of Lutsen Mountains.
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Duluth staff were “mystified” why the Poplar River projects were not funded, said Karen Evens, who works out of that office. Some of the projects that seemed to be the most obvious candidates did not receive funding.
Cook County Soil & Water Conservation District Water Coordinator Cindy Gentz said her office has requested a debriefing to find out how they could improve their chances of future funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. In the nation’s 2010 budget, President Obama allocated $475,000,000 to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address issues such as invasive species, contaminated sediment, and nonpoint source pollution (pollution from diverse sources, often carried through storm water).
At a June 7 PRMB meeting, Gentz reported that 90 Lake Michigan projects were funded, compared to only 14 Lake Superior projects. Another round of grants will open this summer, Karen Evens added. Out of 1,200 applications in this round, fewer than 200 were awarded, she said, and 10 times more money was requested than was available.
Another river in Cook County will receive funding in this round: $540,603 has been awarded for restoration initiatives along the Flute Reed River.
A lot of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative money will pay for studies rather than onthe ground projects like the ones planned for the Poplar River, Cook County Soil & Water supervisor Jim Hall said. PRMB consultant Curtis Sparks expects more shovel-ready projects to be funded in the next round.
Megaslump projects
A recent project was to try to procure cuttings from young willows that had been planted around the Megaslump. Tree mortality has been “rather high,” in some places, however, Gentz reported, and because of the early spring, the window of time when the cuttings could be taken closed before they could get them. The cuttings must be planted before leafing out in order for the plant to have enough energy to create new roots.
Setting the standard
Aerial surveys of numerous rivers along the North Shore are being conducted, Karen Evens reported. Other rivers with similar topographical features but less development along them have been studied as potential comparisons to the Poplar River. The Pigeon River seems the closest.
TheMPCA is preparing to propose to the EPA a total daily maximum load (TMDL), which is the maximum amount of a pollutant a water body can receive and still meet water quality standards, although in the case of the Poplar River, the MPCA is still deciding what measurements will be used to determine the TMDL.
“We’ve got projects ready to go,” said Curtis Sparks. “Let’s get the money for them.”
The main issue with the Poplar River is the amount of sediment suspended in the water. Even with a standard that reflects the fact that some rivers naturally carry sediment which varies according to the water level and the effects of storms, Sparks said, the Poplar River will always fail to meet standards some of the time. “Minnesota means ‘muddy river’ in Ojibwe,” he said. Jim Hall added that the “flute” in “Flute Reed River” means “water cutting through clay soil.”
“We’re doing all the right things,” Sparks said. “We’re going after what we know is there.”
U of M study
This March, the University of Minnesota published a study on sources of sediment in the Poplar River. It analyzed historical documents and interviewed some locals to determine if logging, road building, dams, and channel alterations had contributed to the high level of sediment in the river.
“This historical investigation yielded little evidence of past watershed activities impacting current-day sediment loads to the river,” the study concluded, although land use changes following European settlement may still have altered the watershed in some ways.
Another finding from the study was that water soaks into the woods twice as fast as it does into ungraded ski slopes and 40 times as fast as it does into graded ski slopes. The ski slopes generate “high sediment loads,” the study states. It referred to a previous study that attributed 33% of the sediment to the ski slopes. Another contributor to sediment may be roads that divert water into ditches rather than allowing it to disperse naturally.
According to the study, the first Lutsen Mountains slopes were built in 1948, with much of the resort’s growth—in lodging and slopes— taking place between 1970 and 2000. In 1998, efforts began in earnest to prevent sediment from running off the slopes into the river. About half of the roads in place before 2007 have now been eliminated.
One of the biggest projects to reduce erosion was stabilization of the Megaslump (where soil runs down a steep, lightly vegetated hillside), but the University of Minnesota study states that this and a Moose/Mystery Mountain stream project “do not appear to be solving the problems.”
The study pointed out that when the ski hill makes snow from river water, it puts more water on the hills than would otherwise be there.
Theresort is authorized to use 12.6 millions gallons a year for water needs but has been allowed to use more specifically for snowmaking. In 2008, the resort pumped 89.8 million gallons of water from the river.
According to its website, the PRMB formed after the Poplar River was listed on the MPCA’s impaired rivers list. “The group has partnered with key people and organizations from around the state to learn more about the situation and take action to remove the lower Poplar from the list,” the website states. “Two thousand, two hundred seventy-four of Minnesota’s waters are classified as impaired. None have ever been removed from the list; PRMB’s goal is to be the first.”
Some people contend that the businesses that have developed ski hills and townhouses along the lower Poplar River should have to pay to eliminate the causes of the sediment currently being washed into the river rather than accessing public dollars through grants. The University of Minnesota study states that the watershed “provides great economic and employment opportunities to Cook County. The importance of both the natural beauty and economic impact are displayed by the level of effort given forth by all the parties involved in the TMDL process. Thestate agencies, Lutsen Mountain Corporation, local stakeholders, and Cook County have all given their best effort to get it right…. The local interests in the watershed have donated their time, money and resources to help with the investigation.”
Meanwhile, fishing continues
Perhaps no one knows the Poplar River better than Lutsen resident Bruce Zimpel. He has been fishing it – a lot — for decades. “I’m really concerned about how the river is doing,” he said. He said the fishing remains good above the waterfalls and the developed areas. While efforts to restore the river to its original state continue, Zimpel continues to try to catch a state record coaster trout.
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