A dozen people attended the meeting of the Poplar River Management Board at Caribou Highlands in Lutsen on May 16, 2014. The group was formed in 2005 in response to the river being included on the Impaired Rivers List as developed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in 2004. The inclusion on the list was made because of overly high sediment amounts being transported by the river, especially during high flow periods.
Since the inception of the board’s efforts, the sediment load has been reduced 33 to 50 percent. PRMB Board member Tom Rider said that they hope to have the river de-listed in the next three to five years.
Kerri Berg of the Cook County Soil and Water Conservation District, who also serves on the board’s advisory committee, reviewed the various projects that have already taken place and those that are scheduled for this summer. Among those remaining is the construction of a 10,000-square-foot sediment basin designed to slow the flow of water and trap included sediment before the water continues downhill into the river.
To date, $1.7 million has been spent on projects to reduce the sediment content of the river. Landowners in the project area contributed slightly more than $600,000 of those funds, with the rest coming from grants from various sources. The board continues to explore grant options for the completion of their projects.
The next public meeting of the board will be held Thursday, August 14. The board meets the second Thursday of every other month.
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