The Poplar River Management Board was recently selected as a winner in the Rural Vitality category for the 2019 Environmental Initiative Awards!
The Environmental Initiative Awards are an annual celebration of innovative and collaborative people and projects working on solving environmental challenges in Minnesota.
In 2004 erosion along the Poplar River’s stream banks and main tributaries were identified as main contributors to the river’s sediments issues, and the river was listed as impaired by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), for turbidity.
The following year, landowners in the affected watershed formed the Poplar River Management Board and for more than a decade, the PRMB worked with community groups and partnered with local and state agencies to tackle the problem and repair the lower portion of the DNR designated trout stream.
One of the long-term partnerships was with Cook County Soil and Water Conservation District, who in 2015 received an $829,000 Clean Water Fund Targeted Watershed Program grant used to conduct a flow path analysis to pinpoint areas of concern on the river. As part of the grant Lutsen Mountains was required to contribute a match of $207,250.
Over the last decade, the partnerships between PRMB and various private and governmental groups raised and invested over $2,000,000 in projects to reduce erosion and sediment delivered to the river.
Last June 2018, all of the years of hard work were rewarded when the MPCA delisted the Poplar River because it was meeting state water quality standards.
At the time of the MPCA announcement Tom Rider, PRMB president said, “We are thrilled that the water quality has improved significantly and that the MPCA has recommended the river be de-listed.
“The PRMB board and its partners have invested huge amounts of time and money to get to this point. It has been a sustained effort for over a decade. We have a very strong partnership with Cook SWCD and MPCA, which has been part of the magic, and we also carried out projects in parallel with the scientific work so we could make progress as quickly as possible. If we had waited until the investigatory work was 100 percent completed before we started projects, it could have been another decade before we reached our goal,” added Rider.
A ceremony will be held on Wednesday, May 22 at Nicollet Island Pavilion. The evening will include a networking reception with heavy hors d’oeuvres and a seated program highlighting this year’s winners, including a well deserving group from PRMB.
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