Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

OutdoorMN News - St. Louis River estuary restoration project open house is May 21


Recommended Posts

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Construction on wetland habitat restoration project expected to begin in June

Work on an extensive habitat restoration project will take place this summer in the St. Louis River estuary, where the river enters Lake Superior.

Staff from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will host a public open house in May to share information and answer questions about the Kingsbury Bay/Grassy Point habitat restoration project.

The two-part project will restore 240 acres of coastal wetland habitat in the upper St. Louis River estuary, a wetland complex between Duluth and Superior, Wisconsin. The Kingsbury Bay and Grassy Point project areas were identified in 2013 as two of 17 sites located in the St. Louis River Area of Concern (AOC) in need of habitat restoration. Construction is expected to begin in June.

“The two projects could be done separately, but treating them as one large project creates efficiency in construction, allows us to reuse excavated soil and materials, and ultimately reduces the impacts for nearby neighborhoods,” said DNR St. Louis River project coordinator Melissa Sjolund. “Together, they make one of the largest habitat restoration projects in DNR’s history.”

Three habitat restoration projects have already been completed in the St. Louis River AOC by the DNR and partner agencies. Restoring Kingsbury Bay and Grassy Point will bring the St. Louis River AOC one step closer to removal from the binational list of most impaired regions on the Great Lakes.

The open house will be held Tuesday, May 21 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the City Center West Community Center/Evergreen Senior Center at 5830 Grand Ave., Duluth.
A presentation scheduled for 5:30 p.m. will include an overview of the project, anticipated construction timelines, logistics and neighborhood impacts. Anyone with an interest is invited to attend and ask questions

Restoration of Grassy Point requires the removal of 177,000 yards of wood waste that was deposited into the river from two historic mills that were built on stilts over the water. The mills are no longer at the site, but the wood debris – up to 16 feet deep in locations – remains 120 years later and continues to impair fish and invertebrate habitat. The site restoration includes removing invasive narrow-leaved cattails and creating a new isthmus of land to shelter the restored wetland from wave action.

A mile and a half upstream, the Kingsbury Bay project will include the removal of 173,000 yards of excess sediment deposited there by upstream erosion and a 2012 flash flood. The project will restore coastal wetland habitat, create open water, and improve recreation for boaters and anglers. The clean sediment removed from Kingsbury Bay will be reused at Grassy Point to cap areas of wood waste that are not feasible to remove, create upland habitat islands with native trees and plantings, and reestablish healthy aquatic plant and wildlife communities.

Funding for the $15 million project comes from the Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Fund, the federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative with oversight by the U.S. Environmental Protection, and the St. Louis River/Interlake/Duluth Tar Superfund Site settlement.

Anyone interested in receiving project and construction updates should visit St. Louis River Restoration Initiative webpage.

 

Discuss below - to view set the hook here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.