Soil & Water Conservation District Guidebook 2008 - Minnesota ...

A stormwater management plan
for Grand Marais was developed through the SWCD’s
partnership with the City of Grand Marais, County of
Cook, and MN Lake Superior Coastal Program. The group
contracted an Engineer/Hydrologist to model stormwater
fl ow and write the plan. Input was received from 65 citizens,
elected offi cials, and agency staff to identify and prioritize
improvement projects. Over the last three years, 15 of 23
projects were completed and six others are in progress.
The SWCD collaborated with the U of MN Seagrant to use
NEMO for public presentations on storm water.
Two bioengineering streambank
projects were completed, partly funded by a $15,000
MN Lake Superior Coastal grant. Each were 75-foot
bioengineered streambank projects, a native planting with
signage, live-staking of dogwood and willow by junior high
classes, and classroom tours of the projects and watershed.
Stormwater studies were funded by a MN Lake
Superior Coastal Program grant for a hydrology study to
solve downtown fl ooding. Another grant was used to compile
existing topography layers and create a GIS database for the
approximately 3,000 acres in the Grand Marais watershed.
The Cook County Property Owner’s
Resource Guide was developed to help property owners
understand the County Land Use Ordinance. It contains
helpful information on purchasing property, building a
home, installing and maintaining sewage treatment systems,
managing stormwater runoff, building a driveway, protecting
your home from wildfi re, and protecting water quality
through shoreline ordinance.
Conservation education programs include the County Fair
booth, 5th Grade Poster Contest, and erosion control workshops
for contractors,
The rain and Lake Superior snow monitor network involves
30 landowners who supply daily precipitation readings
and phrenology observations to the SWCD. Data has been
collected since 1988 as a local source of weather and is
forwarded to the U of MN State Climatology. Cook SWCD
is also connecting volunteers to a state study of snow
patterns in a fi ve-mile band along Lake Superior’s north
shore.
Top 5 Natural Resource Concerns
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Cook Soil & Water Conservation District
Water quality concerns -- eroding
streambanks on Lake Superior’s North Shore
rivers, mercury impairment of inland lakes,
nutrient loading on developed lakes. Only 8%
of county is owned privately and much of this
private land is riparian.
Concern for cumulative effects of wetland
loss in shoreland areas and in pockets
on forested hillsides due to high rate of
development and wetland exemptions.
Concern for increased stormwater runoff and
gullying along roads on steep hills near lakes,
streams and wetlands. Development pressure on
marginal sites characterized by steep forested
slopes, thin soils, and wetlands. Cumulative
impacts of erosion at construction sites.
Need for public education on the importance
of sound land use and the land-use laws that
protect water quality.
Need for incentives for local food production.
County terrain is not amenable to large farms.
Future Projects
Streambank stabilization -- Cook SWCD is
managing a $350,000 Clean Water Legacy grant
to repair a large eroding bank on the Poplar River
(impaired - turbidity). SWCD technical staff and
Joint Powers Engineer are assisting the landowner,
Lutsen Mountains. Construction will include a bank
stabilization and revegetation to reduce sediment
transport into the river and Lake Superior. This will
reduce / divert peak fl ow to prevent further bank
degradation. SWCD staff and one supervisor meet
monthly with a landowner group working to remove
the river from the impaired waters list.
Roadside erosion control near a trout stream -- The
5-county Joint Powers Engineer and County Highway
staff will upgrade a culvert, install rock in an eroding ditch
channel, and vegetate a clay bank near an intermittent
stream near the Flute Reed River.
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