South St. Louis Soil & Water Conservation District

The South St. Louis SWCD often

works on a watershed scale in order to

concentrate conservation assistance to

meet water quality improvement goals.

We currently have several active

watershed initiatives.

What is a watershed?

Stormwater Pollution Prevention in Urban Watersheds

The South St. Louis SWCD partnered with the City of Duluth on projects to help reduce stormwater pollution to local streams and Lake Superior.

Sediment Sweep-Up: In the Spring of 2005, two Duluth neighborhoods were invited to participate in a program to protect creeks by sweeping up winter road sand leftover on streets, sidewalks, and boulevards. Residents were asked to sweep up sediment into the provided sand buckets, and properly dispose of the material. Participation was so high, that additional collection sites were established all over the City of Duluth. Over 25 cubic yards of sand were collected, which is like preventing two and a half dump trucks full of sand from getting into Miller Creek and Chester Creek!

Rake for the Lake: Rain that falls on streets washes down into storm drains. Storm drains empty directly to our local streams, and unfortunately bring pollution with them. Anything that is on the land can be picked up by rain. Trash, oil, grease, sediment, lawn clippings, and leaves are all sources of non point source pollution, and they can impact our streams and Lake Superior.

We enlisted help from Duluth residents in two neighborhoods, Gary New Duluth and Chester Bowl, to keep storm drains clean of leaves, trash, and other debris. Over 500 storm drains were officially adopted by residents, and each adoptee received a free Storm Drain Rake to help them keep their adopted storm drain clean.

Sucker River Watershed Protection Project

The South St. Louis Soil and Water Conservation District is working with the Lake Superior Basin Programmatic Work Group on a watershed project to benefit the Sucker River through preventative measures.

Preventing impacts to a stream is the key to keeping it in good shape. Restoration is expensive, and it’s hard to get a damaged trout stream back. The Sucker has remained a high-quality trout stream, even though parts of the watershed have undergone land-use changes.

Our goal is to help watershed residents understand the link between their land and the health of the river, and learn what they can do to keep the Sucker in good shape. We will use input from watershed citizens to guide us in this voluntary and non-regulatory effort. A watershed protection plan will be developed to help communities and individuals adopt stewardship practices that prevent degradation of the Sucker River.

Sucker River Watershed Map

Awareness of watershed issues is key to preventing impacts to the Sucker River. The Fact Sheets below were mailed to residents and users of the Sucker River.

Sucker Series Fact Sheet 1 (Introduction to Your Watershed)
Sucker Series Fact Sheet 2 (Role of Forests)

Sucker Series Fact Sheet 3 (Water Runoff and Construction)

Kick-Off Meeting, October, 2004

On October 27, 2004, 11 residents came to a Kick-off Meeting to brainstorm and give feedback on how to protect the Sucker River into the future. Several residents phoned/emailed with input as well.

Kick-Off Meeting summary Suggestions from residents at the kick off on raising watershed awareness and protecting the Sucker River

Sucker River Overview includes "what you can do" as residents to protect the River

Rain Garden Demonstration Site at North Shore Community School

In September of 2005, the North Shore Community School planted a rain garden to treat runoff from their paved parking area. Students from a Spring Watershed Class, taught by school volunteer Mike Nordin, initiated the project after noticing erosion taking place near the school building. On September 9th, 2005, students from the school helped to plant over 850 native plants in the garden. Soon afterwards, the garden got its first drink of rain!

Funding for the rain garden was provided by several sources, including the North Shore Community School endowment fund, the South St Louis SWCD, Natural Resources Research Institute, and donations from private citizens, the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, and Marshall Hardware.

Rain Gardens are a great way to reduce erosion, attract wildlife, solve drainage problems, and reduce non point source pollution. For more local information, visit the City of Superior's Rain Garden website.

The Sucker River Watershed: Protecting the River into the Future

The South St. Louis Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is worked with the Lake Superior Basin Programmatic Work Group to benefit the Sucker River through preventative measures. In conclusion of this project a final report was developed by the South St. Louis SWCD. This report was developed to give an overview and wrap-up of the project along with guidance towards future practices that will protect the river.

Final Report

Figures and Tables

Appendices

Miller Creek Watershed Restoration

Miller Creek is an urban trout stream located in the cities of Duluth and Hermantown. We work with many partners to protect Miller Creek.

The primary concern with Miller Creek is the decline and potential loss of the brook trout fishery in the creek. Related concerns include increased water temperatures, sedimentation, loss of habitat, and high chloride and metals concentrations. The overall goal of the Miller Creek Watershed Restoration Project is to provide for a viable, self-sustaining urban trout fishery, as well as to educate the public regarding watershed health and urban impacts to area trout streams.

Diagnostic Study and Implementation Plan

Miller Creek Watershed Map

Miller Creek Watershed Wetland Functional Analysis

Knife River Watershed

The Knife River system is a unique resource in Minnesota's Lake Superior basin. The river system experiences conditions that are detrimental to fish reproduction and survival. Selected conservation and land management practices can improve water quality and water quantity conditions. An organized effort to improve the conditions of water quality and quantity in the Knife River Watershed began in 1991 with the Forest Stewardship Program. Federal, State and Local government agencies along with landowners regularly meet as a committee to direct the stewardship program. Private forest stewardship is a major part of this project.

Knife River Watershed Map