Disappointing

Mark W

Mark W

Well-known member
Went out this past Friday to hunt one of my favorite spots. There s a small stream that opens up and typically brings the ducks in at certain times of the year. I didn't get up real early as I was going to be floating down a stream that I was expecting to have changed. Due to budget reasons, a damn at the upper end of the stream needs to be repaired or removed. To see the extent of the damage to the dam, they had to drain the lake behind it and lower the water level (or this is what we were told). Everyone aware o what was about to happened screamed about the ruination of a nice trout stream and the other recreational activities o this stream. We were assured that all preventions were being undertaken to make certain none of the silt behind the dam would make it downstream. Silt traps, etc were in place so no worries.


Well, we were lied to. I started floating downstream and immediately had problems. Where I usually put in was covered with sand and silt. The middle of the stream, typically a couple of feet deep were maybe 4-6"'s deep.. The small channel in front of the cabin was completely filled in and there was no passage at all. I got into a deep enough area where I could float. Didn't take long until I was hitting bottom, as in 1-3' of pure silt. My paddle was covered in much and was barely moving. I stopped about halfway down the stream and took this picture. Not the best but you can see what I mean about sand. In this particular hole (used to be a great duck hunting spot) you could never see the bottom. Not true anymore.


Rather than continuing downstream in the kayak and then having to figure out a way back up, I decided to walk down to the spot I typically hunt. I got there and couldn't believe it. The channels have completely changed. Where it used to be 3-4' deep the water is now only 1-3"'s deep with 3-3.5' of silt/muck. No sandy/gravel bottom anymore. No food for the ducks to pluck off the bottom. Nothing but muck. I walked around a little more and don't even know if this is a hunt able area anymore. I don't think one can to get to the islands in a power boat unless you have a mud motor and even then I don't know.


What a waste of a beautiful location and a hidden treasure. Will be trying to hunt it later in the week but not too optimistic.


View attachment silt.jpg


Mark W
 
Mark

That is a bummer. Wonder if our heavy late summer rains played into the the enormous amount of silt being let downstream?
 
I'm sorry to hear about it Mark. With a little luck the stream will reestablish itself to it's old channel lines and depths after the dam is repaired. I've seen a couple of similar instances around here, it may take a while but keep your fingers crossed.
 
I've always wondered if the Polyana Perspective regarding projects, their value, and the outright dismissal of variables is uniquely Minnesotan or if it's the nature of agencies.

Whenever I hear an "Official" say anything about, "Nothing to worry about...." I always hear Bill Murray in "Stripes" talking Harold Ramis into stealing the EM-50 and rescuing the troops from Czechoslovakia.....

"It's Czechoslovakia! It's like going to Wisconsin. We buzz in, we buzz out....."

It's not that things go wrong, and maybe the rains had a tremendous effect, and maybe the contractor figured out a way to shortcut the system so they could take some more profit off the job.... but it never seems like we're talking about a little fluctuation in errors from goal. It always seems like "Whoa! Never thought that would happen!".

Granted, there's no watch dog touting all the projects where things go right. But lately, from gill nets to Red River diversion it seems there is a push to avoid critical thought and accountability.

I won't get political here, but leadership starts at the top. The first few years with Landwehr in charge of DNR seemed like things got done, there was vision and bias towards action.

Somewhere the last two years, that changed.
 
I wonder if the state has any recourse with the contractor that was not supposed to let sediment pass. This should be brought to the DNR's attention and escalated. Trout stream protection one would think would be important.
 
Damn.
Was it a state job? Can't believe the contractor would be held liable. I would think this is a violation of their Corps permit and state water quality certification.
 
Bummer, Mark. I've done quite a bit of work on dam removals, and sediment management is always an issue. The approach varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Here in Maine, barring any contamination issues or a truly large amount of stored sediment behind the dam, regulators have often taken the position that the dam was storing sediment that, if the dam had not been present, would have gone downstream anyway. That approach works if the amount of stored sediment is small. It's not appropriate if you have large volumes of sediment, contamination, or a stream channel below the dam that can't mobilize the sediment during annual high flows.

Your streams are a lot different from ours--lower gradient, more sand and fine substrate as opposed to cobble and gravel. I would definitely check in with your local environmental regulators about whether any permit conditions were violated.
 
Good points Jeff.


Another question I have is what time of year is high water on this stream? One good flooding event and all this material may be more evenly re-distributed throughout the system. Might take a year or two or three but in time you might find things are back to "normal".
 
I'm with you guys- we are at the absolute lowest flows of the year. A couple good rains this winter should flush a lot of that sediment on out.
 
Due to rains this summer/fall most MN streams and rivers are near flood stage. Spring snow melt would be the next "gouge" for the stream bed.... sometime around April.

I'm not familiar with Mark's stream specifically, but the general geography of streams in that area are a low gradient through pastoral and/or farm lands and dispersed wood lots into a steeper gradient with ravines and oak forest dominating the land scape as streams get closer to the St. Croix and the Mississippi boarder waters with WI.

Silt/Runoff is a HUGE political football in MN.

In my experience working with agencies on dams and rehab efforts (former demolition contractor and formerly active in wetland rehabilitations), I'd guess there was a report generated about how much silt was stored behind the dam.... and that it was wrong. It's also been my anticipation that certain folks are good at knowing how much "needs" to be reported....

It ends up being a "pass the buck" between the state, the engineers and the contractors and whom has liability. In the end, it seems the state can pass laws that say, essentially, it can never be wrong :p

Mark, I'd reach out to the area manager and see if they have any remediation plan. Possible they are working on it.
 
Wow, that's just as bad as a subdivision moving into your favorite section of trapline. Sorry to hear about the stream. I hope it's able to be changed back to what it once was someday.
 
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