DNR Aquatic Habitat Restoration and Enhancement - Phase 11

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR) annually updates a statewide list of stream habitat projects. Submissions come both from MNDNR staff and from partner organizations. Projects are prioritized based on scale-of-impact, urgency, local support, and critical habitat for rare species. Based on this list, MNDNR and our partners are proposing six fish passage projects and eight channel restorations, leveraging over $712,000.

Access to different habitats is critical for fish and other aquatic organisms to complete various life stages. The habitats they use to spawn, live as juveniles, over-winter, and feed as adults may all be different. These habitats can be fairly unique, such as high-gradient riffles favored by many spawning fish, and may be miles apart. When dams or other obstructions prevent aquatic life from reaching ideal habitat, they are forced to use less optimal locations that can reduce their success. In some cases this leads to the complete loss of sensitive species upstream of a barrier. Modifying or removing the barriers through our six proposed fish passage projects would have a footprint of 6 acres, but create upstream access to over 290,000 acres of lake and river habitat. This will benefit fish such as Walleye, Northern Pike, and Brook Trout present in these rivers, as well as five mussel species classified as threatened or special concern.

Streams naturally form habitat through the meandering of the river. Deeper, slower habitat is created by scour into the bed of the river around the outside of bends, while faster water and a rockier bottom is found in the straight sections in between. Wood, overhanging vegetation, and boulders serve as cover and current breaks for fish. In degraded sections of river, these natural processes are disrupted. Some reaches have been artificially straightened, preventing the meandering that forms diverse habitat. In other places, streams have become surrounded by tall banks that prevent high flows from spilling out onto a floodplain. When floods are trapped within the stream channel, the river erodes the banks. This not only mobilizes tons of sediment that degrades downstream habitat, but results in a wide, shallow channel during low-flow periods that is avoided by adult fish. Channel restoration projects will address these issues by using Natural Channel Design methods, which bases design on a reference location with high-quality habitat. Working with partners, we will restore over 17 miles of habitat on eight streams. These restored reaches also will connect upstream and downstream reaches of quality habitat.

We propose to enhance 224 acres of riparian habitat and associated uplands on 33 Aquatic Management Areas (AMA). The DNR manages these lands to protect critical shoreline habitat used by spawning fish, waterfowl, wading birds, reptiles and amphibians. Uplands in these parcels provide a buffer to protect water quality, and habitat for more terrestrial species. Our enhancement work includes shoreline plantings, invasive species control, and prescribed burns. Projects are selected based on management guidance documents that have been written for each AMA.