Stillwater Country Club Water Quality Improvements
In recent times, the owners of Wolf Marine on the St. Croix River have to excavate sediment that has built up at the outlet of Brown's Creek every year just to keep their marina navigable. Their business is directly affected by how much soil gets into the creek. Reducing dirt and sand entering Brown's Creek is also important to others. The creek is one of the few designated trout streams in the Twin Cities area that supports a fishable brown trout population.
With a grant from the Clean Water Fund, Brown's Creek Watershed District is partnering with the Stillwater Country Club to green their grounds and address pollution runoff. The goal of the project is to improve the water quality of the creek while adding aesthetically appealing gardens and native plant diversity to the course. Work began September 1st, 2010 with the installation of a raingarden. 7 additional raingardens, 2 native planting areas and numerous other stormwater management features were completed by early November 2010.
Raingardens will keep rainwater on the golf course helping reduce the amount of soil that erodes and enters Brown's Creek. These changes will keep 46.3 tons of sediment a year from washing off of the golf course and into Brown's Creek. That's 7 percent of all the sediment washing into the creek along its entire route, or the equivalent of four and a half dump trucks full of dirt.
Additional information on this project may be obtained by contacting BWSR Board Conservationist Melissa Lewis at 651-297- 4735 in St. Paul.
Nicole Clapp
(b) $2,800,000 the first year and $3,124,000 the second year are for grants to watershed districts and watershed management organizations for: (i) structural or vegetative management practices that reduce storm water runoff from developed or disturbed lands to reduce the movement of sediment, nutrients, and pollutants or to leverage federal funds for restoration, protection, or enhancement of water quality in lakes, rivers, and streams and to protect groundwater and drinking water; and (ii) the installation of proven and effective water retention practices including, but not limited to, rain gardens and other vegetated infiltration basins and sediment control basins in order to keep water on the land. The projects must be of long-lasting public benefit, include a local match, and be consistent with TMDL implementation plans or local water management plans. Watershed district and watershed management organization staff and administration may be used for local match. Priority may be given to school projects that can be used to demonstrate water retention practices. Up to five percent may be used for administering the grants (2010 - Runoff Reduction)
This project involved installing 21 stormwater features resulting in 47 tons of sediment, 17 pounds of phosphorus, and 17 acre-feet of stormwater from entering Brown's Creek.