Sand Hill River Fish Passage Restoration and Habitat Enhancement -- Phase II

Many native fish species migrate from the Red River to tributary streams, such as Sand Hill River, to access quality
spawning habitats. This is especially true for Lake Sturgeon, a native species recently re-introduced into the Red
River Basin, which make very long migrations to reproduce in riffles and rapids found in high gradient areas.
Barriers to fish passage, such as dams, prevent fish from making this seasonal spawning run. The MN Department
of Natural Resources in collaboration with federal and local partners has systematically removed and modified
more than a dozen fish barriers in the Red River Basin over the past 15 years. Restoring connections from the Red
River to these critical habitats helps to re-establish and maintain healthy, robust native fish communities with
greater resiliency to invasion by exotic species.
Construction for the original fish passage restoration portion of this grant has been completed and costs were well
below estimates. All benefits achieved through fish passage were allocated to the Phase 1 (ML2015) portion of the
project. The US Army Corps of Engineers administered the fish passage project. Since the original fish passage
project was completed using only ML2015 funds, that leverage source was removed from this Accomplishment
Plan.
Fish passage restored at three additional sites in the Sand Hill River watershed with the unspent funds. The first
barrier is the road crossing on Kittleson Creek, a tributary to the Sand Hill River. This culvert is nearly perched and
velocities exceed the swimming limits for most species at normal flows. This restoration replaced the culvert with
a structure more appropriately sized for the creek and at a lower elevation to accommodate fish passage. The
second barrier is a dam on Sand Hill Lake. The dam was removed and replaced with rock arch rapids to allow fish
passage upstream into Sand Hill Lake. Both of these crossings are upstream of the dams that were modified for fish
passage in 2017. Restoration of fish passage at these two sites expanded the number of restored acres and river
miles in the watershed. The third site, removed a bridge and concrete wing walls and abutments over the Sand Hill
River, replacing it with a rock riffle for grade control and fish passage.
A second component of this project enhanced stream habitat within a channelized segment of the Sand Hill River
downstream of the four drop structures. The river channel in this reach was unstable and has down cut
significantly, creating a simplified habitat lacking in diverse substrate and depth. Habitat was enhanced by
constructing rock riffles in the channel to reduce velocities, increase pool/riffle habitat and provide more diverse
substrate. The enhanced habitat is used by many fish species for spawning, juvenile, and year round deep cover.