2006-2007 "What's New" entries

Other "What's New" pages: Latest | 2006-2007 | 2004-2005 | 2002-2003

Teachers & Volunteer Coordinators!

Welcome to the U. of MN’s Volunteer Stream Monitoring Interactive Verification Program (VSM-IVP)

One-Day Design Seminar on
Stormwater Management Practices

Best Management Practice Assessment

Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Hermantown Public Safety Building

This hands-on workshop provides an understanding of the new BMP assessment techniques. The training is offered at a reduced rate for a limited time, so sign up now. Get the details.

Check out the Poplar River section. The Poplar is designated as Impaired primarily because of excess turbidity (muddiness) during high flows. Restoration efforts start with a TMDL study to find out where the sediment is coming from, and who and how to reduce it.

Click here for information and notices.

The U. of Minnesota is developing a protocol to outline and explain proper methodology for assessing stormwater best management practices (BMPs). They’re looking for more accurate, cheaper and faster tools.

Website      Current Newsletter

We pulled the last sonde from our streams today -- they were in danger of freezing solid. They will be returned when the threat level has been reduced to Code Orange.

Here are some more images.

A Reference Guide to Cook County Land Use, January 2007

Cook County Planning & Zoning Department

Download here: http://www.co.cook.mn.us/sw/cook_pog.pdf

Click here to see a prototype tool from a pilot project for Duluth Township to help landowners gain access to working maps of their property. The tool is still in development.

Winter Parking Lot and Sidewalk Maintenance Workshop
Thursday December 7, 2006
Hermantown Public Safety Building

The Regional Stormwater Protection Team invites you to attend a free 1/2 day training course "Winter Parking Lot and Sidewalk Maintenance: Reducing Environmental Impact of Chloride.”

Attendees will receive a free clipboard, training manual, and refreshments. Also, you will have the opportunity to attain MPCA Level 1 Certification - Snow and Ice Best Practices!

Space is limited -- RSVP with Nicole by phone at 218.723.4867
or e-mail at nicole.barg@southstlouisswcd.org

Don’t miss this great opportunity! Here are more details.

We have a new page with details on the sediment trap that was installed near the William B. Irvin Slip in September. This project was designed to remove sediment from stormwater discharging into the Harbor.

-- A lot of new information has been added. Highlights include:

• More Bacteria Information: Volunteer Test kits, DNA Fingerprinting, and Great Lakes Beach Cast - Beach Health weblinks added.
• Storm Water Management Plan section revised and improved.
• Site Design Toolkit finished (for now).
• See the Case Study Index and tour some projects in the region for innovative stormwater management.
• Find out about the Northshore Communities region.
• Access the new North Shore Trout Stream sections by clicking on the maps. This is a work in progress.

We apologize for not highlighting this sooner, but we were recovering from the Cryptosporidium Daze celebration...

Two new tools have been developed to make it much easier to see where Lake Beach Advisories occur and to visualize and animate the data for a single site over a period of time or for a single date for the entire network of beach sites. Check them out at MNBeaches.org.

Adopt your storm drain – Receive a free rake.

The City of Duluth is once again this fall asking residents to help keep the storm drains working by cleaning debris off their storm drains as part of the fall clean up. To encourage residents to clean the storm drains the City is making available 200 free rakes, for doing the work. Get the details.

Public Comment invited for Stormwater Permits
for Proctor, Hermantown, UMD, St Louis County and Lake Superior College.

October 4 - Nov 3, 2006. Click here for details.

What: Beach Sweep 2006
When: Saturday, September 9, from 10:00 a.m. til 2:00 p.m.
Where: Park Point, Brighton Beach, and Two Harbors Beaches

Beach Sweep is Minnesota's contribution to International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), an annual and international event organized by The Ocean Conservancy. ICC is celebrating it's 20th year of keeping the world's waterways cleaner. To date, 6.2 million volunteers have removed a grand total of 109 million pounds of debris from the world's beaches and waterways. These shorelines have spanned 179 million miles in 127 different nations.

In Minnesota, the 2005 cleanup resulted in 17,663 debris items collected off the beaches. 10,279 of those items were cigarette butts. A total of 275 volunteers gathered 1,723 pounds of trash from 38 miles of Minnesota shoreline.

Contact the Beach Sweep coordinator for more information:
Erin Zoellick- Great Lakes Aquarium
218-740-3474 ext. 1027
ezoellick@glaquarium.org

Erosion & Sediment Control Inspector/Installer Training Preparing your Construction Site for the Winter
Wed, September 20, 2006, 7:30AM - 4:15PM
Hermantown Public Safety Building
5111 Maple Grove Road
Hermantown, MN 55811

Brochure (pdf 256KB)

A part-per-million, a milligram per liter, mg/L, ppm, ppb, micrograms per liter, ug/L, m3/sec, cfs, gpm, mgd, and on and on. What do these symbols mean and how do I convert one set of units to another to be able to understand my well water analysis or the stream data in this website? Visit WaterOntheWeb. AQUANIC has many useful tools also.

BWCA Cavity Lake Fire Images

July 15-16, 2006 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

This fire apparently started from a lightning strike near Cavity Lake. This is in the heart of the enormous blowdown region where millions of trees (470,000 acres ) were knocked down on July 4, 1999. Find out more at boreal.org.

 Housekeeping BMPs:

Duluth’s Pilot 2006 Sand Sweep-Up and Storm Drain Adoption Projects report

Celebrate Lake Superior Day!
Sunday, July 16, 2006

This Sunday the largest lake in the world has its own day of recognition. The Lake Superior Binational Forum is promoting this basin-wide event to highlight the personal, environmental, economic, and spiritual connections people have to this unique world treasure. Visit the Forum’s web site for a calendar of events and more info.

The South St. Louis Soil & Water Conservation District has sent out a mid-summer newsletter (211 KB pdf) covering some of the issues they have came across this summer. Check out the upcoming workshops and tell anybody you know that may have some interest in attending.

As per State and Federal Regulations, the City of Duluth has applied for a re-issuance of its General Stormwater Permit for Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s). A copy of the city's application is available here (700 KB pdf file - new window).

Four South Shore Lake Superior Beaches were added to Wisconsin's Impaired Waters List because of repeated advisories due to levels of bacteria used to indicate fecal contamination- Barkers Island Inner Beach (Superior), Maslowski Beach (Ashland), Beaches #2 and #3 in Brule River State Forest (Duluth News Tribune).

The MPCA will notify interested persons of the public notice dates for Storm Water Pollution Prevention Programs (SWPPPs) for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s). See the MPCA website to get more information or to sign-up for the mailing list.

Teachers ! There are a few curriculum websites that are directly relevant to our region. Visit Curriculum Links to find excellent lecture and lab lessons for K-12 students. Visit Water on the Web for high school and college curricula.

Duluth News Tribune: Duluth city officials are again asking residents to clean up the sand spread on roads during the winter so the grit isn't washed into the stormsewer system.

The grit chokes pipes, pollutes streams and ends up in Lake Superior or St. Louis Bay. Along the way, it picks up grease and oil, and tons of sand are covering fish spawning habitat.

For more information on participating in the spring road sand cleanup effort, call 730-4130. To get rid of leaves, grass and brush, call 722-0761. And see our page on Spring Cleanup.

State releases new Impaired Waters List for 2006. When a waterbody is listed as "Impaired", EPA requires the MPCA to do a TMDL - a study that further defines the problem and develops a plan for fixing it. Find out more about TMDLs. Notice that a bunch of western Lake Superior Basin streams are listed for various impairments (Nemadji, Deer, St. Louis, Miller, Amity, Lester, Big Sucker, Talmadge, French, Knife, Beaver, Poplar) (details: 740 KB pdf file - new window). and all the northshore streams tested are impaired in terms of mercury and/or PCBs in the fish (details: 720 KB pdf file - new window).

NEW 2005 - Minnesota Snow and Ice Control Field Handbook for Snowplow Operators (460 KB pdf file - new window) promotes understanding the tools, best practices, and limitations for snow and ice control practices that will help you reduce salt/sand use and environmental impacts while meeting the safety and mobility needs of vehicles.

The Minnesota Local Technical Assistance Program website also has a lot of other information about snow and ice control.

Candice Richards and Erik Larson receiving a 2005 Environmental Stewardship award for the U. of Minnesota Duluth Facilities Management Department's Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program from the St. Louis River Citizens Action Committee, Jan 25, 2006. Find out more about their Glensheen Parking Lot, Lake Superior shoreline protection, and rain garden projects and keep checking this website for more UMD pollution prevention projects.

*New for 2006*

Rain Barrel kits are available through the SSLSWCD Tree and Shrub Sale.

Note: April 14 is the deadline to place an order. Rain barrel kits will be available for pick-up at the Duluth location only.

Rain barrels are used to capture rain from rooftops, which can help solve drainage problems around your home or simply provide fresh water for gardens (learn more). The Rain Barrel kits are supplied through the City of Superior Wastewater Treatment Plant Pollution Prevention Program.

UM Duluth Facilities Management, South St. Louis Soil & Water Conservation District, WI Sea Grant, CCNLS Joint Powers Board, and the MN Board of Soil & Water won a 2005 Governor's MnGREAT Award for environmental leadership (to be awarded Feb 15th) for the Glensheen Low Impact Development and Shoreline Protection projects.

RSPT Partner South St. Louis Soil & Water Conservation District has added a bunch of excellent information on their watershed protection and restoration efforts. Check out their materials at SSLSWCD

Whether you believe in global climate change or not Winter 2005/6 has been warm!

Thin ice almost everywhere! Pick-up trucks, ATVs, snowmobiles and ice fishermen are breaking through lake ice. Please check out our page on Thin Ice Survival
and also the MN DNR's Ice section (new window).

(MN DNR image)

The sondes that collect the data in Amity, Chester, Tischer, and Kingsbury Creeks are all back in --without the modems. We will visit the sampling sites periodically and download the data manually.

The data on the website is now current thru 1/3/06.

Other "What's New" pages: Latest | 2006-2007 | 2004-2005 | 2002-2003