Mississippi River Turbidity

I attended an open house meeting in St. Paul last night where there was a presentation on river turbidity from the Minnesota confluence down to the middle of Pepin. The discussion was similar to that presented in the show “Troubled Waters” which was posted about over the winter in this forum.

The presentation described a project going on to restore the habitat of this region of the river by implementing/reducing what’s called a total maximum daily load (TMDL) of sediment. Since the watersheds which feed this area cover a good portion of the state, the project scope is quite large in its span.

I was particularly interested in the meeting because the main goal of the project is restoration of the river system. Decreased turbidity means increased sunlight. That means plant growth and better habitat for the foul/fish who depend on it like bass and other panfish. While the walleyes don’t seem to mind all that junk floating around…anyone who fishes on P2 knows you would be hard pressed to catch a nice LM in the backwaters. I was thinking how cool it would be if the bass fishing out my back door on P2 was as good as the walleye fishing.

I think Turk said it best in a post a couple months ago… “River Quality and Better Fishing Go Hand In Hand.”

What say you other river rats about this?

J

On a smaller scale, the Minnesota River has decreased in turbidity by leaps and bounds over the past few decades. In my opinion, it is turning into a world class fishery. There are even rumors of lake sturgeon reclaiming some of their old stomping grounds all the way up to Granite Falls.

First rule from aquatic reclamation class: ” Get the water into the ground “. Current policies will still make upper Pepin into a marsh. Farming practices can be hard to change, but can be done.

This problem is HUGE in scope and largely comes back to federal farm policy. There are rumblings about phasing out some crop subsidies, but it will be an uphill battle the whole way. Without the current subsidies, crops other than corn and soybeans might be a bit more economically competitive, especially on marginal ground in the flood plain. If perennial crops such as hay become more economical, I think we might actually see some improvements in the turbidity.

I think one part of the solution is what you guys are talking about with cleaning up the run off that is entering the rivers. Maybe its time to start talking to your local soil and water conservation district officers. Just looking around ham lake every road has a huge ditch right next to it that runs to a creek and then on to the Mississippi or st croix. Im sure this is very common across the state.

Another step I think that needs to be taken is un channelizing of the river. From what I have seen from the lower Minnesota, threw pool 2, 3 and 4 are dikes, rip rap and what ever restricting water from flowing into and out of the back waters. This will be extremely tough to change as a main channel is need for barge traffic.

How many thousands if tons of sand and salt from the Twincity area getting washed into the drains every winter.

In the last couple of years Minneapolis and St Paul have gotten much more strict on construction and run off. Keeping sand and garbage out of the drains has become a priority as it should be. However, sand a salt put down by the city for ice and snow melt is “legal”. This all goes down the drain. I’m not sayin, I’m just sayin, you know.