Weaver Bottoms Aquatic Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Project

DNR NEWS – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Aug. 13, 2015

DNR seeks comments on EAW for Weaver Bottoms Aquatic Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Project

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is accepting public comments on an environmental assessment worksheet (EAW) prepared for the Weaver Bottoms aquatic habitat restoration and enhancement project.

The DNR is proposing to restore and enhance aquatic habitat in Weaver Bottoms, a backwater area of Pool 5 of the Mississippi River, in Wabasha County. The project will restore depth to a natural floodplain lake that has become filled with fine sediments over the past 80 years, after navigation dams were built on the Upper Mississippi River. Sediment from approximately 20 acres of shallow water will be mechanically dredged and trucked to a 10-acre upland site on privately owned pasture land. The agency will take comments during a 30-day public review period from Aug. 17 to Sept. 16.

A copy of the document is available online at http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/input/index.html. Under “environmental review,” select “Weaver Bottoms aquatic habitat restoration project EAW” from the scroll-down list. A hard copy may be requested by calling 651-259-5072.

The document is available for public review at:

DNR library, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155.
DNR central region office, 1200 Warner Road, St. Paul, MN 55106.
DNR Lake City area office, 1801 Oak St., Lake City, MN 55041.
Minneapolis Central Library, government documents, 2nd Floor, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55401.
Rochester Public Library, 101 2nd St. SE, Rochester, MN 55904.
Wabasha City Library, 168 Allegheny Ave., Wabasha, MN 55981.

The EAW notice will be published in the Aug.17 EQB Monitor. Written comments must be submitted no later than 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, to the attention of Charlotte Cohn, EAW project manager, environmental policy and review unit, Ecological and Water Resources Division, DNR, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155-4025.

Electronic or email comments may be sent to [email protected] with “Weaver Bottoms aquatic habitat restoration project EAW” in the subject line. If submitting comments electronically, include name and mailing address. Written comments may also be sent by fax to 651-296-1811.

Didn’t they do this once before?? Put in the islands and did some dredging. It seemed to make things worse in there.:???:

rkd-jim wrote:

Didn’t they do this once before?? Put in the islands and did some dredging. It seemed to make things worse in there.:???:

Yes they did and yes it did

I agree with the first two comments. However, the habitat and hunting/fishing was great down there 30 years ago. If they can get it right, I would be all for it. This new plan looks to remove the spoil from the area which can’t hurt in my eyes. I say go for it, nothing to lose really.

How did the past project make things worse? Just curious as I was never down there prior to the construction of swan island.

pantherpop wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>rkd-jim wrote:</div>
Didn’t they do this once before?? Put in the islands and did some dredging. It seemed to make things worse in there.:???:

Yes they did and yes it did

@Pantherprop

All I’ve heard were positive things after reconstruction. Would you expand on your thoughts here?

There were some [closing dams?] built in there some time ago but they were removed I thought. I don’t have any issues with them removing material in the silted in areas. But in the 60’s this area was a duck hunter’s mecca and I would think that getting things back to what was would be a welcome thing. Back then there were some huge sunfish to be caught in there too but as it got shallower they got pushed out. Be nice to see it deep enough for panfish to return.

I can’t remember all the story’s and details but from some of the reports I was able to skim before my eye’s glazed over pool 5 generally acted completely different then what they were expecting with the draw downs and what not. But it didn’t keep the Corps from slapping each other on the back for great work

Sometimes it’s just best to stand back and let Mother Nature take care of thing in her own good time. BK I’m sure you have probably talked to some in the Corps that would agree, they can’t all be so educated to have no common sense left.

I’ll agree that what was done before was probably not what they anticipated and I think what their intentions are now is to clean up a little in the after light of that project.

I cut my duck-hunting teeth in the Weaver Slough. I’d really like to at least see it look like it did back then again, but Nature isn’t going to get it back to that in this lifetime. If the Corps is willing to help it along, I say “Go for it”.

To be honest…all I’ve heard about WB is how good it’s been since the make over.

I was totally surprised to see them (the COE’s) planning on going back this early.

It was said at the first P3 meeting “we’ll be doing much the same as we did in WB’s”. Might not be an exact quote, but that’s what I took away from the conversation.

WB in the sixties was amazing. Duck heaven and you dragged a dardevle on your way to your blind for a guaranteed 5#er. Many memories made on Montgomery Point…
That said the first project was a good idea. WB had silted full and was 1/2 of what it had been.
I think the new project will help even more. Try1 fell a little short. Hope it comes back…

Tom, I hear you…I was going with dad when I was like 6, it was magical times. By the time I was 12 and had my HSP dad started to go to Reno. Unfortunately He went to Canada too that year and it spoiled him, he quit hunting ducks.

To be honest BK I remember when they first tried to bring back the bottoms with the first Islands and everyone pretty much agreed it was a flop. They very well might have gotten it tweaked correctly now. Most of the past 20 years I have been hunting out of Minnesota City and haven’t been back to Weaver.

subscribing to thread

My family has owned a duck cabin on weaver bottoms for over 50 years. Was wonderful hunting up to the mid 90s and the project costing tons of money wrecked it for plenty of years. raised water to high to allow germination of the plants. Was all open water until the took out their improvements.

Hope this project goes better then last time.

pass0047 wrote:

My family has owned a duck cabin on weaver bottoms for over 50 years. Was wonderful hunting up to the mid 90s and the project costing tons of money wrecked it for plenty of years. raised water to high to allow germination of the plants. Was all open water until the took out their improvements.

Hope this project goes better then last time.

I agree with passeg. We used to go into the Weaver and panfish in what we called the “canes”. You could go in and get lost in the weed beds. You could here people talking and not be able to see them until you floated into the opening they were in. After the “improvements” the “cane beds” were gone and so were the gills, bass and every other species that lived there. It became a desolate sea of nothing with an occasional weed bed that the pelicans inhabited.

This is amazing to me! I was expecting everyone to jump in here saying how great it’s been since the improvements!

well it was going down, there is no question about that, but the ‘improvements’ helped only a little if that.

i’m hoping they learned alot about river bottom structure in the intervening 20ish years…

it used to be great for mallards with all the rice and northerns were a snap. Sunnies when you wanted to take a break from trolling and BIG sunnies. With the silting most of it was gone by the time they decided to ‘improve’ it.

One thing we don’t know… What would it be like today if nothing was done 20+ years ago with the sediment load being partially dumped in there.

I’m asking myself this very question as we start talking about the two lakes on Pool #3.

There is just too much “if this, then that. If that, then this” happens.

i think it’d be a prairie with a creek running thru it…

I truly hope that some of the folks that are in the know about Weaver will show up for these meetings.

Remembering the past helps ensure the same mistakes aren’t made in the future.