The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) has updated its rules, including Rule F: Shoreline Protection. To better promote water quality within the MCWD, this rule will promote natural landscaping and stabilization along shorelines to a greater degree than the previous rule. The Lake Minnetonka Shoreline Restoration Project complements this change by classifying the shoreline around the lake according to its likelihood to erode, and by creating five demonstration sites of natural stabilization (bioengineering) to show homeowners and contractors how to work with a variety of shoreline conditions. The first demonstration site was completed in 2005 at the headwaters of Minnehaha Creek at Grays Bay. The remaining four sites were stabilized during the summer of 2009.

The project involved the restoration of a stream meander to the existing straight-line configuration of the creek, wetland vegetation restoration, and construction of a boardwalk. The project will increase public access and provide educational signage throughout the site.

Background

Big Island is a large isolated island on the Lower Lake portion of Lake Minnetonka. The island is partially developed with single-family homes and otherwise is largely preserved in parks owned by the city of Orono, Three Rivers Park District, and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD). The restoration work on Lake Minnetonka’s Big Island shows what can happen when local and state agencies cooperate with a similar vision. In 2008, the City of Orono, the state and MCWD pitched in to buy the 56-acre eastern third of Big Island, which had spent the previous eight decades as a state-owned campground for veterans and was the site of a theme park in the early 1900s. Without the purchase, the land would’ve likely been developed into nine private residential home sites.The partners decided to return the portion of the island to a passive, natural state for the public to enjoy, and asked MCWD to hold the conservation easement that limits new buildings and bans motor vehicles, new developments, and organized events.The District worked to restore about 3,000 feet of severely eroded shoreline to enhance water quality in Lake Minnetonka, using a variety of techniques that include riprap, bio rolls and coir block, live stakes, brush mattresses, wetland seeds, plugs, and one-inch caliper trees. It also removed buckthorn and helped clear the island of about 150 tons of garbage.

Park History and Use

Pamela Park is a 64-acre city park located within Edina east of Highway 100 and north of the Crosstown Highway, which contains Pamela Lake, an 18.4-acre wetland designated as a DNR Protected Wetland. It is part of the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) drainage area. In addition to the wetlands, the city park contains tennis courts, soccer, hockey and softball fields and is a popular neighborhood place to play and picnic.

Background

The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) is participating in an educational research program coordinated by the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. The Spring Peeper Meadow Wetland Restoration project is located at the University of Minnesota Lanscape Arboretum in Chanhassen. MCWD helped fund the restoration project. The project goals was to restore the wetland hydrology and native vegetation on the 20-acre wetland. The restored wetland includes trails and a boardwalk to provide a site for public learning, demonstrations, and research on wetland restration. The project was completed in 1997.

The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board evaluated options for stabilization measures for a section of Minnehaha Creek identified as Reach No. 8, spanning from Bloomington Avenue to Park Avenue in the City of Minneapolis.  Stabilization of areas throughout Reach No.

The Gleason Creek sub-watershed drains 3,900 acres of highly developed land into Wayzata Bay of Lake Minnetonka. In the early to mid 1990s, MCWD, the City of Wayzata and the Gleason Lake Improvement Association partnered together to come up with a solution to deal with water quality issues and flooding problems.