Meadowbrook Golf Course Restoration and Greenway Expansion

Overview

The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) is exploring opportunities to restore a degraded section of Minnehaha Creek that flows through the Meadowbrook Golf Course, expanding the Minnehaha Creek Greenway and enhancing the Course in partnership with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB). A restoration project would support the Creek corridor’s ecological integrity, improve water quality in the Creek and downstream, increase flood storage, and expand recreation.

To facilitate historic development, this section of the Creek corridor was ditched, resulting in habitat fragmentation, wetland loss, and poor water quality. Lake Hiawatha, the Creek’s receiving waterbody, has been listed as impaired for excess nutrients since 2002, due to sediment and nutrient loads from the Creek. Loss of historic wetlands and natural Creek meanders have also increased flood risk, and the 2014 Flood of Record caused $2 million in damages to the Course’s public infrastructure. Potential project opportunities include remeandering approximately 1,200 feet of streambank, restoring historic wetlands, and enhancing onsite stormwater management, to improve water quality, generate flood resilience, and support healthy habitat. There is also an opportunity to connect the Course to the Minnehaha Creek Greenway and the Three Rivers Park District’s trail system. These connections would link the Greenway’s 100 acres of contiguous greenspace in Hopkins and St. Louis Park to the City of Edina’s parks and trails system, as well as expand access to interconnected regional trails.