Star Tribune
Root River’s most significant restoration project takes shape in the Driftless
LANESBORO, MINN. — More than a century after a hydroelectric dam set the Root River on a new course, conservationists are looking to put the Bluff Country channel back on its natural path.
Later this fall, crews will begin clearing a half-mile portion of the original riverbed just north of Lanesboro with the goal of rerouting the channel after next year’s growing season.
The removal of the Brightsdale Dam in 2003 freed the river’s flow but created a new problem. Conservationists estimate that 540 tons — or 40 dump truck loads — of sediment are stripped from the riverbanks each year.
Wildlife officials believe the $1 million project could become a model for preserving fish habitat and protecting against erosion and pollution along the 80-mile river that stretches across southeast Minnesota and into the Mississippi River.
“Ultimately, this project is taking something that was affected and altered by the dam back over a hundred years ago and resetting back to where it would have been if that dam wasn’t there,” said Jeff Weiss, a hydrologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
The hydroelectric dam was built in 1915 and brought power to Preston, Harmony and Canton. Lines were later extended across the region to include Mabel, Spring Grove, Fountain, Caledonia and Houston.
To generate electricity, workers spent years blasting and digging through a bluff to construct a 1,750-foot tunnel that sent water pouring down 20 feet to power the turbines. The tunnel still exists today, as does a portion of the original dam structure, both because of the cost of removal and the importance to local history.
The Brightsdale Dam tunnel was used to divert water down a 20-foot drop to power the turbines. (Sean Baker/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
“It blows my mind how they were able to do that stuff back in the day,” Weiss said, pointing to historical records that show crews worked around the clock to chip away at the rock.
The state Department of Employment and Economic Development has announced a $440,000 grant to Oak Park Heights that the city plans to begin cleaning city water of the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) discovered in two city wells earlier this year.
The grant was one of six Community Energy Transition Grants awarded to communities with power plants that have closed or are scheduled to close due to the state’s conversion to 100% clean electricity by 2040.
The Allen S. King power plant will close in 2028, taking with it about a third of Oak Park Heights’ tax collections. Oak Park Heights Mayor Mary McComber said in a statement that the city will use the grant for a feasibility study and pre-design work to construct a new water treatment facility to remove PFAS contaminants from city water.
“We are grateful for DEED’s partnership and continued support,” McComber said. The six Community Energy Transition Grants announced this week totaled $5.21 million in funding for Oak Park Heights, Monticello, Red Wing, Cook County, Becker, and Sherburne County.
Superfund sites are investigated to determine the nature and extent of pollution. That has happened many times over the years at St. Regis, leading to the removal of some contaminated soil.
Some EPA studies and reports suggested the cleanup was done or nearing completion, but then the band’s own studies contradicted the EPA data. In the early 2000s, researchers with the University of Minnesota found evidence of a worsening situation that the EPA seemed to miss.
“It’s easy for a lot of people to say, ‘Well, they didn’t know any better when they were poisoning the water…when they were poisoning the land, they didn’t know any better.’ But they really did,” said Leo Anderson, who lived on a section of the Superfund site, as did his grandparents.
“One of the earliest memories I have of living on this site was that if you left a glass of water out overnight, in the morning there was an oil on top of it,” Anderson said.
“We had repeated stories of these companies putting freshly treated creosote wood right next to people’s homes,” he said. “They would pile it as close as they could to your home until you moved out and then they would continue working their way through the whole community. So this was not a mistake.”
A National Weather Service survey team will be in St. Louis County in northern Minnesota on Friday to assess damage and try to determine the strength of a twister that touched down Thursday afternoon.
“It was a confirmed tornado,” said Krystal Lynum, a meteorologist with the Weather Service’s office in Duluth.
Numerous photos and videos posted online showed the tornado that felled trees near Bug Creek Road just east of Cotton, and as it crossed Hwy. 53 near Canyon, Minn. between 4:45 and 5:30 p.m., Lynum said.
Shingles were torn from a two-story home and debris was strewn near Cotton, the Weather Service reported.
“Fortunately, a remote area with few buildings,” St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay wrote in a Facebook posting. No injuries were reported, he said.
The two small towns are about 40 miles northwest of Duluth.
While not unprecedented, the September tornado in northern Minnesota is rare, Lynum said.
“Usually severe weather starts to end the last part of August, but it’s been so warm we are seeing severe weather in September.”
Deadly flooding in West and Central Africa leaves corpses of crocodiles and snakes floating among human bodies
House unanimously votes to boost Secret Service protection for presidential and VP candidates
Back to school anxiety, the warning signs and what parents can do
Deadly flooding in West and Central Africa leaves corpses of crocodiles and snakes floating among human bodies
House unanimously votes to boost Secret Service protection for presidential and VP candidates