One-Two Punch of Funding Brings Project Success in Minnesota

The Takeaway: The Minnesota Coastal Management Program used funding from two sources to take a culvert replacement project from engineering and design all the way to implementation.

Brook trout are native to Minnesota’s headwaters and small streams like Tischer Creek in and around the city of Duluth. They’re a popular draw for recreational fishers and also serve as an indicator species for overall ecosystem health in the area. A culvert within Tischer Creek, built too small and high up to allow water to pass through, was blocking the trout from migrating. This means the trout were cut off from a recently restored cold water tributary used as spawning habitat and a life-saving reprieve from warm creek waters.

The Coastal States Organization and NOAA secured funds through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, then worked with Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program and local partners to complete engineering and design plans for a new culvert. The coastal program then used funding from NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management to implement the plans and replace the culvert.

 The engineering and design plan focused on updating the culvert to ensure it would hold up under flood events anticipated to occur every year-and-a-half. The plans also aligned the culvert with the natural pattern of the stream and slope of the ground. Lastly, it added appropriately sized rocks and substrate to the bottom of the creek, and created a low-flow channel. All of this came together to successfully connect the creek to the tributary and allow fish and other organisms to migrate back and forth. The coastal program worked with South St. Louis Soil and Water Conservation District to execute these plans and construct the new culvert.

read more at coast.noaa.gov.