Project Update
Celebrating Trout Brook
This October, SWWD marked the official end of work on the Trout Brook stream restoration project. To celebrate the occasion, SWWD worked with the Minnesota DNR to stock just over 2,500 fingerling brook trout into the stream. The site was identified over 10 years ago for restoration work to reduce sediment and nutrient discharge into downstream Lake St. Croix and St. Croix River, and to improve aquatic habitat.
In Minnesota, there is only one native trout species, the brook trout or as some lovingly call “brookies”. During the event, a heritage strain of native brook trout, called the MN Driftless, were stocked into Trout Brook. Over the last 20 years, the Minnesota DNR has worked to cultivate a heritage strain of native brook trout. The strain was developed through genetic testing, and gathering of eggs and milt of the remaining native populations of brook trout. Ultimately, the goal is to reintroduce native trout back into Minnesota trout streams with suitable habitat.
Restoration work at Trout Brook has been significant. Major construction to the channel beginning in 2019, to restore the original channel path and reduce flooding to the Afton Alps parking lot.
Learn more about the Trout Brook Restoration
Watch the stocking at Trout Brook
Glacial Valley Park Trail Connection Completed
Construction is now complete on SWWD’s new 0.4-mile accessible trail along the western edge of Glacial Valley Park. This new recreational trail completes Washington County’s vision of a continuous trail network extending from Lake Elmo Park Reserve to Cottage Grove Ravine Regional Park that does not require the use of any road shoulders.
From here, SWWD can turn its attention to a larger vision for a future Glacial Valley Park interpretive center and pavilion. While preliminary concept plans have been in place for several years, the District is waiting for development of land to the west to proceed to provide road and utility access to its property with the planned extension of Glacial Valley Road. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming years! For now, residents can enjoy the new trail and restored prairie views found at Glacial Valley Park.
Planting Roots Hasenbank Stormwater Park
Hasenbank Stormwater Park recently received another influx of local art as Aaron Dysart installed the first of his two sculptures, “Branching Out”, on December 2. His work joins two previous public art installations at Hasenbank Park, including “Gears” by Christopher E. Harrison and “Percolation Through the Prairie” by the design team at Barr Engineering Co. Dysart’s second sculpture, “Flowing Roots”, is expected to be placed onsite by spring 2025.
Branching Out is a roughly 15-foot sculpture of a tree-made of pipes and pipe fittings. The sculpture highlights a tree’s role in moving water through transpiration by using the materiality of pipes that also transport water and the organic form of the tree. Transpiration is how waters moves through a plant, and how it eventually evaporates through a plants leaves, stems, and flowers. Branching Out connects the soil to the sky through native plants while highlighting the engineering of stormwater infiltration on the site. Through this combination, visitors will see one of the hidden ways that the treated water will leave the park. This sculpture will be placed near the reveal on the park’s south end to further speak to the movement of water through the system.
As for the stormwater management aspect of the park, construction is substantially complete, and native vegetation began to establish over the fall months. SWWD expects to begin operating the pumps and infiltration basins in the spring. Once online, the system will intercept stormwater runoff that flows from Fish Lake into Powers Lake, significantly reducing nutrient loading and runoff volume to Powers Lake.
SWWD expects to host a grand opening event in the spring for local residents and officials to celebrate improvements at the park. More details to come in the spring newsletter.
Program Updates
Come and Grit it! SWWD Launches Chloride Reduction Pilot Program
To combat chloride pollution in the watershed, South Washington Watershed District will provide free grit this winter. Chicken grit or grit, is a chloride free, non-chemical alternative to salt for deicing roads, sidewalks, and driveways during the winter. Grit is different than ice, and does not melt ice. Instead, grit works physically to provide traction on top of the ice. It can also be used throughout the winter, unlike salts that chemically do not work once the ground has reached 15°F, no matter how much salt is applied.
Chloride pollution is a growing issue. Chemical deicing products have polluted our lakes, streams, and wetlands with chloride; and once chloride gets into water, it’s there for good and will build up year after year. It only takes one teaspoon of salt to permanently pollute five gallons of water, and in Minnesota, we spread around 445,000 tons of it to our roads each year. To put it into perspective, that’s the equivalent weight of 1,017 jumbo jets, 67,283 African Bush Elephants, or 651,124,531 basketballs.
Chloride pollution is a growing issue. Chemical deicing products have polluted our lakes, streams, and wetlands with chloride; and once chloride gets into water, it’s there for good and will build up year after year. It only takes one teaspoon of salt to permanently pollute five gallons of water, and in Minnesota, we spread around 445,000 tons of it to our roads each year. To put it into perspective, that’s the equivalent weight of 1,017 jumbo jets, 67,283 African Bush Elephants, or 651,124,531 basketballs.
Chloride also pollutes groundwater, impacting not only the taste but the healthfulness of our drinking water. Around 75% of Minnesotans rely on groundwater for drinking water.
Chloride pollution doesn’t only impact humans, it can also harm animals and the environment.
In high amounts, chloride can be toxic to fish, amphibians, and aquatic bugs. Even at low levels, too much chloride can negatively impact species diversity and productivity.
Chloride can also affect pets. When pets consume salt, by licking salt off their paws, or drinking salty snow melt or runoff, it can make them sick. It can also cause irritation to paw pads.
Wildlife can also be impacted by chloride. Songbirds, like house sparrows and finches, can die when they ingest salt.
When road slush accumulates on the roads, salty splashes can kill plants and trees along the roadside. Many plants can take up salty runoff through their roots, harmful to the plants. Aquatic plants are also heavily impacted, when chloride enters streams, lakes, and wetlands.
Soil can lose its ability to retain water and store nutrients when polluted with salt. This makes soil more prone to erosion and sediment runoff- which is already harmful to water quality.
Chloride is also corrosive to road surfaces (hence why there are only two seasons in Minnesota: Winter and construction). It damages bridges and reinforcing rods, increasing maintenance and repair costs.
24 Hour Outdoor Pickup
- Woodbury Public Works – 2300 Tower Dr, Woodbury, MN 55125
- Cottage Grove Public Works – 8635 W Point Douglas Rd S, Cottage Grove, MN 55016.
- The shed is located behind the main building at the intersection of 95th St S and Irwin Ave S
Weekday and Weekend Pickup Available (Saturday Only)
- Washington County Environmental Center – 4039 Cottage Grove Drive, Woodbury, MN 55129
Weekday Pickup Only
- City of Newport Public Works – 1100 Bailey Rd, Newport, MN 55055
- City of Newport City Hall – 2060 1st Ave, Newport, MN 55055
- St. Paul Park Street Department – 649 5th St, St. Paul Park, MN 55071
Each bag is 25 lbs, and will be available through contactless curbside pickup at participating locations. Some may be located inside unlocked shelters or sheds. Please limit yourself to one bag per household, to ensure your neighbors can claim a bag this winter.
Reflecting on the Residency with 2024 SWWD Resident Artist, Sarah Lilja
Photographer Sarah Lilja says she won the jackpot when she was awarded the South Washington Watershed District artist residency. The Lake Elmo-based artist had only been professionally pursuing photography since 2017 when two of her first submitted photos were accepted into a magazine. “I actually won one category…and I thought whoa…I guess I do know something about taking a good photograph” This experience kick started her journey into fine art photography.
In 2023, SWWD sought to incorporate something unique into its programming, to bring more visibility to the watershed’s water and environmental resources. An artist-in-residence (AiR) program seemed just the thing, a way to visually communicate the value and beauty of the watershed resources, and the District’s work in the community. Selecting photography as its medium, the District released a call for artist submissions. SWWD received many compelling portfolios from a number of local artists, but amongst those received, Sarah Lilja’s stood out to the review committee. Her photography, which captures vibrant colors and subtle details, was a perfect fit for the goals of the residency, and so Sarah was selected Sarah began right away, tasked with capturing the big and small of the over 65,000 acres of landscape that makes up the South Washington Watershed District. The big, included the official opening of the Trout Brook restoration site, the visual drama of a prescribed burn of Glacial Valley Park, and the nights of northern lights that blanketed the skies of the watershed in the fall of 2024. But amongst the vastness, there were the small details that Sarah says she is drawn to, “…I enjoy shooting landscapes, but what also really grabs my attention [are the] little things, and how I can I make them more apparent in a photograph…” Of the little things, Sarah notes that of the over 150 photos she created during the residency, one of her favorites was a moment from Colby Lake; she noticed a fallen oak leaf, holding a firm curved shape, perfectly reflected on the surface of the water. “[This is an] example of my love of detail…that something as small as a leaf, floating on a lake, inspired a whole new perspective for me on how to make an interesting and engaging photograph.”
But like anything new, there were challenges. Photographing a mixed environment, ranging from a Minnesota State Park to wide-spread suburban development, was a big part of capturing the watershed. At first, Sarah says, it was a challenge- “how do you make an engaging picture in a very suburban environment?” But as the residency continued, Sarah noted that this challenge also provided many opportunities to more deeply explore the water and environmental resources within the District.”…I feel extremely lucky that the Watershed District [is so] committed…it just speaks so highly about SWWD’s values and goals…”
As Sarah’s year-long residency drew to a close, SWWD celebrated the AiR with an exhibition of her work. The show was named Connecting at the Confluence. A confluence, defined as the junction of two rivers, holds multiple meanings for SWWD. First, it is a reference to the watershed district’s two largest drainage basins, the St. Croix and the Mississippi; whose confluence, at the southern tip of the District in Hastings, MN, is where the exhibition took place at Carpenter Nature Center. Secondly, it also is a reference to the heart of the artist in residence program, bringing together art and natural resources in order to explore what is at the confluence of those two things.
In 2025, the District will continue the Artist in Residency program, this time taking to the skies with an aerial drone photographer. The call for artists will be published sometime in January 2025.
Experiencing Education
The South Washington Watershed District is in its fifth year of collaboration with Carpenter Nature Center and South Washington Public Schools to bring experiential learning programs into the classroom. Initially, the program was targeted at schools where the Campus Greening Program was restoring native plant community cover to schools throughout the District. The program is now made available to all of the Middle Schools within the Watershed District, reaching all students in the 6th Grade science classes.
This six week program brings Carpenter Nature Center staff into the classroom once a week for an hour-long water quality program and culminates in a trip to the St. Croix River to apply the lessons learned in the field. Now in its fifth year, middle school teachers are incorporating the program, built around state standards, into their own science yearly curriculum. Each week, the widely ranging program introduces students to a new topic the builds on the previous lesson. Lessons progress through watershed definitions, pollution and water quality, storm sewer networks and ways to clean stormwater, impacts of water quality on plant and animal life and hands-on biotic and abiotic measurements of water quality. The visit to Carpenter Nature Center applies all of the lessons learned on the shores of Lake St. Croix.
This fall, over 600 6th grade students gathered on the shores of the St. Croix over the course of a few days to test water quality samples, gather and count macroinvertebrates, and build a water quality hypothesis to be proved or disproved by their field work.
In addition to the Carpenter Nature Center programming, SWWD staff received a Board of Water and Soil Resources HELP Grant to enhance restored prairie landscapes at Lake Middle School. The program supported teachers and SWWD staff to develop classroom greenhouses, where students have been growing seeds for the last two years. Plants will later be planted throughout the school prairies to increase flower diversity in support of pollinating insects. In 2025, the program is being fully taken over by partner teachers at Lake Middle School and lessons learned at Lake will, hopefully, provide the foundation to expand the program District wide as other natural areas come into maturity.
Watershed Management Plan
The SWWD Watershed Management Plan (WMP) update is underway. This fall, SWWD held the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting. The TAC gathers staff representatives of several organizations SWWD works with, like District cities, Washington County, and the Board of Water and Soil Resources, to discuss the plan update.
During the meeting, SWWD staff gave a brief presentation about the update process and a summary of resident feedback from the two workshops held this summer and public survey. Feedback received identified key issues and actions, including concerns over landscape changes, contamination of PFAS and pollution, and a desire for more education and engagement opportunities.
Staff will spend the next year writing the draft plan before a finalized version is adopted in fall of 2026.
To learn more about resident feedback, check out the StoryMap!
News & Events
News
Our website domain has changed! Information about SWWD programs, projects, and this quarterly newsletter are all on swwdmn.gov, the same website, just a new address!
Events
- MPCA Smart Salt Training – The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency offers several training sessions to become Smart Salt Certified. Course instruction is generally geared towards property managers, environmental professionals and advocates, business owners and public works directors. Training takes place in person or online, and are free to attend through December and January.
- Winter Salt Week 2025 – January 27th-31st is Winter Salt Week! WSW is a collaboration of governmental and non-governmental organizations across the United States and Canada with the goal of raising awareness around salt pollution and reduction solutions. You can register for several live streams held throughout the week to learn about the problem with chloride pollution, and the solutions to tackling the issue.