Pine Journal: SWCD gets funds to repair Deer Creek

The Carlton Soil and Water Conservation District was awarded more than $75,000 for a project to reduce phosphorus and sediment in Deer Creek, a tributary to the Nemadji River south of Wrenshall, courtesy of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) funding by the Great Lakes Commission.

Carlton SWCD Manager Brad Matlack said the grant will pay for work to stabilize the banks of the stream and stop the erosion that has been occurring since an earthen embankment dam failed.

Every year, tons of polluting phosphorus and sediments enter the Great Lakes Basin, causing massive economic and environmental losses and damages and contributing to the formation of Harmful Algal Blooms and dead zones. The commission’s Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program strategically addresses this problem with a unique, targeted grassroots approach which awards grants to nonfederal agencies and nonprofit organizations in priority watersheds throughout the region.

Matlack said water resource technician Melanie Bomier did a good job of writing the grant, adding that the SWCD has a gotten other grants from the GLRI in the past.

“We hope to go out for bids soon and get the project completed by fall,” Matlack said.

U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan — an original co-sponsor of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Act of 2016, which would authorize $1.5 billion for the successful program until 2021 — congratulated the SWCD “on this significant recognition of their important work to protect the health of our waterways and communities.” “This grant also highlights the need to reauthorize the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to continue protecting the Great Lakes, which are a vital economic and environmental asset for Minnesota,” Nolan added.

This year, 15 projects totaling nearly $2 million were funded by the Great Lakes Sediment and Nutrient Reduction Program to install on-the-land practices to reduce phosphorus runoff and sedimentation into the Great Lakes.

“Congratulations to the Carlton Soil and Water Conservation District for receiving this funding to protect water quality in the Great Lakes,” said Tim Eder, executive director of the Great Lakes Commission. “This project is yet another example of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative generating important economic and environmental improvements in communities across the region. Thank you to Rep. Nolan for your continued support of this important initiative.”

Funding for this program is provided by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative under a cooperative agreement between the Great Lakes Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.