Browsing by Subject "Amity Creek"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Amity Restoration Assessment: Water quality, fish, bugs, people
    (University of Minnesota Duluth, 2013) Axler, Richard P; Brady, Valerie; Ruzycki, Elaine; Henneck, Jerald; Will, Norman; Crouse, A; Dumke, Josh; Hell, Robert V
    This project is also a new contribution from the Weber Stream Restoration Initiative (WSRI) that began in 2005 via private endowments to create a Partnership of university scientists and extension educators, and local, state and federal agency staff to restore and protect Lake Superior Basin trout streams (www.lakesuperiorstreams.org/weber/index.html). The WSRI features a demonstration project targeting the turbidity and sediment impaired Amity Creek watershed for multiple restoration activities. It was awarded an Environmental Stewardship Award from the Lake Superior Binational Forum in 2010 and was honored state-wide by the [Minnesota] Environmental Initiative in May 2013 by being awarded the “Partnership of the Year” for its activities, key elements being: (1) its website for local community education about watershed and water resource issues; (2) creation of interactive, on-line animations of real-time water quality with interpretive information from a site near Amity’s discharge into the Lester River just above its discharge into Lake Superior (within the St. Louis River AOC); (3) development of a multi-agency/organization partnership to pursue trout stream restoration and conservation activities throughout the western Lake Superior basin; (4) designing and carrying out two major Amity restoration projects in 2009 with the City of Duluth and South St. Louis SWCD; (5) mapping landscape stressors for highlighting areas of higher risk for environmental impacts as well as conducting a detailed reconnaissance of riparian zone sediment sources for priority remediation (SSL SWCD, 2009); and (6) developing a successful EPA Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) project to fund additional restoration related activities from 2010-2014 (MPCA, NRRI-UMD, SSL SWCD partnership, 2010, $843,616).
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    Duluth Residential Stormwater Reduction Demonstration Project for Lake Superior Tributaries
    (University of Minnesota Duluth, 2011) Kleist, Chris; Brady, Valerie; Johnson, Lucinda B; Schomberg, Jesse
    We used paired 2‐block street sections in the Amity Creek watershed (Duluth, MN) to demonstrate the effectiveness of homeowner BMPs to reduce residential stormwater flow to storm sewers in an older neighborhood in a cold climate on clay and bedrock geology. Runoff from each street was measured before and after installation of stormwater BMPs. In addition, the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of residents were measured before and after BMP installation. BMPs were installed on properties of willing residents of one street (“treatment”). Most residents (22 of 25 properties) willingly participated. 250 trees and shrubs were planted; 22 rain barrels were installed; 5 rain gardens, 12 rock‐sump storage basins, and 2 swales were constructed; and a stormwater ditch was re‐dug and had 5 ditch checks installed in it. The post‐project survey indicated an increase in understanding by treatment‐street residents of where stormwater flowed to and what it affected, and an increase in willingness to accept at least some responsibility for stormwater runoff. Residents who received BMPs were generally satisfied with them and would recommend them to others. Runoff reduction proved more difficult to quantify due to high and inconsistent runoff variability between the paired streets, very few pre‐BMP installation rain events, and loss of one control street due to re‐paving mid‐project. Capacity of installed BMPs is approximately 2.5% of the measured stormwater runoff. There is about a 20% greater reduction in runoff for the treatment street after BMPs were installed than for the control street for small to moderate storm events; while we would like to attribute this completely to our BMPs, we cannot prove that other factors weren’t also at work. Peak flows also appear to have been reduced for 1 inch and smaller rainstorms, but we were unable to accurately measure this reduction. The results are available on an existing stream education website and are used to educate neighborhood, city of Duluth, and regional residents on stormwater issues, individual responsibility, and BMP options.
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    Duluth Residential Stormwater Reduction Demonstration Project for Lake Superior Tributaries
    (2011-07-30) Kleist, Chris; Brady, Valerie; Johnson, Lucinda B; Schomberg, Jesse
    We used paired 2‐block street sections in the Amity Creek watershed (Duluth, MN) to demonstrate the effectiveness of homeowner BMPs to reduce residential stormwater flow to storm sewers in an older neighborhood in a cold climate on clay and bedrock geology. Runoff from each street was measured before and after installation of stormwater BMPs. In addition, the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of residents were measured before and after BMP installation. BMPs were installed on properties of willing residents of one street (“treatment”). Most residents (22 of 25 properties) willingly participated. 250 trees and shrubs were planted; 22 rain barrels were installed; 5 rain gardens, 12 rock‐sump storage basins, and 2 swales were constructed; and a stormwater ditch was re‐dug and had 5 ditch checks installed in it. The post‐project survey indicated an increase in understanding by treatment‐street residents of where stormwater flowed to and what it affected, and an increase in willingness to accept at least some responsibility for stormwater runoff. Residents who received BMPs were generally satisfied with them and would recommend them to others. Runoff reduction proved more difficult to quantify due to high and inconsistent runoff variability between the paired streets, very few pre‐BMP installation rain events, and loss of one control street due to re‐paving mid‐project. Capacity of installed BMPs is approximately 2.5% of the measured stormwater runoff. There is about a 20% greater reduction in runoff for the treatment street after BMPs were installed than for the control street for small to moderate storm events; while we would like to attribute this completely to our BMPs, we cannot prove that other factors weren’t also at work. Peak flows also appear to have been reduced for 1 inch and smaller rainstorms, but we were unable to accurately measure this reduction. The results are available on an existing stream education website and are used to educate neighborhood, city of Duluth, and regional residents on stormwater issues, individual responsibility, and BMP options.
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    High-resolution topographic data (TLS and SfM) of river bluffs in Amity Creek and the Knife River, Minnesota, USA, 2016-2018
    (2020-01-08) Kelly, Sara, A; Brown, Elizabeth; Gran, Karen, B; kgran@d.umn.edu; Gran, Karen, B; University of Minnesota Earth & Environmental Sciences
    Over the past few years, more and more river bluffs on North Shore (Minnesota, USA) streams are being stabilized using a technique wherein a bankfull bench is created adjacent to an eroding bluff using a combination of toe wood, rock, and soil lifts. One of the goals of this technique is to reduce the amount of fine sediment entering the river from bluff erosion, both by removing river access to the toe of the bluff and by providing a bench for eroding sediment to deposit on. In order to determine how much erosion and deposition were occurring on these bluffs, we monitored six river bluffs on the Knife River and Amity Creek from 2016-2018. We report data on four bluffs in Amity Creek and two in the Knife River: 4 bluffs that were stabilized in the 2014 and 2015 using a bankfull bench design and 2 additional bluffs that have not had work done on them for comparison. Each bluff was surveyed 2-3 times each between 2016 and 2018 using a Faro Focus 3D terrestrial laser scanner (TLS), and all four stabilized bluffs were surveyed once via photogrammetry from a DJI Phantom 4 UAV (uncrewed aerial vehicle). The photogrammetry data were turned into high-resolution topographic data using Structure-from-Motion (SfM) processing. Repeat data at each site were compared using Geomorphic Change Detection to calculate volumes of change. In addition, SfM and TLS data collected simultaneously are compared to test the efficacy of using photogrammetry data to monitor bluff erosion.