At the Heart of Award-Winning Projects Across the Chain of Lakes:
Retention Ponds & People Power Are Getting It Done

Water quality issues make for good partnership-building opportunities. At least that's been the experience at the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) for the past six years as MCWD and a broad cross section of elected officials from cities and counties, state and city agencies, private engineering firms, and involved citizens continue to receive local, state and national award recognition for several high-profile water quality improvement projects. To date, key projects and individuals have been singled out for awards that salute not only cleaner lakes but also innovative partnerships that capitalized on strategic citizen dedication and input.

The CF Industries National Watershed Award

Early this November, The CF Industries National Watershed Award will be given in Washington, D.C. by the Conservation Fund to MCWD and its partners for the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes Clean Water Partnership. Each year, the CF Industries National Watershed Award recognizes one corporation and three communities nationwide for their outstanding leadership in protecting America's water resources. As an outgrowth of the National Forum on Nonpoint Source Pollution, convened by the National Geographic Society and The Conservation Fund, the program recognizes the significant, measurable results generated by projects that renew water resources.

The award-winning partnership includes the cities of Minneapolis and St. Louis Park, the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Hennepin County and the Minneapolis Park Board. The effort required six-years of planning, hours of meetings with citizens and stakeholders, careful coordination with local elected officials, and thoughtful design work. The result was the largest urban lake restoration program in the nation.

Minneapolis Award for Community Service

About the same time in November, Pam Blixt, MCWD Board President, will be receiving the Minneapolis Award for Community Service for more than 10 years of dedication to protecting natural resources and cleaning up water in Minneapolis and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed.

CUE Award

In addition to these two watershed-related honors, the MCWD has been nominated for the City of Minneapolis’s CUE Award for its design of the Southwest Calhoun Ponds. The CUE Award is given to individuals and organizations for outstanding designs that improve the quality of the urban landscape.

According to Eric Evenson, MCWD Administrator, “The reason we’re getting so much community support is simple: never design a square pond and don’t cut down trees! In a city consistently awarded for its beautiful parks and lake areas, aesthetics play just as important role as the engineering mechanics of the pond structures."

Additional Chain of Lakes Projects

The MCWD will be building three new project this winter that will hopefully see the same kind of award-winning results as Lake Calhoun and the Chain of Lakes:

• Lake Nokomis Wetland Ponds, Minneapolis
• 60th and First Regional Pond, Minneapolis
• Pamela Lake restoration, Edina

The Lake Nokomis Project will include three ponds, totaling 8.2 acres of restored and new wetlands, and will be landscaped with native plants and flowers. The neighbors were so excited about the project that they met often and eventually gave each of the ponds a name, Amelia Pond (Lake Nokomis’s original European name), Gateway Pond (as a “gateway to the city”) and Nokomis Knoll Pond. Engineering models indicate the project will remove over 900-pounds of phosphorous each year.

The 60th and First Street Pond in South Minneapolis is currently being built in a partnership with the City of Minneapolis and the Minnesota Department of Transportation. This project will reduce flooding problems and reduce phosphorous loading to Diamond Lake. Although, the city removed thirty-one houses to build this pond, many of the mature trees were saved. As a result, when this pond is completed it will look as if it has always been part of the landscape.

The Pamela Lake Restoration Project in Edina is a cooperative effort between the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and City of Edina. It will restore and protect a degraded urban wetland in Pamela and clean up the water draining to Minnehaha Creek. The project involves the construction of three wet detention basins in upland areas of the park, removal of accumulated sediment in Pamela Lake and construction of sedimentation basins at the two major storm sewer outfalls to the lake/wetland.

The ponds will treat storm water inflows from 129 acres of residential property located in Edina near the Southdale Shopping Center. Site restoration and landscaping is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2001. This work will include the construction of new trails in upland areas of the park and the planting of native trees, shrubs, and prairie species to enhance the overall appearance of the park and increase wetland function and wildlife habitat.

Evenson notes that "neighborhood residents expressed concerns regarding declining water quality conditions and general degradation of Pamela Lake. Nutrient and sediment loads flowing into Pamela Lake from urban storm water runoff have impacted the lake's water quality and reduced water depths. So, like the Chain of Lakes, Nokomis, and 60th and First Project, this project is also heavily citizen-driven.” According to both Evenson and Blixt, all of these projects have been big win-win-wins for the cities and the entire watershed - and more proof that public works really do benefit the public when all parties work together.

"Besides the influential firepower from the likes of Mpls. Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton and St. Louis Park (at the time) Mayor Gail Dorfman, and several elected city council and county officials, we've had major investment from neighborhoods and involved citizens in the Chain of Lakes projects and all of our upcoming projects. Call it a meeting of power people coupled with people power,” Blixt says. “The MCWD Board of Managers enthusiastically views these projects as a great mixture of public service and civic pride."