BWSR issues another $3.2 million in flood relief grants to City of Duluth and South St. Louis SWCD

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For Release: Mar. 25, 2013 

Contact: Jennifer Maleitzke, 651-215-9008 (office); 651-315-5082 (cell)

 

BWSR issues another $3.2 million in flood relief grants to City of Duluth and South St. Louis SWCD

 

 

Note to the editor: The City of Duluth, BWSR and DNR will hold a joint news conference on Tuesday, Mar. 26 at 1:30 p.m. at Duluth City Hall, 4th floor Mayor’s Reception Room, to provide additional details.

 

St. Paul, Minn.—Less than one month after issuing $2 million in grants to northeast Minnesota for natural resource projects, the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) announced today it will issue an additional $1.7 million to the City of Duluth and $1.5 million to the South St. Louis Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD).

 

“Landowners and local communities still have great needs to fix damages caused by last year’s storms,” John Jaschke, BWSR Executive Director said. “With construction season on the horizon, we want to ensure these projects can start right away this spring to repair properties, to restore damages to the region’s rivers and streams and to prevent pollution from entering Lake Superior.”

 

These projects will protect human safety, property and infrastructure, and will also stabilize and protect areas that have already been repaired with city funds or Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds.

 

Some specific projects include:

 

  • Replacing or repairing culverts around Prairie Lake, Artichoke River, Morgan Park, Tischer Creek, Coffee Creek, Miller Creek and Amity Creek
  • Replacing or repairing retaining walls around Chester and Tischer Creeks and Lake Superior
  • Stabilizing slopes, gullies and shoreline around Lake Superior
  • Stabilizing severe bank erosion around Chester Creek and the Chester Park hiking trails
  • Stabilizing exposed banks around Coffee and Miller Creeks near Enger Park Public Golf Course, Miller Creek Disc Golf Course and Western Lake Superior Sanitary District sewer line

 

In addition to the BWSR funding, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will award an initial $650,000 grant to the City of Duluth for debris and sediment removal projects in fourteen trout streams. It is anticipated that additional DNR funding for these purposes will be provided to the city as other projects develop.

 

Previously, the City of Duluth received a grant from the DNR totaling $2.4 million for acquisition and removal of 21 flood-damaged structures and property. Another $555,000 was awarded by DNR to three other communities affected by flooding for acquiring an additional ten flood damaged structures.

 

Recommendations for this funding was provided by the MN Recovers Task Force, a team of federal, state and local agencies working together to prioritize and coordinate disaster recovery efforts by its member agencies. 

 

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