The restoration of Buckingham Creek, which runs through Enger Golf Course in Duluth, recently came to a conclusion. Work from the South St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in partnership with the City of Duluth has returned this once threatened trout stream back to a more natural state.
"The creek was impacted by over a century of activities that - while probably well intentioned - weren't really taken with stream health in mind," says Tim Beaster, Conservation Specialist with the South St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation District. The construction of impoundments and inclusion of undersized culverts has caused waters in the stream to warm and has narrowed the waterway making it difficult for trout to move freely.
Duluth is a city of streams that are important to overall environmental health. "We have sixteen trout streams in Duluth," says John Lindgren, Principal Planner for Fisheries with the Minnesota DNR. "Buckingham, although not a large watershed, has supported trout."
When the City of Duluth announced that they would be closing Enger Golf Course in order to update the irrigation system, they allowed SWCD and the DNR to utilize that time to work on the restoration. "It was a really nice partnership between the city, SWCD and the Minnesota DNR," says Lindgren. "The city deserves a lot of credit for that."
For the next three years, special attention will be paid to the vegetation that was incorporated along the stream. Nature will likely take its course, but monitoring the progress of some of the new plantings will increase the odds of success. "The long-term thinking is that once the vegetation truly grows in and we can pull those cages off the trees, nature will just take over," says Beaster. "It'll be maintenance free in the long-term."
So far, the fish and the stream seem to be doing well. Word has it that regular users of the golf course are generally fans of the improvement, too.
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