The State of the Great Lakes – Minnesota

Click to view a larger map of the restoration sites.

State of Great Lakes – Minnesota Fact Sheet (PDF)

The Great Lakes are one of our most precious national treasures. With nearly 20 percent of the Earth’s fresh surface water,they provide drinking water to 28 million U.S. residents. But threats to the Great Lakes basin are making our waters less fishable, closing our beaches to swimming and affecting our drinking water.

The Great Lakes are a vital resource, but they are in danger of being destroyed by toxic pollutants and sewage overflows, destruction of fish and wildlife habitat, and an increasing number of dangerous invasive species.

Minnesota has more than 270 miles of shoreline along Lake Superior—the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area. More than 215,000 people live in the Lake Superior basin in Minnesota. In 1997, an estimated 3.5 million visitors came to Duluth and the North Shore to enjoy Lake Superior. To clean up the shoreline, more funding is needed for restoration and protection.
In July 2003, Congress introduced bipartisan Great Lakes Restoration legislation calling for $4 to $6 billion in funding to protect drinking water, reduce pollution and rehabilitate coastal habitat for fish and wildlife. Only through a coordinated, federallyfunded effort will Minnesota, Lake Superior and the Great Lakes region receive the resources needed to begin restoration of damage done byyears of neglect and pollution.

Toxic Hot Spots

The Poplar River

Minnesota’s North Shore – Photo courtesy of MN Extension Service, Dave Hansen

Famous for its rugged beauty, Lake Superior’s North Shore, running from Duluth to the Canadian border, has seen dramatic changes during the past decade. Tourism, population and development are steadily increasing and are taking their toll on North Shore streams and the fish and wildlife that depend on them. The health of these streams is directly linked to the health of Lake Superior as most of the 27 streams empty into the lake.

In 2002, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency monitored the Poplar River in two locations: the first site was three miles upstream from Lake Superior, and the second site was downstream near Lake Superior. Between the monitoring sites the river runs through two popular tourist areas, the Lutsen Mountains Ski Area and the Superior National Golf Course, as well as a residential area. Downstream from the developed areas, the monitoring showed an increase in sediment, phosphorous, mercury (exceeding state standards) and chlorides. The contaminants have made the river

unhealthy for fish and wildlife. Fish counts in 1983 and 1989 showed a fair number of steelhead trout living in the Poplar River. However, recent counts show that steelhead trout haven’t reproduced since 1994.

Silver Bay

Silver Bay dumping site – Photo courtesy of Cleveland-Cliffs and MPR

Silver Bay, located 50 miles north of Duluth, is the former home of the Reserve Mining Company. In 1955 Reserve began hauling trainloads of rock from the mine to the processing plant on the shore of Silver Bay. The rock was crushed and useable iron was separated from the waste. The waste was then dumped into Silver Bay. After 25 years of dumping, a third of a mile of waste rock spread from the shore out into the Bay and created a flat expanse of land. Trees and other plants have begun to grow on the dumping site.

Scientists began studying Lake Superior’s currents in the 1970s to find out if the Silver Bay site had contaminated the water, how far any contamination traveled, and if it was affecting fish and wildlife in and around the lake. What they found were fibers similar to asbestos, which causes cancer, in water supplies in Duluth and Two Harbors.

Reserve was finally ordered to stop dumping waste rock into Silver Bay in 1974. The company appealed the ruling and won. In 1980, Reserve built a disposal pond seven miles inland from Silver Bay, which will protect the Bay and Lake Superior. Today, the health risks of the fibers from the waste rock dumped into Silver Bay during the 30-year period remain unclear.

The St. Louis River Estuary & Duluth Harbor

The St. Louis River is the largest U.S. tributary to Lake Superior. The river runs 179 miles from its headwater, the lower 21 miles is a freshwater estuary. The upper portion of the estuary still contains high quality ecological areas, while sections of the lower portion and harbor have been modified since the 1800s to accommodate commercial, residential and industrial needs. In the 1980s, contamination and pollution in the River resulted in numerous fish consumption advisories, beach closings, restrictions on dredging, and degraded fish and wildlife habitat. As a result, the lower St. Louis River system was designated an Area of Concern by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1989.

The St. Louis River Estuary serves as the nursery for fish found in western Lake Superior such as walleye, lake sturgeon, muskellunge, northern pike and smallmouth bass. More than 230 species of birds, including raptors, shorebirds, waterbirds, gulls and terns as well as several species of freshwater mussels utilize the waters of the estuary. Because of elevated levels of contamination present in the lower St. Louis River, these valuable resources are at risk. Local environmental groups are working to implement restoration projects, but large scale federal funding is necessary to preserve this rare environment and recreational treasure.

A Great Lakes Trophy

Sugarloaf Cove

Sugarloaf Cove is a scenic rocky cove on the shore of Lake Superior in northern Minnesota. From the 1940s to the 1970s, Consolidated Papers, Inc., used Sugarloaf Cove as a place to collect logs before rafting them across Lake Superior to Ashland, Wisconsin. During this time, low areas were filled and most of the forest and native plants were cleared to make room for logs, buildings and roads. When the paper company stopped using the site, company employees removed many of the buildings, and non-native vegetation and trees planted by the company took over the site. In the 1990s, Sugarloaf Cove came under the protection of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Sugarloaf Interpretive Center Association (SICA). The decision was made to restore Sugarloaf Cove’s original native plant communities.

In 1998, the DNR received a grant from the Great Lakes National Program Office of the Environmental Protection Agency to restore the wetlands at Sugarloaf Cove. The team tested the soil to verify the presence of past wetlands and to determine what native plants existed at the site. In the fall of 1999, the area was excavated and prepared for replanting. Seeds from native plants found within a 25-mile radius of Sugarloaf Cove were collected for the project. In May of 2000, volunteers from all over the state came to help plant the seeds. Mature plants that were donated from nearby landowners were transplanted as well. The DNR and SICA are charged with protecting the native plants to ensure that the area maintains its historically beautiful landscape.

Local Treasures

Lighthouse Point

Lighthouse Point, one of the last pristine areas located on the North Shore, is home to arctic-like habitat found in few other places in the United States. The area supports a wealth of endangered plant life, including grasses such as small false asphodel, neat spike-rush, Hudson Bay eyebright and twin bentgrass, as well as the flowering butterwort plant. More than 200 types of birds have been spotted at Lighthouse Point. Many migrating birds such as the golden-crowned kinglet and magnolia warbler use Lighthouse Point as a critical stopover point.

However, the thriving tourism industry is creating pressure for more development in the area. Port City Development, LLC is seeking to rezone Lighthouse Point to allow for residential and commercial development. While the construction will not occur directly on the Lighthouse Point shoreline, the fragile habitat will serve as the back yard of the proposed residences and will be damaged by increased foot-traffic and polluted run-off. Lighthouse Point is one of the few locations on Lake Superior where this rare native habitat survives.

• Posted by Jordan Lubetkin on May 30th, 2004
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