Parks & Recreation

The City’s Planning Division oversees environmental regulations relating to wetlands, floodplains, and shorelands. These regulations can be found in the Unified Development Code as part of the Natural Resources Overlay district. The Planning Division is also the Responsible Government Unit when an Environmental Assessment Worksheet needs to be completed for an upcoming project.

• Current Natural Resources Related Work: Collaborating with Minnesota Sea Grant to complete a Green Code Audit. This audit will review the City’s land use codes and ordinances to identify barriers to the increased use of Green Infrastructure in the City’s development standards. The project will also provide alternative language to promote the use of Green Infrastructure.

Stormwater is one of five utilities managed by the City in service to its residents. The City of Duluth is of Duluth is one of many larger Cities in Minnesota that is permitted to discharge stormwater by the MPCA. This permit is called an MS4 permit, which allows entities to discharge Stormwater from its storm infrastructure (pipes, culverts, etc) into public receiving waters (streams and lakes). Stormwater runoff is separate from sanitary sewer flows (graywater from homes and businesses); sanitary sewer flows are conveyed through a separate system to WLSSD for treatment. The Engineering division is also responsible for enforcing city regulations regarding erosion and sediment control on active construction sites and working with businesses to arrange for permanent stormwater treatment structures as part of new development sites.

• Current Natural Resources Related Work: Engineering recently received a grant from the MPCA to create a stormwater resiliency plan, which will identify vulnerable infrastructure city-wide. The grant also includes funding to conduct an in-depth study of the 32^nd Ave. W. Creek Watershed, which will provide information about how water flows through this area and how the infrastructure can be improved to increase the neighborhood’s resilience to flooding and other climate impacts.

The Sustainability Officer collaborates with the Natural Resources Coordinator in areas where the Climate Action Work Plan and the Natural Resources Management Program Plan intersect. The Sustainability Office also works closely with the City Stormwater Engineer and City Forester to increase the resiliency of our community by implementing projects such as green infrastructure and urban forest preservation work that will help our community adapt to a warming climate.

• Current Natural Resources Related Work: One of the strategies of the Climate Action Work Plan is to: Fully establish the Natural Resource Management Program to sustain the ecological, cultural, and recreational values of our open space lands, and increase resiliency to climate change.

The Natural Resources Management Program is based out of the City’s Parks and Recreation Division. Many of the City’s Parks are situated around, and named for, the streams that run through them, including Chester Park, Lester Park and Keene Creek Park. The Stewardship staff also works closely with our agency partners on St. Louis River Area of Concern Projects.

• Current Natural Resources Related Work: St. Louis River Area of Concern - Perch Lake, US Steel/Spirit Lake, and Mud Lake Restoration Projects.

The City Forester is based out of the Parks Maintenance Division and, for the past few years, a majority of the forester’s time has been dedicated to removing and replacing Ash Trees that are succumbing to Emerald Ash Borer. Once the implementation of the City’s Emerald Ash Borer Management Plan is complete, there will be more capacity among staff to focus on urban forest preservation and restoration projects. With expected increased funding for tree planting coming through the Inflation Reduction Act, the City may be able to increase its urban tree canopy, especially in those parts of our community where increased tree canopy could mitigate heat island effects, increase property values or just help beautify the neighborhood.