Parks & Recreation

Amity Creek, the largest and most rural of these watersheds, is impaired for Turbidity – the water can get too muddy at times, usually during rainfall – and fish and bugs suffer because of the poor water quality. With its clay banks, flashiness and steepness in the lower watershed, the major contributor to the turbidity problem in Amity Creek is eroding banks. Erosion occurs because the stream’s channel is incised and can not access its floodplain. Because water can not spread out on the floodplain during high flows, high flows carve the banks away, causing dirt to slough off the bank and into the stream. This watershed was recently selected to be the recipient of 16 years of funding through the Clean  Water Act Section 319 Small Watersheds Focus program. Only 35 watersheds were selected statewide for this funding. The South St. Louis Soil and Water Conservation District will be leading this effort. Amity Creek has also been the focus of restoration efforts under the Weber Stream Restoration Initiative.

Tischer Creek is the next watershed west of Amity Creek. The upper part of this watershed runs through the City of Rice Lake, which has been a valuable partner in a recent small watershed planning effort championed by the MNDNR called the Tischer Creek Roadmap to Resilience plan. The plan is now complete, and information about the framework, potential projects to protect and restore parts of the creek, and other information can be viewed at the Roadmap to Resilience project page: nrmp-implementation-projects-duluthmn.hub.arcgis.com

Tischer Creek runs through the Ridgeview Golf Course, Forest Hill Cemetery, Hartley Park, Congdon Park, and Glensheen. This Creek is impaired for e. coli, an impairment relating to the “swimmable” status of the creek. In 2024, the MNDNR and the City of Duluth completed a feasibility study on Hartley Pond. Water warms up while being held back in ponds, negatively impacting the trout population downstream of the impoundment. The Feasibility Study found that an open bottom culvert through the existing earthen dam is a feasible solution to improving Tischer Creek's water quality while still maintaining a small pond.

More information about the Hartley Pond Feasibility Study can be found here: Hartley Pond & Tischer Creek Feasibility Study

Keene Creek is our westernmost priority watershed and is also a priority watershed in the St. Louis River One Watershed, One Plan. Impaired for e. coli and chloride, Keene Creek begins in Hermantown where Trout Unlimited has restored hundreds of feet of stream in order to improve trout habitat. It runs through the Oneota Cemetery and Irving Park before emptying into Lake Superior at Grassy Point. Over the next few years, the MN DNR, in collaboration with the City, will be implementing a green infrastructure project in Irving Park to help prevent pollution from flowing into the creek. In addition, a small watershed plan will be developed for Keene.