Water Resources
Priority Watersheds:
The City of Duluth is home to 42 named streams, 16 of which are designated trout streams. The City's MS4 program, coordinated by the Engineering and Stormwater Department, serves as a key regulatory framework for tracking and addressing water quality impairments such as turbidity, chloride, and E. coli. This work is supported by a network of dedicated partners, including the Minnesota DNR, South St. Louis SWCD, MPCA, Headwaters Partnership, and others. With so many streams requiring careful stewardship, protecting and restoring these resources is truly a collaborative effort.
The City is currently prioritizing three of our 42 streams: Amity, Tischer, and Keene. A lot of funding and energy is coalescing in these watersheds, all three of which are designated trout streams. Goal 3.f of the Duluth Natural Resources Management Program Plan is: “invest in aquatic habitat projects to protect Duluth's waters from unnatural erosion processes, remove water quality impairments, and/or protect for future water quantity or quality threats.” It is not the intent of the City to focus only on these watersheds in perpetuity; priority watersheds will shift as water quality conditions, funding availability and partner priorities change.
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. It then 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. Tischer Creek was also recently listed as impaired for chloride, which causes harm to aquatic species. Chloride impairments in Minnesota are primarily due to the application of road salt in the winter. 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. The City and the MN DNR are currently working on the next step of this project, which is developing a design.
Keene Creek is our westernmost priority watershed and is also a priority watershed in the St. Louis River One Watershed, One Plan. More information about the St. Louis River One Watershed, One Plan can be found on the South St. Louis Soil and Water Conservation District's website. 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 near 59th Avenue West to help prevent pollution from flowing into the creek. In addition, a small watershed plan will be developed for Keene Creek similar to the Tischer Creek Roadmap to Resilience.
- Knowlton Creek restoration under Munger Trail. 2025-2026. MN DNR will be replacing a large, failing culvert with a bridge over Knowlton Creek on the Munger Trail. The project will allow for better fish passage, re-connect the creek to its floodplain, and allow for passage of terrestrial species as well. A stretch of the trail will be closed for several weeks during construction. Knowlton Creek is located near Spirit Mountain and has had several reaches restored over the past 10 years.
- Tischer Tributary 7 Resilience Project. 2026-2029. Several City departments and entities are working together to improve and support the ecology and riparian area of this critical cold-water tributary that runs through the Hartley Designated Natural Area and Park. Thanks to funding from Conservation Partners Legacy grant and potentially from the US Army Corps, the City, SWCD, MPCA, MN DNR, and Hartley Nature Center will be working to remove an invasive tree called White Crack Willow from along the tributary and replacing it with native tree species over the next few years. White Crack Willow is great at shading streams, but its blood-red roots disturb and block stream channels and smother trout habitat. This project is connected to the UMD research project on White Crack Willow that is occurring during the same timeframe.
- Keene Creek Small Watershed Plan. This project is similar to the Small Watershed Plan (Roadmap to Resilience) that was developed for Tischer Creek. It will include a list of projects and issues that could be addressed to help protect and restore this designated trout stream. The MN DNR is managing this project with the City.
- Headwaters Partnership. The Headwaters Partnership is a consortium of agencies and organizations that are working together to create a vision for the St. Louis River and its myriad tributaries into the future, specifically once the St. Louis River is delisted as an Area of Concern. The City of Duluth is a key partner in this effort as steward of many lands along the St. Louis River, including the St. Louis River Designated Natural Area. The Minnesota Land Trust is leading this effort and more information can be found on their website. The St. Louis River One Watershed, One Plan and the Lower St. Louis River Habitat Plan (currently being updated) are closely related to the Headwaters Partnership's work.
