Valley Pond Townhome Association » Park

City to conduct assessment of Hidden Valley Pond this week

Robbie Wigley — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:05:08 +0000

Brian Welch, GIS Technician for the City of Northfield, has this update in Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski’s June 25 Friday Memo:

Stormwater Pond Rehabilitation Assessment

The City has contracted with Barr Engineering to help the city develop a prioritization of stormwater ponds in need to dredging and other rehabilitation work to improve management of surface runoff.

Six ponds have been designated as the initial priority based on the presence of significant sediment plumes, vegetation growth, or deteriorating storm pipes: John North Park, Grant Park, Hidden Valley Park, Sibley View ponds (north of Jefferson Pkwy to the east and west of Washington St S), and the small pond to the west of Heywood Rd. between Sunset and Creek Lane.

The week of June 28 survey crews from Barr will be mapping the bathymetry of the ponds and determining the elevation of inlets and outlets to the ponds. State regulations require testing of sediment samples from the pond in order to determine whether special treatment is required of dredged materials. Barr Engineering will conduct the core sampling and testing in coming weeks. Once the pond assessments are complete a rehabilitation plan and schedule will be developed for each pond.

Funding for the pond assessments and rehabilitation comes from the city’s stormwater utility fund. The city will continually work through the inventory of stormwater ponds to ensure proper functionality of the ponds as part of the citywide stormwater infrastructure.

It should be noted that treatment of stormwater is the priority function of these ponds.

Getting rid of Bird’s foot trefoil

Griff Wigley — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:19:02 +0000

Last Thursday, I noticed a crew of three workers walking around the pond spraying. I chatted with one who said they were from Prairie Restorations, under contract with the City of Northfield.

They were killing Bird’s foot trefoil, described on their website as an exotic species of wildflower.

In some cases exotic species find just the right niche and become highly competitive with native species already in place, reducing diversity and upsetting stable communities of both plants and animals.

See the Wikipedia for more about Bird’s-foot Trefoil. And see the Prairie Restorations blog for lots more about their recent activities in restoring prairies around Minnesota.

Our pond is alive with the sound of music

Griff Wigley — Thu, 27 May 2010 04:13:05 +0000

The rains have been plentiful this spring and thus making the frogs around the pond in the middle of Hidden Valley Park very happy. I captured their music while sitting in front of our backyard fireplace last week and again tonight while walking around the park watching the moon rise. Watch/listen to this 38-second video.

Storm Water Ponds! Could this be us?

Robbie Wigley — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 05:21:00 +0000

The Star and Tribune has long article in today’s paper that some metro areas have storm-water ponds that are chemical soups of pesticides, fertilizers, pet wastes, oil, grease and other contaminants. Driveway sealants play a big part in this contamination. Click on the red headline to be taken to the entire article.

Metro storm-water ponds are chemical soups

By TOM MEERSMAN, Star Tribune
Last update: April 27, 2010 – 12:30 PM

White Bear Lake’s proposed ban on some driveway sealants is a first step in keeping contaminants out of storm-water ponds. The local neighborhood pond fringed with spring green looks attractive, but its muddy bottom is loaded with contaminants.

Photo album: spring burn

Griff Wigley — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:28:35 +0000

I woke up from my nap to the smell of smoke this afternoon. A crew hired by the City of Northfield was doing a controlled burn of Hidden Valley Park.

See the album of 16 photos (8 fire, 8 post-fire), the large slideshow, or this small slideshow:

Cross country skiing, snowshoeing, sledding around Hidden Valley Pond

Griff Wigley — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:36:25 +0000

People cross country ski around the perimeter of Hidden Valley Pond each winter. And kids go sledding on the hill on the north side. But this year, with all the snow we’ve had, there have been people snowshoeing, too. Cool! It’s like having a mini Carleton College Arboretum in our backyards.

Concept Drawing and Planting List for Valley Pond Park

Robbie Wigley — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:51:58 +0000

This is the 1999 Concept Drawing and Planting List for the Valley Pond Park. I have also included a list of birdsseen in the park, drawn up by Don Starkweather. I am not sure of the year. Just a little bit of history.

I also added this as a page on the right side bar so it would be a constant on the blog site… but thought it would be a nice thing to point out. Maybe others have old documents that would be appropriate to add to the documents. Email or call me if you have something that you would like to share, I can scan is for you.

Winter plowing of trails

Griff Wigley — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:09:22 +0000

Hidden Valley Park trail

Truman Park Trail

I noticed last month that the trail around Hidden Valley Pond does not get plowed by the City of Northfield in the winter. However, the trails through the adjacent Heritage Park to our southeast and Truman Park to the northeast both get plowed.

Anyone know the City of Northfield’s rationale on trail plowing in the winter?