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.

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.

Cheap entertainment for me.  I finally took pity on it and squashed it picked it up and set it free.

Robbie spotted a doe wandering among the cattails around the pond last Saturday. I tried to get close for a photo but the doe spotted me and took cover. Crappy photo, I know.

A few hours later, when I was taking photos of the sunset after the thunderstorm, Gene Moninger said he saw her just a few minutes prior.  He subsequently attached a comment:

The doe you were chasing came back this afternoon; ran very quickly from Heritage St.-north past the path and up the hill to Peterson St. Got those dogs excited! Don Starkweather caught a glimpse also, but alas, no cameras handy.

I blogged Gene and Earlene’s photo of a doe and her fawn a year ago and a month later, Robbie blogged her photo of a doe in our backyard.

I’m determined to get the best photo!

  
The wildflowers are starting to pop up all over Hidden Valley Park after the spring burning a few weeks ago. And this year, several strands of oxeye daisies can be seen, including a bunch right at the storm water pipe at the southeast end of the pond.