Wells Creek flows into Lake Pepin and the Mississippi River after passing through Frontenac State Park in Minnesota. Naturally dynamic, its flow and course have exhibited big changes over time. It runs through erosive terrain where sediment flows easily and is exacerbated by a century+ of agricultural land use. Its trout populations have been successfully re-established, but sediment concerns are rising again. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is now poised to designate Wells as impaired for aquatic life due to excess sediment.
Read MoreLow Water Uncovers Sediment Problems
In a year defined by lows, Lake Pepin water level is no exception. This year’s drop in water level is somewhat dramatic because it comes on the heels of last year’s record high water, which together, illuminates the sedimentation problem in Lake Pepin. High water pushes sediment to the lake and low water uncovers it, along with a slew of transportation issues. The Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance (LPLA) responded to recent boat groundings by visiting affected areas and discussing channel maintenance with the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE).
Read MoreGilbert Creek: now proposed as exceptional water body
Gilbert Creek is a small trout stream that flows through northern Wabasha County, cuts across the easternmost corner of Goodhue County, and enters Lake Pepin and the Mississippi River just north of Lake City, MN. In 2011, it was listed as an impaired tributary due to elevated E-coli and poor fish populations and habitat. Since then, the fish populations and habitat have improved remarkably.
Read MoreThe Path to Habitat Restoration in Lake Pepin & the Upper Mississippi River
For decades, many people have yearned to see Lake Pepin benefit from restoration via the dynamic Upper Mississippi River Restoration program. But the dream has been thwarted largely because the area is not federally owned. So, unlike projects on federal lands, the Lake Pepin restoration requires a substantial local funding contribution, a non-federal sponsor to manage the area after construction, and the complex coordination of numerous project stakeholders—all formidable challenges. LPLA has instrumentally paved the way for restoration to proceed through its hard work to remove or mitigate obstacles. Its leadership and accomplishments showcase the irrefutable value in having a local voice for the river.
Read MoreWater protection efforts proceed in Miller Creek, even as E. coli situation baffles
Miller Creek is one of several small tributaries flowing into Lake Pepin out of the Mississippi River-Lake Pepin (MRLP) watershed. Originating about five miles southwest of Lake City in northern Wabasha County, it meanders northeast for several miles then turns east near County Hwy 9, entering Lake Pepin about a half mile south of Lake City. Its 11,000+-acre watershed includes an upland landscape of gently rolling croplands and pastures and a downstream landscape that drops steeply through forested valleys and grasslands. Like several other MRLP tributaries, Miller Creek is a designated cold-water trout stream. Also like others, in 2012 it was listed as impaired by fecal coliform bacteria, specifically E. coli.
Read More"It's Personal": Local resident creates mobile app to protect Lake Pepin
For more than half a century, our family lived off the fruits of the lake. That’s why this is personal.
Our mobile app, SPAVE is designed to help consumers give more to the causes they care about, while at the same time empowering nonprofits to generate new revenues without spending precious overhead. We invite you to join us. Together, we’ll accelerate LPLA’s mission to improve water quality, habitat, and accessibility in Lake Pepin. Find more information here.
Read MoreContinuous Living Cover: The new way forward
Most of our current water quality issues (40% of Minnesota waterways are impaired), including the accelerated disappearance of Lake Pepin, can be traced back to this one fundamental change in land use. That’s why scientists, water advocates, and farmers are excited about a new cropping strategy that gets to the “root” of the problem.
Continuous Living Cover (CLC) is the use of diversified crops, including new perennial and winter annuals, to provide ground cover—and hopefully, profits—throughout the entire year.
Read MoreExecutive Director Note: Sediment Mitigation & Policy
Wow! August was a busy month for the Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance! The Mississippi River and Lake Pepin received some special attention and LPLA was glad to have a seat at the table for those important conversations.
Read MoreLake Pepin Legacy Alliance (LPLA) hosts open house: studies target sediment, phosphorus pollution affecting Lake Pepin (Aug. 29th)
To help area residents learn about recent MPCA studies, and how they can provide input on them, the Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance (LPLA) is hosting an open house from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 29, at the Lake City Sportsmen’s Club, 2200 S Oak St, Lake City, MN 55041. The MPCA will provide formal presentations at 5:30 p.m., though people may stop in at their convenience to visit with the scientists and ask questions.
(The event will include complimentary snacks and a cash bar.)
Read MoreA Lifetime Protecting Lake Pepin: Dave Smith Member Profile
For generations, people have been sounding the alarm about Lake Pepin’s sedimentation. The alarm has been ringing for so long that a new concern is whether or not we are still hearing it. For too many, it is easy to shrug one’s shoulders at the muddy Minnesota River as it discolors the Mississippi River just upstream of Lake Pepin. “It’s been like that my entire life,” we’ve heard old-time river users say. But the fact is— time doesn’t make it right. If anything, it simply means that change is long overdue.
Read More(AUDIO) Waiting on the Wind: Time, Memory and a River Journey on Lake Pepin
by John van Vliet
In the morning, as I point my sailboat’s slender bow out past the breakwater at the Lake City Marina, the old diesel engine putt-putt-putting below my feet, there is no wind. Ampersand, my vintage 38-foot sloop, wrinkles her own reflection across the flat-calm steel-gray surface of the broad Lake Pepin. Six miles to the east, I can make out the rooftops of the town of Pepin; to the north, the tiny village of Stockholm lies nestled in a shadowed fold of the high limestone bluffs. The calm of mornings like this belies the wind at noon.
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Read MoreDegrading soil: why we're missing the mark with clean water
By: Scott Haase, Blue Dirt Farm
I've been seeing it most of my life. The river, which I've made my home along, wildly fluctuating in terms of its flow. It can be nearly dried up and then a week or two later it's rushing and flooding over its banks. Too often the river becomes a torrent of muddy brown water, forcefully making it's way from Northern Iowa all the way to Mankato where it joins with the Minnesota River. That water passing by my backyard carries soil, fertilizer, and other more nefarious manmade chemicals as it moves toward St. Paul before turning South to Lake Pepin and making its long journey to the Gulf of Mexico.
Read MoreBlocking Light & Life: Lake Pepin Turbidity
Upper Lake Pepin is impaired for turbidity or “cloudy” water that results from sediment suspended in the water column. Water turbidity reduces light penetration, which is needed for healthy vegetation to take root and grow. Without healthy vegetation, the ecological impacts reverberate across the entire food chain…
Read MoreLake Pepin Water Quality Impairments
Lake Pepin has two water quality impairments: turbidity & excess phosphorus.
Read MoreLake Pepin Habitat Restoration: Why do it like that?
There has been a flurry of news around Lake Pepin restoration recently—and for good reason. The Lessard-Sam’s Outdoor Heritage Council (LSOHC) recently recommended Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance’s (LPLA) proposal of $750,000 for Lake Pepin habitat restoration to the Minnesota legislature. Soon after, we learned that Lake Pepin was selected for a federal pilot program (Section 1122) to bolster and expand restoration efforts already underway.
LPLA has been receiving the same common sense questions about restoration from the public. Hopefully, we can provide some valuable insight into:
1. Why do a restoration project in Upper Lake Pepin when the underlying problem is upstream sediment loads?
2. Why haul sediment from Lower Lake Pepin when there is excess sediment already in Upper Lake Pepin?
Read MoreLPLA 2018 Annual Report
Attracted to the River & Its Guardians
By Bill Mavity, LPLA Member & Council of Champions
“Independent people who think for themselves and are competent to do it because they are enlightened, they read and are abreast of the best and newest thought.” That was Mark Twain’s characterization of the people he encountered in his travels as a steamboat pilot along the upper Mississippi River including Lake Pepin in 1882 that he described in “Life on the Mississippi River” in 1883.
Mark Twain’s influence, bringing me to respect, understand and love the Mississippi River and Lake Pepin began in 1954. My social studies teacher at my high school had the class read and discuss “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Those stories fascinated me and filled me with envy, particularly at the exploits of Huckleberry Finn floating down the River.
Read MoreLPLA Top 5: Creative Ways to Support Lake Pepin
By: Mac Becco, LPLA Communications Director
Becoming an LPLA member is a great way to support Lake Pepin, but its not the only way. Here are five creative ways you can support the lake you love!
Read MoreSustainable Agriculture is Key to Water Quality
By: Claire Hinther, St. Olaf ‘19
I entered my research with the assumption that farmers would be very politically and ideologically divided when it came to questions of water quality. To some extent this is true, but in conversations with rural folks I have found that regard for the land, water resources, and human and animal inhabitants is generally high across the board. Although not all farmers actively protect water through their farming practices, it is worth noting that many are very open to stewardship as a concept. This openness is a perfect place to begin discussions about actively serving the land through sustainable farming practices and water quality protection.
Read MoreProtecting Saturated Buffers from Root Penetration
By: Claire Hinther, St. Olaf ‘19
In my first blog of the summer, I discussed an investigation vegetative roots penetrating and blocking the sub-surface distribution line in saturated buffers. As part of that work, we will plant an MDA-developed seed mix over the distribution line on the saturated buffer this fall. Our goal is to determine the point at which roots in the distribution line impact saturated buffer performance.
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