Anglers, DNR hope to put curves back into Vermillion River

Some time in the Roaring '20s, someone tried to turn the Vermillion, or at least part of it, into a rushing river.

It might have been a farmer or the Army Corps of Engineers, but whoever it was removed the curves from a meandering stretch east of Farmington.

"They cut this really pretty straight channel through the river there," said Brian Nerbonne, a trout stream habitat specialist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The goal was increasing the speed of the prairie river's flow to quicken drainage of the farm fields that surround it. It worked, but over the years, the water has also whisked away a lot of farm runoff, soil and silt.

So next summer, in the name of trout habitat and water quality, the Minnesota DNR and Trout Unlimited are leading a project that will help make the rural river meander again.

"Once we get some of the sediment problems fixed on the river, it could be one of the best angling rivers in the state," said Steve Carlton, president of the Twin Cities Chapter of Minnesota Trout Unlimited. "It is a jewel of a stream."

The project, expected to cost $300,000, is currently under environmental review. If all goes according to plan, the DNR and Trout Unlimited volunteers will start digging a new trench on DNR-owned land next summer, stretching one mile of straight river into a 1.5-mile meandering river. They'll plant vegetation, drop in some habitat-creating features such as logs, and wait for everything to settle.

"We'll dig that new stream channel except for the last 50 feet on either end of it," Nerbonne said.

Then, in 2011, the ends will open up and the river will be routed toward its new, winding channel. The old channel will be filled in.

"It's kind of art and science," said Mac Cafferty, environmental resource manager with the city of Lakeville.

He has been involved in multiple projects since 1999 to put the curves back in South Creek, a tributary of the Vermillion River that flows through the city. Like the Vermillion, South Creek was straightened to speed drainage in the 1920s and 1930s.

"Back in the day it was how fast can we get the water to drain off the site," he said. "We've learned a lot since then."

Over the years, trout habitat suffered as the banks eroded and farm runoff polluted the water. Since the city has put meanders back into about two miles of the river, Cafferty said, the water has cleared, stream banks have stabilized and the trout have multiplied.

Trout Unlimited volunteers who do multiple stream restorations projects around the state each summer are optimistic about similar success on the Vermillion River.

The cold water stream has long been known for producing large brown trout, some as long as 30 inches. But their habitat is limited, in part because silt covers the gravel bottom that is so important for both breeding and growth of the insects that they eat. There are few brown trout compared with other cold water streams, and the Vermillion is strictly catch-and-release for fishing.

"When you get a straight stream like that it tends to be pretty poor habitat," said Nerbonne of the DNR. "It tends to be sort of blah, monotonous."

Josh Nelson, the habitat chairman for the Twin Cities Chapter of Minnesota Trout Unlimited, said the newly meandering river could potentially draw people in addition to trout.

Much of the river is inaccessible, flowing through privately owned farmland, but fixing the stretch on the DNR land east of Farmington means water downstream all the way to the Mississippi will be clearer, too, Nelson said.

That could make for some good fishing, lessons in conservation, and maybe even economic development, such as businesses that cater to anglers that could pop up in some of the cities along the river.

"This is an attempt to fix it up and make it better," Nelson said. "It's been a long time coming."

Katie Humphrey • 952-882-9056