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Cross-posted from The Heritage Initiative:

Wolf Creek Bar, circa 1940s, photo courtesy Russ Hanson

The seventh annual River Road Ramble is this Saturday, Sept. 22 along the scenic and historic highways of Polk and Burnett Counties in northwest Wisconsin.

The Ramble is a self-guided driving tour approximately 40 miles long. It features historic sites, open houses, food, garage sales, and fall colors along beautiful roads.

Ramblers are welcome to take the tour anytime between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday, traveling all or part of the route between St. Croix Falls and Grantsburg, and back again.

There are 20 historic sites on the route, including several one-room schoolhouses and churches. There are also about as many other kinds of stops, including the Festival Theater in St. Croix Falls, and River Roads Wolf Creek Bar, which has served liquor continuously since 1832.

Visit the River Road Ramble’s official website for details, including:

• Descriptions of the stops
• Map of the route
• A printable tour guide written by local historian and writer Russ Hanson

See you on the road!

Cross-posted from The Heritage Initiative:

The seventh annual River Road Ramble is this Saturday, Sept. 22 along the scenic and historic highways of Polk and Burnett Counties in northwest Wisconsin.

The Ramble is a self-guided driving tour approximately 40 miles long. It features historic sites, open houses, food, garage sales, and fall colors along beautiful roads.

Ramblers are welcome to take the tour anytime between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday, traveling all or part of the route between St. Croix Falls and Grantsburg, and back again.

There are 20 historic sites on the route, including several one-room schoolhouses and churches. There are also about as many other kinds of stops, including the Festival Theater in St. Croix Falls, and River Roads Wolf Creek Bar, which has served liquor continuously since 1832.

Visit the River Road Ramble’s official website for details, including:

• Descriptions of the stops
• Map of the route
• A printable tour guide written by local historian and writer Russ Hanson

See you on the road!

The sound of rushing water greeted us Friday evening as a friend and I launched our canoe on a small Wisconsin river which shortly downstream spilled into the St. Croix. We had fly rods and dreams of bass and muskies, and also my camera and thoughts of a summer sunset.

The birds sang their twilight songs and we paddled and waded, casting colorful streamers and poppers into fast water. When we reached the big river, it was in a place where the valley is a good mile wide, a multitude of channels weaving between islands.

The sun was not far above the Minnesota bluffs and the water was glassy. Although I’ve experienced such beauty and solitude on the St. Croix many times, it never ceases to amaze me when I can get to such a place an hour after leaving home.

We weren’t the only ones enjoying the beautiful summer night. From the Minnesota side, we could hear the roar of motorcycles on Highway 95, at least a mile away. They of course had no way of knowing that two men were paddling quietly through the backwaters below, though I suppose they could have guessed. There was no doubt in our minds that they were on the highway.

The intrusion of motorcycles is nothing new in my many trips on the river. The river is not wide enough to escape their sound and it is frequently the only impact from the outside world on otherwise quiet and solitary fishing trips.

When I tweeted out some thoughts about this issue over the weekend, another individual reported on his family’s trip to a popular state park:

@gregseitz Hear, hear. Bikes on the Wisconsin side really reduced our enjoyment of Wild River State Park a few weeks ago.

— § (@lawremipsum) June 30, 2012

It’s certainly not just canoeists on the river who are affected. As I drive around the St. Croix valley, I love looking at the real estate. There are many roads featuring many great houses — secluded amongst woods and hills and running water. I like to think about living in such a place someday.

But if the road is scenic and especially if a house is anywhere near a hill, I know I would never live there, putting up with the bikes gunning it up the hill everyday. Like homes near the airport, it must be aggravating to sit on your own patio and have to stop conversation every time an engine drowns you out.

The river was flooded when we were paddling around Friday night. We cruised right over what were normally high banks, wove between trees on sunken points and islands. The fish were a little hard to find, but the consolation was the incredible colors in the sky, reflected on the perfectly still waters, and the feeling of being far from the modern world.

These days near the summer solstice are made for evening paddles as the light lingers in the sky until 10 p.m. Almost as stunning as the sunset was the warm light it cast on the Wisconsin shore.

The St. Croix River is not just another pretty lake. It was one of the eight rivers included in the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. Anybody who has canoed, kayaked, boated, fished, or swam the river knows it’s special. The Wild & Scenic Rivers Act included this defintion:

It is hereby declared to be the policy of the United States that certain selected rivers of the Nation which, with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values, shall be preserved in free-flowing condition, and that they and their immediate environments shall be protected for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations.

The legislation protected rivers from new dams, and also from most development on their banks. It essentially tried to keep them the way they are — to the extent that is ever possible with a river.

Enormous effort is put into keeping the St. Croix wild and scenic. Its stewards work to control invasive species like zebra mussels, asian carp, and buckthorn, invest in water treatment and agriculture practices that promote clean water, and argue for decades about building a new bridge. When passing the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, Congress probably did not consider motorcycles, and how they could degrade a river.

Loud motorcycles simply were not a big problem when the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was passed. The organization Noise Off says 45 percent of motorcycles today use aftermarket exhaust systems, specially designed to make them extremely loud. In the 1970s, just 12 percent of bikes had the noisy exhaust systems — this is not some long tradition that we ought to honor, but rather a growing trend that needs our attention.

Federal law prohibits vehicle exhaust from exceeding 80 decibels, but most after-market systems hit 100 decibels. The problem is that in order to bust violators, police would have to have the time and special equipment to measure noise levels. Which they don’t, unless the public demands it.

The question is, don’t motorcyclists have a right to their noise? This is America, after all. But as is so often the case in our nation, one person’s freedom conflicts with another person’s rights. The history of America is filled with debating how to balance those conflicts. It’s a question with difficult answers, but America’s favorite neighbor had a simple one.

There is a 2001 episode of the radio show “This American Life” in which the great Mr. Rogers helped solve problems in the reporter’s neighborhood. The first issue he addressed was between a woman and her loud downstairs neighbor (who happened to be the reporter). The young man wanted to listen to his music loud, late into the night. His upstairs neighbor banged on her floor with a broom when she can’t sleep.

Mr. Rogers sided with the woman. He says the reporter should keep his music down. The reporter says his apartment is his space, and why shouldn’t he get to listen to whatever music he wants in his space. Mr. Rogers simply says, “We started with silence and I will always uphold a person’s right to silence.”

I like silence a lot, although it’s really more a matter of the “original state” as Mr. Rogers might say. As we made our way back to the car Friday night, it was anything but quiet. We had to pull the canoe up the last 100 yards because the water was too shallow.

As we waded upstream, the river pushing against as, all I could hear was the sound of the fast-moving water on the rocks, my legs and the canoe. Fireflies blinked on the banks, and great blue herons and bald eagles flew overhead, headed to their nests for the night.

Like the Legacy Amendment? Like it on Facebook to hear about projects to preserve our state's heritage.

Another wild swath of land was protected with funds from the 2008 Legacy Amendment recently, though you can't be blamed if you didn't hear about it.

The 440 acres in the new Lester Lake Scientific and Natural Area southeast of Bemidji contain unique remnants of the mixed hardwood and pine forest and forested swamps -- once a common ecosystem in Minnesota, but today nearly lost to development -- surrounding the undeveloped 70-acre Lester Lake.

Lester Lake

This little bit of what Minnesota used to be is preserved and open to the public thanks to another grant from the Legacy Amendment, which paid for nearly all of the $1.45 million price tag, according to the Bemidji Pioneer.

It seems like every week there is a quiet announcement in an outstate paper about another project like Lester Lake being completed. The sheer number of Amendment-funded projects across the state makes it impossible to keep track of by the Minnesota taxpayers who are helping make these possible.

There's even an app for that

The DNR's popular magazine, Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, has been around since 1940 but today is shedding some light on a few projects in an innovative way. The magazine announced this week that it has released an iPad app to accompany its feature story about four Amendment-funded projects.

With lots of photos by Richard Hamilton Smith, audio, and more, the app tries to bring people as close to the protected places as possible without putting on a pair of hiking boots. Highlighted lands include a trout stream, oak forests, and a lake full of Minnesota's state grain, wild rice.

(The magazine also recently made available online every single issue, thanks to, you guessed it, a Legacy Amendment grant.) 

Already a legacy to enjoy

Other folks have been getting people out from behind their computer screens to enjoy in-person the fruits of the Amendment.

The occasional Legacy Weekends which are organized in communities around the state give the people who paid for the projects a chance to enjoy places and events made possible by the Amendment. 

Bemidji hosted the most recent Legacy Weekend, which included book readings, writing workshops, musical theater, a kids' fishing day, archery lessons, and canoeing on the Mississippi River.

The Legacy Amendment might not have funded the iconic statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox which have greeted visitors to Bemidji for 75 years, but last weekend also marked the celebration of that anniversary.

At the entrance to the main building is a display of the couple dozen kinds of mussels that were once found in the Minnesota River. The Minnesota used to be home to more species of mussels than the St. Croix, although it’s now the St. Croix that is known for mussels, including some of which are rare and endangered.

The Minnesota River flows through primarily agricultural land, and it is nearly devoid of mussels now, largely due to excessive sediment. Some of the species of mussels displayed on the research station’s wall are extinct, others have disappeared from the river but can still be found in other rivers.

The health of the St. Croix’s mussels has been on many people’s minds recently because of the incident in April when a containment berm burst at a sand mine along the river near Grantsburg, WI. The mine spilled fine sediment into the river for five days before a hiker noticed it and alerted authorities. (The ultra-fine sand mined at the site is used in hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.”)

What’s the harm of a little more sand?

The impacts to the river from the sand mine spill are still being analyzed, but this is not just a matter of a little more sand in the river. The Wisconsin DNR has acknowledged that the type of ultra-fine sand which got into the river is not “native” to the river.

Photo of contaminated stream taken by hiker who reported the issue.

Suspended in the creek which flowed from the mine to the river, the water gave the appearance of “coffee with a lot of cream.”

That is bad news for the St. Croix’s native mussels. These highly-specialized creatures depend on clean, fast-moving water and firm river bottoms to survive. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that as little as a quarter-inch of sediment covering a stream bottom can kill 90 percent of the mussels in an area.

What mussels are there and why should I care?

The map below is pulled from the Minnesota DNR’s rare species inventory database, showing where rare mussels and fish have been found in the vicinity of the Grantsburg sand mine incident. The stream carrying the sediments from the mine enters the river just below the Highway 70 bridge.

The blue dots on the map represent vertebrae species, such as fish, which could include gilt darter, southern brook lamprey, and lake sturgeon.

The orange dots are survey sites where mussels have been found — each dot represents an inventory site where up to seven different species have been found. Mussels include:

• Elliptio dilatata (spike) – Special Concern
• Ligumia recta (black sandshell) – Special Concern
• Cyclonaias tuberculata (purple wartyback) – Threatened
• Actinonaias ligamentina (mucket) – Threatened
• Cumberlandia monodonta(spectacle case) – Listed as Endangered in Wisconsin
• Lasmigona costata (fluted shell) – Special Concern
• Pleurobema coccineum (round pigtoe) – Threatened
• Obovaria olivaria (hickory nut) – Special concern
• Alasmidonta marginata (elktoe) – Threatened

Note: All species of mussels are protected by law, and it is illegal to take live mussels or even dead mussel shells from the St. Croix River.

Endangered Higgins Eye Mussels (USFWS photo)

Mussels are the proverbial canary in the coal mine for healthy rivers. They need specific habitat, certain fish species present which they depend on for reproducing, and clean water.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the 38 mussel species that live in the St. Croix and Namekagon Rivers put it “among the world’s greatest mussel watersheds.”

But it’s just one incident, how big of a deal is that really?

Tiller Corporation, the Maple Grove, MN-based mining company behind the Grantsburg mine, is currently trying to get approval for another mine next to the river — this one a gravel mine downstream in Scandia.

Local residents have been fighting that mine for a couple years, both because of its location, proximity to the river, and the heavy truck traffic that will transport material from the mine and through the small community.

Photo taken on property adjacent to Tiller/Zavoral proposed mine site

The Scandia mine proposal is nearing the end of its environmental review. When the draft Environmental Impact Statement was released in April, local writer Laurie Allman published an in-depth article about it on St. Croix 360. She listed many concerns about the proposal and the adequacy of the environmental review, and then poetically described what is at stake:

Along most of its perimeter, the mine would abut land held in scenic easements by the St. Croix Scenic Riverway: the National Park we are privileged to enjoy and serve as citizen stewards. It is, without doubt, one of the most lovely, most vulnerable places along the St. Croix: a place characterized by the sounds of bird song, wind moving through the needles of towering white pines, and the trickle of spring water bound for the river. Continue reading …

The city’s plan does not currently allow mining at the location due to its scenic and natural character, but the mining company is seeking a variance. In comments on the draft EIS (PDF), the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway declared its opposition to the mine being permitted, specifically referencing the Grantsburg mine accident:

Soils at the proposed mine site are sandy and the area immediately to the east of the site down to the St. Croix River has very steep slopes and bluffs that are at a high risk of erosion. Portions of the proposed mine site discharge to three different creeks that run down the steep slopes to the St. Croix River. The DEIS correctly acknowledges that the potential for erosion exists after the start of construction when soils are exposed for overburden removal or other activity …

… The NPS, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR), and Burnett County have been involved in responding to a significant sediment discharge to the St. Croix River from Soderbeck Pit (frac sand mine) near Grantsburg, Wisconsin, that occurred in April 2012. Because the Riverway runs through the City of Scandia and the City has zoning authority that can help protect the Riverway, the NPS believes we have an obligation to inform you of this event. Soderbeck Pit is also operated by Tiller and was to be internally drained … Given the vulnerability of the sandy soils and steep slopes at Zavoral site, the potential for a similar sedimentation event exists, brought about by rainfall rather than wash water.

The Grantsburg mine — currently the only of its kind along the St. Croix — had been operating since just last July. In less than a year, the mining company built a containment berm out of the wrong material, didn’t monitor it, and didn’t notify the DNR when it failed.

So they will fix the problem and pay the price, right?

A settling pond at the Grantsburg mine, photo taken before the containment berm failed.

By all accounts, the companies involved have been very cooperative so far. The DNR just sent the case to the Wisconsin attorney general for prosecution. By my calculation, they could face total fines of up to $50,000. Perhaps a big enough fine will be incentive enough to mend their ways, but the Wisconsin DNR’s recent history suggests they won’t be punished severely.

Governor Scott Walker has made loosening environmental protections one of his top priorities. Last month, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that inspections by the DNR had declined significantly from previous years. In one notorious incident, one of Walker’s appointees gave a slap on the wrist to a company which was illegally treating farm fields with human waste at three times the legal limit — bad enough to contaminate nearby drinking water wells.

The Grantsburg mine? It hadn’t been inspected since last fall.

Thinking downstream

Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.” – Wendell Berry (via Dan McGuiness)

I have canoed the stretch of the St. Croix around Grantsburg several times. We’ve gotten out and swam in the little rapids below the Highway 70 bridge where the contaminated stream flowed into the river.

The river is a paradise for me and a lot of people. I can’t wait to share it with my new daughter. The silence, the sandbars, the fish. And the mussels. I can already see the hot summer day several years from now when she will canoe, swim and fish it with us.

In April, a hiker saw a muddy stream flowing into the St. Croix River and said, “That isn’t right.” The only question which remains is if his government will agree.

The St. Croix downstream of Grantsburg