Hennepin County is just getting into a study of the feasibility of daylighting some creeks that have been buried in concrete storm sewer pipes. Most of the creek segments are in Minneapolis and include portions of Bridal Veil Creek, Ryan Creek, and Bassett Creek.
This is a wonderful vision to restore natural stream habitat and provide greenway corridors for human benefit. The trees, shrubs, grasses and wildflowers of urban green corridors provide the eco-psychology benefits of helping to lower stress and anxiety. In addition, will help inner city kids to connect more with nature (help reduce what some call 'nature deficit disorder'). Greenspaces in the city also help to filter the air and runoff, and reduce the urban heat island effect. Natural green corridors can also help the thousands of other living species with which we share the planet to migrate and evolve as the climate changes. The abundant animals, beneficial bacteria, beneficial algae, and other plants of a healthy stream help to bio-remediate pollutants such as phosphorus and nitrogen - thus reducing pollution going into the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico 'Dead Zone'. Very little if any bio-remediation takes place in a concrete pipe underground. A 40 page Hennepin County report can be found by clicking: http://tinyurl.com/c3hd5 - or type in "Creek Daylighting" in the Search box at: http://www.co.hennepin.mn.us . (or, try the actual url but this will probably break: http://www.co.hennepin.mn.us/vgn/portal/internet/hcdetailmaster/0,2300,1273_1716 _128563744,00.html ) Due the high costs involved, this study is looking at creek daylighting as a long term (probably 50+ year), and incremental project. Also, due to the high costs, restoration will need to be, in most cases, tied in with an adjacent redevelopment project. Pat Connoy of Hennepin County and Dan Cornejo of Cornejo Consulting came out to the Harrison Neighorhood the other evening and, if they have not already, will be visiting soon the other restoration locations being looked at. -- Dave Stack, Harrison/Linden Hills (Here is text from the opening Hennepin Co. webpage) -------------------------------- > DAYLIGHTING CREEKS IN HENNEPIN COUNTY > > > Alternative Implementation Strategies for Daylighting Portions of Bassett Creek, Shingle Creek and Bridal Veil Creek As part of a series of 2005 Capital Budget Amendments, the Hennepin County Board approved a total of $300,000 to explore opportunities to daylight portions of Bassett Creek, Shingle Creek and Bridal Veil Creek. The primary purpose of opening these creeks is to generate positive environmental and economic impacts on the areas surrounding them. > > > The purpose of this report is to document the initial investigation into these tasks and recommend an approach to begin this work. > > > Inventories existing conditions, plans and studies; Describes jurisdictional and governance arrangements; Identifies the benefits and challenges of daylighting creeks; Provides information on the range of daylighting projects undertaken elsewhere, illustrating best practices and lessons learned; and Identifies alternative implementation strategies for daylighting portions of Bassett Creek, Shingle Creek and Bridal Veil Creek. > ----------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- This message was sent using Endymion MailMan. http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/ REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
