Featured

Legacy Funds Stabilize Eroding Rum Riverbanks in 2024

ACD has been busy stabilizing severely eroded riverbanks along the Rum River to reduce the load of sediment and nutrients entering the river and to enhance the habitat of the Rum. A large initiative utilizing phases of grant funding from the Clean Water Land and Legacy amendment kicked off after a 2017 erosion inventory highlighted just how much need there was along the Rum River. To date, this initiative has garnered significant local investment beyond the competitive state grant dollars from Anoka County, the Upper and Lower Rum River WMOs, the Cities of Anoka and St. Francis, ACD, and numerous property owners. In 2024, we substantially completed construction for Phase 1 of funding from two competitive state grant sources; the Clean Water Fund (CWF), and the Outdoor Heritage Fund (OHF). 

Photo: Before (left) and after (right) stabilization of the some of the most severely documented erosion along the Rum River in Oak Grove.

With these funds, along with local match dollars from the all the sources mentioned, we successfully installed the following in 2024:

  • 405-feet of articulated concrete toe to normal water levels, with low rock riprap armoring to the two-year flood elevation along some of the highest, steepest, and deepest erosion on the river in Oak Grove (CWF grant funds).
  • 115-feet of supplemental rock toe around 40-foot tall bank with toe erosion, susceptible to critical failure in the near future in Oak Grove (OHF grant funds).
  • 415-feet of rock toe armoring to a two-year flood elevation with upper banks graded and seeded with native vegetation in Oak Grove, (OHF grant funds). Bank heights ranged from 12-feet to 20-feet with a shear vertical eroded face.
  • 400-feet of rock toe armoring to a two-year flood elevation with 225-feet of vegetated reinforced soil slope, and 175-feet of graded upper bank, all of which was seeded to native vegetation in Anoka (OHF grant funds). This bank was approximately 10-feet in height with a paved walking trail actively falling into the river.
  • 200-feet of cedar revetment along moderate toe erosion at the Anoka Nature Preserve in Anoka (OHF grant funds). A 550-foot stretch immediately upstream of this segment is planned for a bioengineering project in 2025.
Photo: A 400-foot bioengineered riverbank near the Anoka High School. Photo credit: MNL
In sum, this 2024 Rum Riverbank work protects 1,535-linear feet of shoreline, enhances 1.2 acres of habitat, and reduces annual pollutant load delivery to the river by more than 824 tons of sediment and 700 lbs of phosphorus. These installations were the culmination of years of work with landowners and partners, engineering, design, and construction management. Please see ACD's Project Dashboards for a detailed description of these and each of our completed conservation practices at https://anokaswcd.org/projects/interactive-progress-dashboards.html.
Photo: A total of 935-feet of severely eroding riverbank was stabilized in Oak Grove
Future phases of Rum River Initiative work focus more heavily on habitat enhancement through the Outdoor Heritage Fund grant while continuing the stabilization of eroding banks. See future updates throughout 2025 as we work to benefit in-stream, floodplain wetland, and riparian habitat, as well as continue to stabilize eroding banks using bioengineering approaches. 2025 promises to be a big year as well! For more information contact Jared Wagner, Water Resource Specialist, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
×
Stay Informed

When you subscribe to the blog, we will send you an e-mail when there are new updates on the site so you wouldn't miss them.

Rain Garden Construction Video - 225th Lane Outlot...
Anoka Sand Plain Rare Plant Rescue Program Accompl...

Related Posts