LUVERNE - Blue Mounds State Park will be bustling with activity for the next couple of summers, and it won’t just be from the campers, rock climbers and outdoors enthusiasts.
On Thursday, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced two major projects at the park, which has been hindered the past three seasons by bacteria-laden well water and the draining of a man-made lake after flood waters caused significant damage to the dam in 2014.
“It’s incredibly exciting,” said BMSP Manager Chris Ingebretsen of the announcement. “The lack of drinking water has been a real detriment to people visiting this park.
“We’re looking forward to being able to provide that service again and hopefully have some people visit that haven’t in awhile,” he added.
The connection to Rock County Rural Water will result in a good water source for the park’s drinking water spigots, as well as its shower facilities. As RCRW builds its nearly three-mile pipeline to the park entrance, Ingebretsen said work will also be done inside the park.
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“We are going to be redoing most of our water infrastructure,” Ingebretsen said. “It’s just time to start fresh.”
The entire project is estimated at more than $1 million, with $640,000 for the RCRW line construction and connection, and approximately $400,000 in new water infrastructure inside the park. Part of the bill will be paid with bonding money appropriated by the 2017 Minnesota Legislature, and Ingebretsen said Clean Water, Land and Legacy funds may be used as well.
A construction timeline is not yet available, but Ingebretsen is hopeful there will be water flowing from the pipes inside the park before the end of the 2018 camping season.
“(RCRW) understands it’s a huge priority for us and for the county,” he said.
Approximately half a mile of new pipe will be installed in the park, following the old water lines.
As construction of the water line advances, crews will also begin the process of removing the dam and spillway that once held back water on Mound Creek. A handicap-accessible walk bridge will be built in its place, restoring the trail connection to a loop that has been missing for three years.
While there will no longer be a manmade lake and swimming beach for park guests, Ingebretsen said Mound Creek will be redesigned with oxbows to create a meandering stream.
“The channel that went through the lake bed (after the flood) is a pretty straight shot,” he said. “The issue is that water moves fast and carries silt right on into the Rock River.”
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The new design will nearly double the length of the stream through the valley, with the oxbows providing additional benefit to the federally-endangered Topeka Shiner minnow and pond mussels.
“There’s a number of species that rely on oxbows and they’re sorely lacking in the current creek,” Ingebretsen said.
Because of the Topeka Shiner, however, construction on the creek won’t be completed until later in 2019.
“There’s a lot of restrictions on when you can and can’t work in Mound Creek because of the Topeka Shiner, so we won’t be able to work during some of the times that would be ideal,” Ingebretsen said.
Preliminary costs for the Mound Creek restoration project are $1.8 million. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will fund a portion of the work, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Ingebretsen said the state of Mound Creek is an eyesore, and this project provides an opportunity to do some positive work in the former lake bed.
The lake, however, has been missed.
“With the quality of water, people shouldn’t have been swimming in it anyway,” Ingebretsen said. “The work we’re doing will only improve that water quality.”
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As the park prepares for its major improvements, Ingebretsen said the Friends of the Blue Mounds State Park, which rekindled in June, is working hard to improve park features as well. The group recently did an “Adopt a Crag” project in which volunteers have worked to clear woody vegetation growing up in front of the cliff faces.
