Mille Lacs Meadows Mitigation Bank
The MILLE LACS MEADOWS MITIGATION BANK is located on the north side of Lake Mille Lacs, Minnesota’s second largest inland lake known for its trophy fishing opportunities. The site is part of a former fresh (wet) meadow and scrub-shrub wetland system that historically covered thousands of acres but was ditched and drained for cattle grazing and the production of small grains and hay. The restoration, which will occur in two phases, will restore approximately 825 acres of wetlands by disabling existing ditches and re-establishing native plant communities. The southern phase of the project will also include the preservation of 25 acres of relic forested Lake Mille Lacs beach ridges and the restoration of 5,200 feet of Reddy Creek, potentially the first stream mitigation project to be approved and constructed in Minnesota.
CREDITS PENDING
- Fresh (wet) meadow
- Stream functional feet
SERVICE AREA
07010201 Mississippi River – Sartell
07010202 Sauk River
07010203 Mississippi River – St. Cloud
07010204 North Fork Crow River
07010205 South Fork Crow River
07010206 Mississippi River – Twin Cities
07010207 Rum River
Our Partners
Short Elliot Hendrickson, Inc. (SEH) has worked with EIP on their three other wetland banks in Minnesota and continues that collaborative approach at the Mille Lacs Meadows Site. The company’s extensive experience with wetland banking in Minnesota and Wisconsin and their highly skilled team of ecologists, biologists, and engineers has formulated a plan to disable over 18 miles of ditches and restore approximately xxx acres of wetlands. The SEH team is also working closely with Beaver Creek Hydrology, another EIP partner, to obtain Corps of Engineers approval for the planned restoration of Reddy Creek, a headwater stream that flows through the site towards Lake Mille Lacs.
Beaver Creek Hydrology’s expert team understands the complexities of stream restoration and addresses them with the highest degree of innovation and creativity. They work with EIP to help design large-scale stream restoration projects across the country. BCH, one of the leading stream design firms in the country, invented the natural channel design software, BANKWELL, that efficiently tackles our large-scale projects. They have published and presented widely about hydrologic and hydraulic modeling.
Midwest Amphibious Equipment has been an integral EIP partner from the beginning of our Minnesota work. MAE’s visionary founder Steve Gilbertson recognized the opportunity to perform large-scale wetland restoration to service Minnesota’s Iron Range region, and innovated amphibious equipment tools and techniques specific to Minnesota’s wetland environments. MAE has managed the construction of EIP’s three Minnesota mitigation banks.