Anoka Times

The Anoka County Board unanimously approved a state grant for a Rum River erosion control project last month.

The grant, which is worth $185,000 from the Conservation Partners Legacy grant program, is administered by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

County parks operations and visitor services manager Andy Soltvedt said that the funds will go toward streambank stabilization in eroding areas along the Rum River using Eastern Red Cedar trees. The cedar trees serve as a defense mechanism that stunts erosion.

According to County Parks Director Jeff Perry, the trees will be brought from county-owned prairie areas where they are considered invasive species. Once planted, they will be bunched together and anchored to the river bank by cable for approximately a decade, Perry added.

Perry said that Anoka County agreed to 3,600 linear feet of river bank erosion control through the cedar tree revetment spread over multiple sites along the Rum River in the county. The county will match the grant with in-kind staff services.

Anoka County is set to perform most of the work in the fall of this year and the spring of 2021. Areas along the river where erosion control measures will take place will be identified first.

The grant is a part of a larger five-year project financed by county and state dollars, in addition to private backers, to tackle erosion problems over more than seven miles of the Rum River.

Perry said that two grants totaling almost $1.4 million are currently in the pipeline.

The county parks department staff worked with the Anoka Conservation District found 80 erosion locations in a little more than seven miles of the river involving 133 property owners during a pre-project erosion inventory area process.

Perry said that affected private property owners will be encouraged to participate financially.