GRAND RAPIDS — The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is accepting comment until Monday, Aug. 25, on a proposed culvert replacement and stream restoration project for Smith Creek in Itasca County.
The county Transportation Department plans to replace the culvert under County Road 222 southwest of Grand Rapids.
Smith Creek is a tributary of Pokegama Lake and a fishable trout stream.
According to the PCA, they would remove the 33-foot-long, 92-inch-diameter culvert and replace with two 50-foot-long, 128-inch-diameter corrugated steel culverts.
The department would also build a boulder riffle up and downstream of the culverts.
The riffle and new culverts would allow fish passage upstream and allow for sediments to more naturally flow downstream.
It would impact 0.0024 acres of wetlands and 2,700 square feet of stream that would be mitigated through the Local Government Road Wetland Replacement Program.
The PCA made a preliminary determination to certify the project, determining it satisfies the state's antidegradation rules.
Comments can be submitted online.
