11-09-1994 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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WHAT HAPPENED From settlement in the 1850's until World War II, the watershed was dominated by vegetable and dairy farming. Farmers drained wetlands, channelized creeks, and created early roads. White Bear Lake and North St. Paul developed early, as resort and manufacturing communi- ties, but most of the watershed developed as an urban area after World War II. Residential areas developed on areas of flat, dry soils and around lakes, with many areas near wetlands remaining undeveloped. In the 1970's, construction of Interstate 35E and large commercial areas like Maplewood Mall accelerated urban development in the watershed. Urbanization has affected natural resources in the watershed in many ways: • Settlement has nearly eliminated the native vegetation of the area, replacing it with buildings, paved surfaces, and lawns. With these changes, habitat diversity and the varieties of birds and animals that inhabit the area have been much reduced. Non - native species such as loosestrife have also gained a foothold in the watershed and become problems. • The way water moves across the land has changed. Soils, vegetation and wetlands present at settlement easily absorbed much of the water that fell on the land. Urban development has increased soil compaction, paved surfaces, channelized creeks, and eliminated over half the wetlands in the watershed. These changes cause more water to run off the land with each storm at a faster rate, creating flooding and erosion problems. 1 Construction of I -35E near Highway 36 in Maplewood and development of residen- tial areas • Higher volumes of runoff carry pollut- ants and nutrients to lakes, wetlands and creeks, causing declines in water clarity and quality, and reduce the quality of fish and wildlife habitat. Algae blooms on area lakes are evi- dence of these changes. • Without conscious efforts to manage land and water resources differently, ongoing development in the water- shed will continue these trends: increasing volumes of stormwater runoff, with additional sediments and nutrients transported to wet- lands, creeks, and lakes; declining water quality; loss of aquatic vegeta- tion and reduced habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms; increasing fragmentation of upland and wetland habitat and Loss of plant and animal diversity; and loss of open space. PHALEN CHAIN OF LAKES WATERSHED PROJECT Page 22