5.7. SR 12-06-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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What would a navigable channel do for our economy? Why should it be looked at now? • By creating a navigation channel we would not be abandoning the National Park system or the MN wild and scenic waterway. A usable channel would merely allow the public to enjoy the river's splendor and scenic value from pleasure craft. • Did you know that the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area includes 72 miles of the Mississippi River stretching from the cities of Dayton and Ramsey downstream to Hastings, Minnesota? This diverse stretch of river flowing through the park consists of numerous natural, historic, and recreational resources of national significance. • The portion of the Mississippi River is contained within the DNR's designated recreational section of the river with boundaries from Anoka to the Hwy 24 Bridge at Clearwater and recreational boating is an approved use of the river under this designation? • This area once had a channel that was maintained by the Corps of Engineers. Now that the logging days are long gone the old channel could be restored from just above St Anthony Falls at mile 859 to Elk River at mile 887 with very little effort. • This is not a request to make this area of the river usable for commercial traffic, but it is a call for a maintained shallow draft channel with markers making the waterway user friendly. More than likely the proposed channel could be kept open by minor dredging a few very shallow spots, moving some rocks out of the channel and putting in marker's to guide boaters up and downstream. • Trains have long since replaced the paddle wheelers that transported our goods through each community. These trains currently generate economic benefits to our country but have little economic effect for the communities they pass through. Just recently the Northstar Rail was put into operation with the hope of directly benefiting the communities. • Barge traffic generates economic benefits for the country with little economic effect for the communities they pass through. Where the Mississippi River navigation channel is maintained for barge traffic it allows for pleasure crab use, which in turn brings much needed revenue to the individual communities along the river. These towns include Redwing, Hastings, and Prescott to name a few. It is fortunate that the public use of the channel delivers a vastly larger local economic impact than commercial traffic. • With this in mind I make the argument that a shallow draft, pleasure craft channel would be an inexpensive way to stimulate the economies along this river. We have numerous business properties that are now failing, abandoned or foreclosed along the river that would attract new investors if this project was authorized. • This would be a great time to promote the project as the Coon Rapids dam is in need of dire repair which is the only barrier between us and the rest of the river systems navigable waters. A scour hole has developed under the dam causing it to lose its integrity. With no real plan to getting the funding to fix the dam it would be economically wise to restore the usable navigation channel from river mile 859 to 887 while removing of the dam.