Pigs Eye Lake Island Building Project
Project background
Pigs Eye Lake is located in Battle Creek Regional Park. In 2012, Ramsey County Parks & Recreation staff reached out to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Saint Paul District, to identify a need for environmental restoration within Pigs Eye Lake. The combination of low-quality habitat and the abundant wildlife suggests that habitat improvement could help the local ecosystem significantly.
In 2015, funding became available for a feasibility study and work began to identify the project scope, objectives, coordination, stakeholders and process for developing the feasibility study with an integrated Environmental Assessment.
Island building
The Corps, in close collaboration with Parks & Recreation, has completed the feasibility study on constructing habitat enhancements in Pigs Eye Lake. The project will enhance and restore backwater habitat by creating island and wetland features. Project features include seven islands, sand benches, marsh habitat and land plantings. These will improve aquatic and land habitat as well as maintaining the shoreline of Pigs Eye Lake. This project will also allow us to utilize dredged material from the Mississippi in an environmentally beneficial way. Dredged material will be tested by MPCA standards and will only be used if it passes analysis.
Master plan
A separate, focused Pigs Eye master plan will address phased natural resource improvements for the island building project, other natural resource activities and public protection for the Ramsey County section of Pigs Eye Lake.
Goals
- Improve aquatic habitat – Create depth and habitat diversity in Pigs Eye Lake. Increase acreage of aquatic vegetation. Incorporate structural habitat features to promote fisheries.
- Improve the quantity and quality of habitat for migratory bird species – Create suitable habitat for migratory birds such as dabbling ducks within Pigs Eye Lake.
- Maintain or enhance the quantity of shoreline habitat – Protect existing floodplain forest and marsh habitat along the shoreline of Pigs Eye Lake from wind and wave erosion.
Funding
The total estimated project cost is $15.6 million. The Corps' Operation and Maintenance budget would provide $3.2 million toward the project. The remaining $12.4 million would be cost-shared by the Section 204 program ($8.1 million) and the local sponsor, Ramsey County ($4.3 million). Parks & Recreation was awarded the $4.3 million from the Lessard-Sam’s Outdoor Heritage Council during the 2019 legislative session.
Timeline
- Feasibility study – 2015 - 2018.
- Final design – fall 2019 - 2020.
- Project construction start – June 2022.
- 2022 (Summer/Fall)
- Island construction with placement of initial island base material (granular fill) and supporting island features.
- Settling period for island base material installed.
- 2023
- Place additional granular fill, if needed.
- Complete topsoil (fine fill), rip rap (rock) for erosion control, seeding and willow planting.
- Start native vegetation establishment if time allows.
- 2024/2025
- Complete native vegetation establishment.
- Start 10-year island monitoring process.
Project status
Construction activities for the island building project started June 2022 and will continue through 2025.
Currently, the contractor is at 25% complete as of September 10 and plans to be complete with the first construction phase by December 2. The first construction phase for the islands is placement of island base material and supporting island features. The contractor is constructing islands from north to south in the lake.
Community engagement
The project feasibility report was made available for public review and was open for comment from March 2018 through April 2018.
Public coordination was conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers in accordance with National Environmental Policy Act requirements and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Ramsey County published and requested comment concurrently as part of Minnesota Environmental Policy Act requirements and the project was published in the Minnesota EQB Monitor.
The project team completed a feasibility study. The 30-day public comment period ended on April 12, 2018, and the feasibility study integrated Environmental Assessment Worksheet Record of Decision was finalized in accordance with the Minnesota Environmental Protection Agency and the National Environmental Policy Act. All comments received from the public comment period were included within the finalized Feasibility Study EAW Record of Decision.
There was extensive agency coordination and support from subject matter experts, consisting of local, state and federal agencies that had direct involvement in the development and approval of this feasibility study, including:
- Ramsey County.
- City of Saint Paul.
- Ramsey Washington Metro Watershed District.
- Metropolitan Council.
- Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
- Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
- Minnesota Department of Transportation.
- Army Corps of Engineers.
- National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
The National Park Service, Saint Paul Parks and Recreation and Friends of the Mississippi River submitted supporting letters for the project and are included in the master plan appendix.
Additional outreach was conducted with a virtual community meeting for the Pigs Eye Lake master plan amendment on September 17, 2020, during which questions and concerns from the public were addressed.
The Ramsey County Board of Commissioners and United States Army Corps of Engineers approved a Project Partner Agreement in June 2019 to move into the next phase of the project for final design and construction.
Frequently asked questions
General information
Why do you want to build islands in Pigs Eye Lake?
The goal of the project is to enhance and protect existing habitat within Pigs Eye Lake. The funding being contributed to this project from federal, state and local programs is intended strictly for habitat enhancement. The project and funding are separate from and would not get in the way of any cleanup efforts for the nearby Pigs Eye Dump site.
Dredged material
What is dredged material?
Dredged material is sediment removed from below the surface of a water. Dredged material removed from the Mississippi River is mostly sand. River currents continuously move sand downstream, and the sand tends to build up in certain places each year. The U.S Army Corps of Engineers removes material that builds up in the navigation channel so that barges and large boats can travel between Minneapolis and New Orleans.
Isn’t dredged material just waste?
All sediments removed from a water body in Minnesota are defined as “waste” and “other waste material” by Minn. Stat. § 115.01. This does not indicate safety or usefulness of the material. All dredged material is tested by Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) standards and will only be used if it passes analysis.
Is dredged material safe for wildlife?
The Corps tests dredged material for contaminants. The dredged material for this project meets all MPCA guidelines. These guidelines have been developed specifically to protect the wildlife that use these habitats. Thousands of acres of habitat within the Mississippi River have been created using this process.
How is dredge material tested?
The Corps collects sediment samples annually from the parts of the river that are dredged. Sediment samples are sent to independent chemical testing labs. The material is tested for pollutants such as metals, pesticides, PAHs, PCBs and cyanide. MPCA guidelines are followed for testing locations, amounts and test types. MPCA standards are used to evaluate material safety – the "Soil Reference Values" for upland uses and the "Sediment Quality Targets" for in-water placement. New samplings are performed and analyzed with all past dredging data to ensure the material is safe for island building.
Sampling was conducted within Pigs Eye Lake for this project and combined with published sediment studies to make sure the site of the islands and lake access were safe for construction. All results were coordinated with the MPCA and other local agencies which resulted in agreement that the project is safe.
Environmental impact
How would building islands improve Pigs Eye Lake?
Building islands will provide a number of benefits:
- Provide habitat and shelter for migrating birds and ducks.
- Underwater portions of the islands will provide structure and add different sediment types for fish, reptiles, amphibians and water-dwelling invertebrates.
- Calm, shallow and stabilized areas around and inside of the sheltered islands will promote aquatic plants for more wildlife shelter and food.
- Islands will block the wind across the lake helping shelter the shorelines from the wind-generated waves and reduce the loss of aquatic plants and shoreline.
Is Pigs Eye Lake polluted?
Testing was performed within and around the project area in Pigs Eye Lake. Only low levels of contaminants were found in the Pigs Eye Lake sediments in the area of the proposed islands. The project team consulted with contaminant experts and it was determined that these low levels of contaminants would not pose a risk to wildlife.
However, there is known pollution nearby that was considered during planning. The Pigs Eye Dump is located to the north of the lake and operated from 1956 and 1972, and sludge ash from the wastewater treatment plant was placed nearby from 1977 to 1985. Remediation efforts started in 1999 and focused on drums and batteries that might cause the most environmental harm, and on reducing the erosion and leaching of wastes into water and exiting the dump site. The dump site is not part of the project area for habitat restoration.
How will the project affect future Pigs Eye Dump cleanup efforts?
The project would not adversely impact any future plans for cleanup of the dump site. The project was coordinated very carefully with the MPCA to make sure that was not a concern. The dump may benefit from the project’s reduction of erosive wind and waves.
Will the project result in harassing or killing birds?
No. The Corps coordinated the project with airport stakeholders because of the proximity of Pigs Eye Lake to the Saint Paul Downtown Airport. Airports are rightfully concerned about collisions between birds and planes. The Corps has included willow plantings around the islands to discourage Canada goose nesting, which was the primary concern identified. The Corps has also agreed to monitor bird use and share the data with the Metropolitan Airport Commission. Then, if a potential issue is identified within the interagency team, the Corps will consider modifications or management actions. Experts do not anticipate this will be a problem for the project.
Additional island building resources
Resource information on island building is available through:
- Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Design Handbook (PDF), Ch. 9.
- Island Building Overview (PDF).
- Island Construction Overview (PDF).
Additional project-related documents are available upon request. Email Parks & Recreation.