The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is accepting comments through April 14 on an Environmental Assessment Worksheet for a proposal to restore Big 39 Creek and Little 39 Creek.

The project would restore 2,072 linear feet of historically degraded Big 39 Creek and 5,672 linear feet of Little 39 Creek. Once completed, the restoration would reestablish natural stream processes, improve floodplain connectivity, establish a meandered pattern, and provide additional habitat features such as wood and rock structures. The project, located in Beaver Bay Township in Lake County, is proposed by Northshore Mining Company and would mitigate and compensate for the partial loss of function these waterbodies experienced when they were straightened in the 1970s during construction of the Milepost 7 tailings basin.

The Environmental Assessment Worksheet was published in the March 15 EQB Monitor  PDF (link is external). Copies of the Environmental Assessment Worksheet are available on the project page. Additional copies may be requested by calling 651-259-5723.

Hard copies of the Environmental Assessment Worksheet are available for public review at:

Duluth Public Library, 221 W. First Street, Duluth, MN 55802

Silver Bay Public Library, 9 Davis Drive, Silver Bay, MN 55614

Written comments on the EAW must be submitted no later than 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14, to the attention of Sara Mielke, DNR Ecological and Water Resources Division, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155-4025.

Electronic or email comments may be sent to environmentalrev.dnr@state.mn.us with “Big 39 and Little 39” in the subject line. People who submit comments will receive a copy of the decision document, which includes responses to comments. Because all comments and related information are part of the public record for this environmental review, commenters’ names and email or postal addresses will be published and publicly available as they appear in the materials they submit.