Plymouth Creek Restoration Project Finished | Environment

Plymouth officials say they've finished....the Plymouth Creek Streambank Restoration project is complete.

And they're hoping that the $950,000 project will be just the ticket to make the water a lot cleaner in Medicine Lake--the second largest lake in Hennepin County.

Water Resources Manager Derek Asche says residents are already reporting they've noticed a difference.  "They feel the water is running cleaner.  And they're seeing fish in the stream, where they haven't before," Asche says.

The project goal was to reduce the flow of sediments and nutrients into the lake via the creek, which was not in good ecological health.  It also helps the city meet MPCA regulatory requirements for pollution going into the lake.

There is one public access for boaters in French Park and three swimming beaches on Medicine Lake.

Work crews also rerouted some 1,500 feet of Plymouth Creek near West Medicine Lake Drive to reduce flooding.

The city will hire a contract to monitor the vegetation they've installed along 3,500 feet of the creek.  "What we would like to see is steady improvement every year," says Asche.

City officials would like to get to another 2,000 feet section of the creek in Plymouth Creek Park, west of Fernbrook Lane sometime in the next four years to continue to improve the banks of the creek.

In the meantime, they're working on other streams that lead into Medicine Lake.  Asche says they've identified the Kilmer Park pond and stream as a possibility for city work crews this summer.  Funding would have to be approved by the Plymouth City Council first, though, he says.

The funding for the Plymouth Creek Streambank Restoration project came from Hennepin County, the Bassett Creek Watershed Restoration project and the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources and the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment.