r/coonrapids • u/Appropriate-Moose558 • 22d ago

Reckless tree felling

I live on Pleasure Creek. Today, workers felled a bunch of trees across East River Road and tossed the debris into the creek. A bunch of large, dead fish have surfaced as a result. Worse, the resident snapping turtle is missing! She has been sunning herself on our rocks for years, and always greets us on warm days.

We are heartbroken and angry.

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u/fae8edsaga 22d ago edited 22d ago

That sounds like illegal dumping to me. Reach out to your city Parks & Rec Board/staff. Find out if you’re part of the Coon Creek Watershed District. Report them. There no undoing the damage they’ve done, but maybe they can be held accountable.

https://www.cooncreekwd.org/

https://www.coonrapidsmn.gov/m/directory?cat=8&searchTerms=&sortBy=0

EDIT: also, the city might be able to get clean-up started

EDIT 2: if it is part of the coon creek watershed district, it becomes a county issue. Escalate it if you can, if the city doesn’t do anything.

EDIT 3: “Report illegal dumping by calling 311 for your local code enforcement. For hazardous waste contact the EPA at epa.gov or 1-800-424-4372. Take photos and note the exact location before calling — do not touch the waste.”

https://howtoreport.org/how-to-report-illegal-dumping/

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u/Appropriate-Moose558 22d ago

Thank you. I will take pictures tomorrow. We are in the Coon Creek Watershed District. I believe the city cut down the trees because they were infected with the Emerald Ash Borer. The problem is that they completely smothered the creek with fallen branches.

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u/farkleboy 21d ago

It is impressive the pull the watershed districts have, they can pull enforcement from a lot of different local and probably state resources to find out what the follow up can be.

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u/Appropriate-Moose558 21d ago edited 21d ago

The Coon Creek Watershed District contracted the company that felled the trees. They are continuing to take trees down and will grind up the trunks next. Apparently, it's normal procedure to allow the trees to fall into creeks and streams as the wood forms natural bridges for the workers, and protects against property damage and injury to local residents. They cleared out the trunks and large boughs last night, and intend to leave the smaller branches in and along the streambed "to prevent bank erosion and provide habitat."

The Manager of Operations and Maintenance came out within 15 minutes of my phone call. He listened to our story and waded the creekbed searching for further evidence of harm to wildlife. He found only one dead fish and 2 dead crayfish. There was no sign of the snapper.

He seemed to care about the ecology of the area and reported his findings. Basically, since we didn't photograph the dead fish or save them (hubby let them float downstream), and there is no direct evidence the tree felling is responsible for harmful impacts to wildlife, they will carry on business as usual.

He plans to come by our house tomorrow to walk on our side of the culvert and inspect more upstream. He said he plans to go through and pick up "trash" when the workers finish. All the activity stirred up a bunch of clay, so the water will appear more dirty than usual.

I think he really cares, and even the worker guy I talked to this morning was nice. I still feel bad about Snappy. I hope she is still alive by some miracle.

Edit: She is okay!

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u/farkleboy 20d ago

great to hear that he came out and communicated! And great to hear about the turtle, just trying to live life :)

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u/fae8edsaga 20d ago

This is so encouraging to hear that they came out and took things seriously, even if it’s frustrating to learn that there aren’t better ways to handle the tree cuttings. Thank you for taking the time and energy to confront this head-on! <3

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u/Appropriate-Moose558 20d ago

Your well considered reply and resources set me on the right path. Thank you for that 🙂 It is good to know that our local civil servants do listen to us. Nothing changed except my attitude, but that's less negativity overall, which is a good thing.

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u/fae8edsaga 20d ago

I’m so happy I could help <3