Current Projects

The Chisago Lakes School District has partnered with the Chisago Lakes Lake Improvement District, the Chisago Soil & Water Conservation District, Chisago City and Great River Greening, to help protect the lakes from the effects of stormwater pollution.

On Saturday, September 26, 2009 over 50 volunteers gathered to plant a series of 5 rain gardens at the Lakeside Elementary School in Chisago City. A rain garden is a specially designed perennial flower garden designed with a depression in the middle to catch rainfall and stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces such as rooftops, parking lots and roads. This garden will allow the water to soak into the ground rather than running directly into nearby lakes and streams. As this water infiltrates into the ground, the plants use nutrients from the runoff (including: soil, fertilizers, pesticides, pet waste, road salt, grass clippings, etc.) and send ‘clean’ filtered water to the lake.

The project was designed at the 11-acre Lakeside Elementary School property to treat the first one inch of rainfall by installing 9,500 square feet of rain gardens on school property. Over 4,500 plants were installed on the Saturday morning in 3 hours. Volunteers ranged from school children, parents and community members. The school’s teachers, students and maintenance staff have offered to take responsibility for the upkeep of these infiltration areas. This storm water project will also serve as an excellent educational tool as it will become part of Lakeside Elementary School’s science curriculum.

Chisago County, Center City and the Chisago Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) have partnered to design and install a series of rain gardens/infiltration basins at the new Chisago County Business Park, located in Center City on the North side of Highway 8, to collect up to the first inch of rainfall on the entire site. The Chisago County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of supporting the rain gardens as stormwater treatment on this site. Each business lot will also be required to treat the first inch of runoff from their buildings, parking areas and sidewalks. The EPA defines stormwater runoff as the number one threat to water quality in our lakes and streams.

Stormwater runoff can transport many contaminants to our surface waters. These contaminants can include fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus, oil, gas, sediment, cigarette butts and trash. Catching the first one inch of runoff will capture the first flush of rain (that carries most of the runoff) and almost 90% of our rain fall events.

This new development is the first development in Chisago County to help improve water quality. These rain gardens will not only look good, but will help improve the water quality of nearby South Center Lake. A rain garden is a flower garden that has a depression in the middle designed to catch rain water and stormwater runoff and allow the water to soak into the ground rather than running off the landscape. The garden helps prevent erosion and remove pollutants in the process.

The planting plan for the gardens was developed by the SWCD. The series of twelve rain gardens were planted by the Minnesota Conservation Corps in early September of 2009. The rain gardens were planted with almost 2,000 locally grown native plants and perennial plants. The planting was overseen by the Chisago SWCD office. These gardens will be watered until they are established by Center City. Once these gardens are established they will have very little long term maintenance. Click here to view planting plan