Mud River Restoration Project
Mud River Restoration Project
Project Description:
The Mud River Restoration Project is located a little over 20 miles directly northeast of Thief River Falls in the Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge. The goal of this project is to enhance the ecological funcation and potentially restore some flows to the historic Mud River channel. Currently water is being diverted north of this channel through a deeper man-made ditch known as MJD 11 Branch 8.
Meetings began in the winter of 2020 kicking off the project and discussing initial surveying, which was completed by HDR Engineering in January of 2021. More meetings were held in the spring of 2021 to discuss the Mud River Restoration project and the next steps that were needed to continue planning the project. The need for soil borings was discussed and plans were made to gather equipment and a team of staff from partner agencies to collect some data in the early summer of 2021.
In June of 2021, a team of six staff from the United States Fish & Wildlife Service, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the Red Lake Watershed District collected transects of soil boring information along the old channel of the Mud River to aid in planning a restoration project.
Shells and coarse material were found in soil borings near the downstream (west) end of the old channel path. At the upstream end, soil borings maxed out at about a 5 foot depth and only produced decaying vegetation. Due to the insulating nature of the organic material, dense layers of frost remained a short distance from the surface.
A flood damage reduction project work team was assembled to begin an official process of planning a restoration project.
Upcoming Mud River Meetings/Events
The next Mud River project work team meeting will be held on TBT .
Time: 2:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Location: Red Lake Watershed District
1000 Pennington Ave S.
Thief River Falls, MN 56701
