Sediment basin cleanout on Almquist farm
The Almquist family farm in Ravenna Township has sediment control basins on their property designed to keep sediment out of the Vermillion River. These basins were designed and constructed in the late 1960s and had filled with sediment to a level where they had limited function. Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers Organization (VRWJPO) and Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) staff agreed that a cleanout of both basins would be beneficial to their overall efforts, as some capacity in the basins can be restored to capture sediment and slow higher runoff flows that could cause erosion of the channels downstream.
The repair project consisted of some tree removal to access the sites, excavating the basin pools, repairing an emergency spillway to the downstream channel, and seeding native vegetation for continued erosion control. This complements VRWJPO’s other efforts in Ravenna Township to decrease turbidity in the lower Vermillion River.
