Cedar River State Water Trail at Austin Mill Pond in June 2022.
Jensen Bigelow MN GreenCorps
Maddie Merten Intern
Jessica Bulman Conservation Technician
Bottom: Steve Lawler, resource specialist; Larry Callahan, district tech; Jeanne Crump, office manager; James Fett, watershed tech; Cody Fox, project manager and CRWD administrator since May 2022; and Tim Ruzek, water plan and outreach coordinator.
For many years, locals have paddled Turtle Creek on Austin’s west side to enjoy the stream in town and sometimes float to the Cedar River State Water Trail. Easy, dry access for launching a canoe or kayak on Turtle Creek, however, has been a challenge.
Thanks to a multi-agency partnership started in 2020, the public gained a rocksurface, walk-in access in July 2022 on Turtle Creek in southwest Austin for launching canoes and kayaks as well as fishing the shoreline.
Located on the northwest side of the 12th St SW (MN Hwy. 105) bridge over the creek, the site offers an access and parking area on land acquired via the City of Austin’s flood-mitigation program.
“CRWD constantly looks at ways to enhance the local waterways and connect the public to them, and this is a great, collaborative project that achives those goals,” said Tim Ruzek, CRWD’s water plan and outreach coordinator. districts.
On his last day, Justin Hanson hugs Cody Fox in May 2022.
In December 2022 (upper left), Hormel Foods Corp. strengthened the foundations of the Austin area’s historic Ramsey Dam on the Cedar River State Water Trail. Hormel Foods, which has owned the dam since 1974, funded the work to slow the deterioration of the concrete structure, which included removing trees and adding chunks of rock or “riprap” on both ends of the dam as shown in the upper-right photo from spring 2023. Monitoring systems were installed to track any changes in flow or seepage at the dam that would indicate the need for more repairs or maintenance.
Lisa Peters was the winner drawn in October 2022 for a kayak sponsored by Austin Runnings for the 2022 Cedar Scenes. She is pictured with CRWD outreach coordinator Tim Ruzek (left) and Everett Hackensmith, manager of Runnings, at Austin Mill Pond in December 2022. All these photos were weekly winners.
