Explore the history of the river during a scenic boat tour on Aug. 19
Sometimes it’s hard to know when to begin the story of a place. We could begin the story of the St. Croix River in 1968, when Senators Gaylord Nelson and Walter Mondale led the US Congress to pass the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Were it not for that legislation, the St. Croix and Namekagon Rivers today might be lined with vacation homes, choked with weeds and algae, or hidden behind now-shuttered factories like so many urban rivers in the US.
Perhaps, however, we should start the St. Croix’s story a little bit earlier. When glaciers retreated fourÂteen thousand years ago, the meltwater formed massive rivers that carved into the soil and rock beneath, leaving behind towering bluffs along the riverways and dappled lakes throughout the forests and prairies. For thousands of years, people lived here along the shores of these rivers and lakes, hunted deer, tapped maple trees, fell in love, raised children, and buried parents.
Often, the story begins in 1837, when Ojibwe and Dakota tribes ceded thirty-five million acres of land in what is now east-central Minnesota and western Wisconsin to the United States governÂment. During the following century, white settlers forcibly removed Indigenous people from the land, decimated the forests, transformed prairies into farmland, and built cities with houses, roads, and factories.
My own personal story of connection with the St. Croix River began nearly 20 years ago, when I landed a job with the just-formed and not-yet-named East Metro Water Education Program, a local government partnership that is hosted by the Washington Conservation District. At the time, I was just two years out of grad school and living in the southwest metro. I embraced the opportunity to get to know a new landscape with rivers, lakes, streams and people that I hadn’t yet met.
Five years later, in 2011, my husband Gary and I took a leap and moved to Stillwater. At the time, I was pregnant with our son Charlie, and for the first several months, we joked that it felt like we were on vacation every day. Little by little, I explored parks and trails in our new home. Baby Charlie migrated from my belly to a backpack. We acquired burleys and bikes, kayaks and standup paddleboards. Over time, my memories of time spent on the river, in the woods, and in the prairies have become inextricably entwined with that of raising a child and growing through life.
In many ways, you could say that the past two decades have been a time of renewal and restoration for the lower St. Croix watershed. Local government partners have nursed more than a dozen polluted lakes back to good health and are working to restore the natural floodplains, bends, and habitat in numerous streams as well. The landscape at Washington County Parks has come alive with restored prairies, woodlands, and oak savannas and private landowners have also completed nearly 4000 urban and agricultural conservation projects.
These transformations happen thanks to robust community partnerships, state and federal support, and special-purpose funding, including Washington County’s Land and Water Legacy Program (2006) and the Minnesota Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment (2008).
What other stories does the St. Croix River have to share? To learn more, join me for a scenic cruise along the river near Stillwater on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 5:30-8pm. The event is hosted by the Washington County Historical Society and tickets are available at stillwaterriverboats.com/specials.
East Metro Water 