Three Creeks in One - A Meandering Mirror of the Past

by Sage Passi

The "looking glass" of the new Frost Avenue Bridge over Keller Creek

Keller Creek, Gervais Creek, Phalen Creek ... One creek or three?

I often think of these three creeks as one flowing stream reflecting character names from the past.

The 1848 land survey map below shows a creek flowing through what is now called the Phalen Chain of Lakes. Lake names have been added to the map. Keller Lake is missing, Kohlman is identified as a wetland and Spoon is far south and really small. These bodies of water were originally large marshy areas connected by creeks. They occasionally held more water some years and dried up in others. They didn’t officially become lakes until they were dredged much later. The creeks are intimately connected to these lakes and their southern channel flowed directly into the Mississippi River. 

The story begins here with Keller Creek but the history of Gervais and Phalen Creeks will be told in a future article. Like the tenacious cat sitting by my keyboard staring up at me, they have had many lives and have a persistent habit of calling attention to themselves now and again.

 

  Chain of Lakes Map - 1848 

Given a creek with a split personality like this one, there’s got to be more to the story than meets the eye. Clues about Keller Creek are best discovered by strolling along its gnarly shoreline on a spring day with someone like Bob Jensen, the President of Maplewood Area Historical Society, who has a passion for the meandering “past life” of this shape-shifting channel.

Keller Creek has been altered many times with many
changes made to the nearby land and water bodies.

I met Bob in a parking lot at Keller Regional Park on one of those early balmy spring days when I’d have been amiss not to step out into the sunshine and set off on some fanciful expedition. For several weeks, Bob had been e-mailing me an array of old black and white photos, detailed chronologies, newspaper articles and newsletters. It was time to put a face and a place to those photos.

 

My last experience on Keller Creek was several years ago when I
led Farnsworth students on a tour about Dakota life in this area. I'll
tell the story of their connection to this area in the next installment.



Memorial Tree Groves by the Creek

Bob walks and kayaks Keller Creek quite often. He lives near this stretch of the creek, just west of Highway 61 and has been collecting stories and memorabilia about it for years. Joining us that day on our hike was Nicole DeGruzman, the Executive Director of the Maplewood Area Historical Society. She was getting her bearings for a walking tour guide she is writing about the memorial tree groves planted along the creek from 1927-1932 by a group of community-minded women.  

Maplewood Area Historical Society has been working with the University of Minnesota’s Forestry Department to determine if any of those trees still exist and locate the markers that identify each of the groves. Their research efforts will be brought to the public light during an Arbor Day celebration on Saturday May 16. CLICK HERE for details for that event titled The Case of the Missing Groves -- Who (or What) Done It? It’s billed as an event for families, history buffs, tree lovers, and wanna-be detectives.

As we strolled along the creek, Bob helped us get acquainted with the location of several of these memorial groves. There are big rocks (erratics) positioned in various places along the creek and in other locations that mark the efforts of the Minnesota Federation of Women’s Clubs to establish municipal forests in several plots of Keller Park to promote conservation and reforestation.

One of those areas, on the slope where the Frost Avenue Bridge crosses Keller Creek, was planted to celebrate the bicentennial of George Washington’s birthday of February 22, 1732. The photo below shows the unveiling of the large rock with a brass plaque. The three children were direct descendants of Augustine Washington, a half-brother of George Washington. Mrs. C.N. Akers, (far right) was the great-granddaughter of a chaplain who served in Washington’s army at Valley Forge. She helped lead the tree-planting committee along with Mrs. Russell E. Van Kirk (third from the right). (Information provided by Bob Jensen). At the Arbor Day celebration in May, this grove will be replanted and the rock returned to this location. The rock was found in the woods near the trail and brought to the public works office.

 

 

The George Washington Memorial Grove planting by a Minnesota Women's Club
was celebrated by the unveiling of a large rock marker in 1931.

 

Deciphering Keller Creek's Past

 

Bob Jensen stands near the Frost Avenue Bridge over Keller
Creek. The sign explains some of the changes that have
happened in this area in the past 150 years.

At our first stop along the trail, Bob, Nicole and I linger at a recently installed sign below the new Frost Avenue Bridge. Underneath one arch of the bridge, the creek still flows south to Round and Phalen Lakes. Under the other arch, where only a sidewalk now remains, a road once passed. Who built it and what happened to it? The story itself is a winding tale that can be traced back to the 1800’s when the city and park planners first started envisioning changes to this waterway.

 

Jensen’s Maple Leaves newsletter article for the Maplewood Area Historical Society from December 2012 outlines a sequence of actions that are connected to Keller Creek’s history.

“In 1869 the Minnesota legislature authorized the private St. Paul Water Company to construct open channels between Lake Gervais, Spoon Lake and Phalen Lake to improve the flow so water could be diverted from the south end of Phalen for drinking water for the city of St. Paul.”

  

Lake Phalen provided drinking water for the City of St. Paul from 1869 to 1913. Channels between the lakes in the chain were proposed to increase the flow of water for the drinking water supply.

Maplewood Area Historical Society


“By 1879 tourist guides were promoting Lake Phalen as a popular recreation area that included excursions around the lake on privately operated steam launches. By 1894 St. Paul was making plans to extend the park to include Spoon and Gervais Lakes, increasing the possibility for launches to travel the entire chain. They wanted to develop the Phalen Chain of lakes into “the most unique and beautiful aquatic park possessed by any considerable city in inland America.” (Board of Park Commissioners’ Annual Report 1895).

 

 

Maps like this one from 1900 highlighted proposed roads around the perimeter of these lakes and channels between the lakes that would connect these "jewels" in the Phalen Chain of Lakes.

 1897  Minnesota Historical Society

 

Note: The name Keller Lake was not applied to the lake until 1923, when the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners changed the name to recognize the contributions of Herbert P. Keller to its creation.

 

A local newspaper from this time period wrote, “Spoon (Keller) Lake between Lakes Phalen and Gervais, was a lake only in name. In fact it was what is known as a slough, too much water to make a meadow and not enough for boating. At high water, there was just enough of a channel, weed-grown though it was, for expert canoeists or rowboat-men to work their way through from Lake Phalen to Lake Gervais.”

 

Did this “slough,” as this derogatory term refers to it, look something like this back then?

Arrowhead and other emergent plants surround and line a waterway.
Is this what Keller Creek looked like in its earlier days?

Make Way for the Boats - Linking of the Lakes

As time went on, the land directly around Lake Phalen was “condemned” by the city so they could incorporate it into Phalen Park. By 1902 dredging began in Lake Phalen with a coal-fired dredge. In 1904 the St. Paul Park Board ran into opposition to their Linking of Lakes Project and had to appeal to Ramsey County’s authority to acquire more land outside the city limits. In 1909 the dredging of the canal north of Lake Phalen was begun but then delayed for the next few years while the project was turned over to the county and they could secure more land.

 

This early twentieth century dredge was used to clear and widen the channel through
the marshy area between Lake Phalen and "Spoon Lake".

Minnesota Historical Society

 
By 1913 the county had completed .75 of a mile of Keller Boulevard and dredged 1800 feet of channel connecting Phalen Lake with Spoon lake, making the channel an extra 14 feet wide. The next year dredging began in the location where Lake Keller is now and continued for several more years. In 1923 Spoon Lake was renamed Keller Lake in honor of Herbert P. Keller who initially introduced the linking of the lakes project. What had once been marshy land with water flowing through it was recreated into a shallow lake with several islands. Channels that had been dredged connected it to the lakes to the north and south of it.

Launches, first steam powered and then eventually gasoline-powered, operated by the Park Department continued to provide cruises that navigated up and down the channel through the Phalen Chain of Lakes into the 1930’s.

A Keller launch boat carries passengers through the Phalen Chain of Lakes in 1927
under the Highway 1 Bridge and along the creek. Low water prevented this in previous years.

Minnesota Historical Society



As we passed under the arch of the new Frost Avenue Bridge and then beneath an older version of it that still remains, Jensen reminded me that the path we were walking on was once the road that connected these lakes. I tried to visualize one of those model T Fords bouncing along happily as it traveled on this same promenade between the lakes that we were now exploring on foot. Frost Avenue was not fully surveyed until 1906 and became a major street in 1926 when it was first paved. The bridge over the creek on Frost Avenue provided access to the Gladstone area from Highway 61. 
 
Remember the famous Tourist Cabins located just down the road? Driving around the lakes then, like now, was a favorite pastime both for the community and visitors traveling from a distance.

 

Making the drive around the Phalen Chain of Lakes

 Minnesota Historical Society

Bridges, Dams and a Waterfall

There have been a number of different bridges built over the creek beside the Frost Avenue bridge including one built by the Wisconsin Central Railway in 1906. A WPA dam was built on the creek in 1937 and later rebuilt by the Watershed District in 1991 as part of a regional flood control project.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) is seen here constructing a dam across Keller Creek.
Two hundred yards north of this spot, the old Highway 61 Bridge can be seen in the background.

Photo St. Paul Daily News - 1938 - Minnesota Historical Society

The WPA dam was rebuilt by the Watershed District
in 1991 to help regulate lake levels
and prevent flooding downstream.

Honeymoon Falls was constructed southwest of the intersection of Highway 61 and Keller Creek Boulevard in 1932. Water was pumped from an artesian well, cascaded over a rock ledge and flowed beneath a parking lot to Keller Creek to ensure an adequate water level for the excursion launches. It was removed in 1974 along with the parking lot and creekside roadway.

Honeymoon Falls was created to raise the water level in the creek. It was removed in 1974.

 Crossing the 45th Parallel

Keller Creek crosses the 45th parallel.
Is this a marker stone that marks the spot?

As we completed our journey up the creek, Bob pointed out a large stone located about five hundred yards south of the bridge where Highway 61 goes over the creek in Keller Park. He speculates that this is the marker stone for the 45th parallel. If it is indeed that, Keller Creek has the distinction of crossing a point halfway between the North Pole and the Equator. The creek shares this honor with several other scenic locations across the U.S. including Yellowstone National Park and Egg Harbor in Door County. 



The Restoration of Keller Creek circa 2015
 

A stretch of  Keller Creek that will be restored in 2015

Below the hill where the erratic stands is the upper stretch of the creek where the Watershed District is beginning a four year project of restoring Keller Creek. The first segment of the project involves the ecological restoration of over 31,000 square feet of shoreline that includes 1) a wooded slope, 2) a remnant patch of sedge and a few native wetland forbs, 3) an extensive wet meadow fringe, 4) a shrub prairie thicket, 5) an herbaceous edge and 6) a shrub-prairie edge.

 

Segment A (in yellow) on this restoration map is the area on the east side
of Keller Creek that will be done in 2015.

 

 

Twelve classrooms from St. Paul, North St. Paul and Maplewood will help transform its shoreline into a haven for birds, butterflies, and other creatures by planting native prairie and wet meadow species along its banks. See the March issue of the Ripple Effect for a short introductory article about this project.

Watch for future issues with more detail about this project in coming months. Once again Keller Creek is is becoming a shape-shifter and getting a face-lift, this time in the 21st century. 

Check out the history of its sister creeks, Gervais and Phalen, in next month's issue.

Keller Creek channel widens out as it flows down
toward Round and Phalen Lakes.

Thank you to Bob Jensen, President of the Maplewood Area Historical Society, for his awesome help in providing resources for this story.

Keller Creek's Spring Revival

By Sage Passi

Mounds Park Academy biology students, along with fourteen other classes, help recreate habitat along Keller Creek in year two of this restoration project.

Keller Creek has been traveled for centuries by migratory birds in their long-distance treks, the Dakota journeying to their summer hunting and fishing grounds, egrets in their summer pursuit of frogs, steam powered excursion boats carrying tourists around the “jeweled” lakes, and kayakers exploring the route from Lake Phalen to Lake Gervais and beyond. For a glimpse of Keller Creek’s meandering history follow this link.

This well-traveled stretch, grown over for years with invasive plants, is undergoing a remarkable restoration at the hands of staff and community members.

To witness the progress on Keller Creek to date, mark the night of Wednesday, July 13, on your calendar and join us in celebrating the half-way mark in our four year restoration efforts. We will be gathering creek-side for a wildflower and nature identification walk, creek dipping for aquatic life, bird watching, a visit by Urban Boatbuilders who will show off their custom-built boats, other fun activities and free ice cream! It’s high time we showcased our project! 

Keller Creek Restoration Celebration

Tuesday, July 13, 6:00 - 8:00 PM

Keller Lake Regional Park, Golfview Picnic Area, Maplewood

For more details on this event click here.



Keller Creek Restoration to Date

Keller Creek is an integral part of the Phalen Chain of Lakes, flowing from Keller Lake into Round Lake and Lake Phalen. The creek is a component of a regionally vital fish and wildlife corridor, connecting restored habitats at Lake Phalen, the Phalen Golf Course and Round Lake with those at Keller Lake, Keller Golf Course, and Lake Gervais. With the addition of the new Ramsey County trail and boardwalk, the creek is also part of a large, easily accessible recreational area. 

Keller Creek restoration 2015

In 2015 restoration work began, addressing issues on the east bank of the creek, between Frost Avenue and Highway 61. Invasive plant species were removed, eroding creek banks were protected, two wet meadow areas were created and thousands of native flowers and grasses were planted by students and other volunteers. Two large stone access points next to the weir were reconfigured to improve safely for fishing and portaging. Then last fall work on the western hillside began. Large scale removal of invasive brush and trees began.


Work on removing invasive plants on the western slope and hillside

So what’s been happening in year two at Keller Creek? Let’s travel back a few weeks to the pinnacle of this spring.


Keller Creek’s Spring Revival 2016

The perfect spring morning along Keller Creek

There’s always something quite magical about those last two weeks in May. The Baltimore orioles trill in operatic fashion rivaling Mozart, the sky shimmers with a brilliant cerulean sheen and the crisp spring morning air freshens our spirits. Simba Blood and I wait on the bridge as ducks glide past, bouncing on the gentle waves. Natural Resources interns and Master Gardeners wait in the wings next to trays of native seedlings and pairs of gloves, buckets of trowels and pails stacked nearby. 

Natural Resources intern, Dan Kutschied and Master Gardeners, Sharon Hardy and Jan House, wait for students to arrive while Carrie Taylor, NR intern, waters seedlings.

Then we catch a glimpse of the first class of the season. Emerging from the school bus, they have the energy of butterflies unfolding from their cocoons. They gaze for a minute at the hill’s vista below and then come racing down the steep slope, some of them rolling into a free fall through the grass as they tumble gleefully to the bottom.



The first bus arrives

They pass by the excavation site in the field at the base of the hill. Tuj Lub courts are being constructed there on parkland adjacent to the restoration area. Tuj Lub (pronounced “too-loo”) is a traditional Hmong sport involving spinning tops. The courts are expected to be completed later this summer. Follow this link for more information.



Home for the new Tuj Lub Courts near Keller Creek

The class stops for moment to take in the panorama of reawakening prairie and wetland shoots rising from the east bank and then head along the path to the bridge. Bulrush and arrowhead stand tall, next to the biologs with their feet tucked in the creek’s mucky substrate.

The weir, rebuilt in 1991 to control the flow of water in the Phalen Chain, captures the kids’ attention momentarily with its compass embossed into the stone and the shimmering water slowly rolling southward under its solid arch. We peer curiously at the fish darting beneath the creek’s mottled surface for a few mesmerizing minutes, then cross the creek and arrive at the site of our project.
 

A view of the weir above Keller Creek shot in 2015.

Those of us who were here last year agree in amazement that the planting site doesn’t look anything like it did last spring. The area has been radically transformed. If you had been here during the first wave of plantings in 2015, and had looked across the water to the western edge of the creek, you would have seen a forested wall next to the creek’s slope, thick with invasive buckthorn, honeysuckle and other unwanted vegetation. It’s been transformed into a thick carpet of newly mulched trees and shrubs spread thickly across the western shoreline. Towering above the shoreline edge is a forest of native trees and shrubs that will thrive better without having to compete for space, light and nutrients. 

Insuring a Rich Diversity and a Haven for Pollinators and other Wildlife
 

The western shoreline of Keller Creek awaiting planting by students.

Four thousand square feet of planting area next to the shoreline are soon to be occupied by four hundred plus students, packed in pairs in small planting squares on a steep and challenging slope over the next few days.

Wall-to-wall traffic at restoration site. Master Gardener Donna Andersen (on right) teams with Weaver fifth graders.

Herculean efforts by Natural Resources staff, interns and a Ramsey County Corrections Nursery team a few days before miraculously made it possible for us to be ready for May 17, the starting date for our two week planting spree. Rain and other challenges on the site had forced the completion of the site into a tight schedule.

In shoreline restoration projects we typically plant into erosion blanket, but this year was going to be different. We were planting under a thick blanket of coarsely chopped mulch, through root riddled ground in tight quarters. Some of the squares were up against brush bundles or biologs placed at the toe of the slope so the kids in the bottom planting areas were right next to the water. But the creek is shallow and no one seemed to mind. Some kids even volunteered for those spots!  



Planting next to the edge wasn't for everyone, but there were some brave volunteers willing to work close to the water!



An occasion fit for dressing up!

Some dressed for the task and some came a little overdressed, but they all dug in, had some fun and worked very hard to accomplish the task of getting their plants in the ground.

We outfitted kids with buckets for the soil they dug out and for removing the deeper mulch around their planting area. Each day we had a new set of classes who alternately planted for about forty-five minutes, then spent the next half hour to an hour exploring the history, landmarks and ecology of the creek as it traveled to Round Lake and Phalen Lake.

Clearing the mulch to plant

We were planting close to thirty wet meadow species – a rich variety of grasses, sedges, rushes and wildflowers including everything from blue bottle gentian and blue flag iris to tussock sedge, turtlehead and wool grass. These long-rooted seedlings, grown by Ramsey County Corrections Nursery, would be planted a foot apart to increase biodiversity, provide sources of pollen and nectar for pollinators, create habitat for wildlife and slow hillside erosion. 



Natural Resource Intern, Dan, assists a student with removing a lake sedge from its pack.

When we reached the last day of planting with all fifteen classes, we experienced a sense of completion and satisfaction, having successfully planted about 3000 seedlings.


Who is involved in these restoration projects and why do we involve them?  

Level Up Academy students pose on the bridge over Keller Creek on their way to Round and Phalen Lakes.

We strive to engage classrooms that we’ve been working with all year. Our first priority is to involve students who have been learning how to stratify and start native seedlings and tending them from start to finish for use in projects around the district. We like to complete the year with a culminating service project, celebrate a year of learning and ground their knowledge in a natural setting. Our target classes this year included six classes of fifth graders from American Indian Magnet and L’Etoile du Nord in St. Paul and three fifth grade classes from Weaver Elementary in Maplewood, a class of 7th and 8th grade environmental science students from Farnsworth, a class of fifth and sixth graders from Level Up Academy in White Bear Lake and three classes of high school biology and environmental studies students from Mounds Park Academy. 
 

“Teasing” the roots to loosen their root ball before they go into
the ground is an essential step in planting plugs.

Many of these classes have been involved in other planting activities for a year or two before experiencing this opportunity to work in a watershed directed project organized by Natural Resources staff. Each spring before the planting we present a slide show with historical and ecological background about the current restoration project where they will be volunteering.

Master Gardeners who assist with these kinds of projects often return in multiple years to help us. This year, in addition to veteran Master Gardeners, six new Master Gardener interns signed up for shifts. A CAC member, A LEAP team member, our WestFest coordinator and one Master Water Steward also joined our team of adults assisting students with the plantings. I always hear positive comments from both teachers and Master Gardeners who comment on the potency of engaging the community in rebuilding habitats and teaching valuable skills in the art of restoring native plants.



Nancy Nygaard, who works with school classes during the growing season, fell in love with the Keller Creek site during the restoration. “I’m going to have to bring my grandchildren here!”

 
Each year, Mitch Thomsen, a Mounds Park Academy science teacher involves his classes in growing many trays of native seedlings for community watershed projects. He also tends the school’s own large prairie and wetlandhabitats. He offered these comments and a thank you after his classes worked on the Keller Creek project this spring.

“Thanks again for the great opportunity yesterday. I was pleased with Simba’s excellent instruction and the wonderful assistance provided by the interns and master gardeners. It was great that the students were able to see the progress on the work we did last year on the east bank. It is amazing to see how far this area has come in just a few short years. They worked hard, no one fell into the creek and lots of plants were planted." 

Simba Blood, the District’s Natural Resources Technician who is leading the restoration efforts at the creek, demonstrates how to plant with Mounds Park biology students.

Mitch continues, 

“Whatever ties you have with the weather are perfect. Like last year, this year’s weather was great. The explanation of natural corridors will dovetail nicely into our ecology unit next week. It was a wonderful experience for all and I was, at last, able to get some pictures and send to the school so they have a sense of what we are doing there.” 

 

Diane Noll, Level Up Academy music teacher, and Tracy Leavenworth,
school consultant who works with classrooms throughout the District

Diane Noll, the music teacher for Level Up Academy who has engaged their entire school in watershed related activities this year, had this to say about the restoration outing,

"THANK YOU!!! We had a wonderful experience planting and walking the Keller Park area! You do such important work for our environment, and our future. THANK YOU!!!"

"All the way back to school on the bus, the kids were all a-buzz about everything they saw and did. You are surely planting the seeds for future environmentalists."

  

One of the many discoveries at Keller Creek – a dragonfly emerging
 from its nymph stage as it sheds its exoskeleton (exuvia) on the Keller Creek weir.

Our Watershed District would like to send out our huge thank you to the many hands that helped out this year. We are looking forward to witnessing how the plants mature and watching the pollinators and other wildlife return!

Keller Creek - A Channel for Restoring, Learning and Recreation

By Sage Passi

Mounds Park Academy biology students kick off this year's planting season at Keller Creek.

e
Keller Creek is a passageway that has long been a thoroughfare for people traveling up and down the Phalen Chain of Lakes. Planting along Keller Creek is an annual affair as we restore this corridor. This spring, the relatively cool weather and frequent rains helped to make the buffer planting a success. Amazingly, not a single restoration session had to be cancelled despite the imminent rain forecast on many of our scheduled planting days!



Chris Klatt, Natural Resources Intern, Tracy Leavenworth, education consultant, and Don Vegoe, Ramsey County Master Gardener, assist Mounds Park Academy students in restoring native plants along the Keller Creek buffer.

Now in its third year, this latest phase of the restoration creek buffer project encompasses an area along the east side of the creek between the north parking lot at Lake Phalen near the boat launch and just south of the Frost Avenue Bridge. To prepare the area, invasive trees and shrubs were removed. The turf grass along the edge of the path next to the creek was killed and a seed mix planted beneath the erosion blanket fabric that covers the planting area.


To prepare the site, discs on the seeder cut slits in the dead turf and seed
was then dropped onto the soil. A heavy roller helped to close the slits and increase the seed-soil contact.

In mid-to-late May, over 375 students in fourteen classes from Mounds Park Academy, L’Etoile du Nord French Immersion, Weaver Elementary, Level Up Academy, Harmony Learning Center and Roseville Area Middle School gathered at the site to install 3,500 native plant plugs with the help of Natural Resources staff, Simba, interns Chris, Matt and Anna, education staff, Sage and Tracy, and Ramsey County Master Gardeners. These native plantings are now in the ground and thriving.

A student in Harmony Learning Center’s Adult ESL
class plants at Keller Creek.

Liddy Rich, ESL teacher at Harmony School, helps her students learn new
vocabulary words while they are oriented about the planting.

In the coming weeks, Natural Resources staff and Ramsey County Corrections inmate crews will install plants on steeper slopes and in the water in areas that were too hard for students to navigate.

Prior to coming out to the creek, classes studied the history of changes along the creek, learned about the planting zones (the upland prairie, wet meadow and emergent zones) and the ecological value of buffers and their role in preventing erosion. To review some of the creek’s many changes over time, go to this link.

Since the restoration project began three years ago, park patrons that walk by the restoration area often share positive comments and express appreciation for the work that is taking place in the park. Kayakers, canoeists and even paddle boats glide by on the creek, taking in the beauty of the area. A bicycle and walking path along the creek often carries people who are traveling between Phalen Lake and Keller Lake or others who are making connections to the Gateway Trail. At the weir or other bridges over the creek, you will often find people fishing. One sunny morning during the restoration project, a student spied a sturgeon lingering by the weir’s wall. When asked what he has been catching, a nearby fisherman reported that he often sees blue gills and big mouth bass in the creek.

The weir in Keller Creek

 

On most of the planting days, time was built into the schedule for students to explore the aquatic life in the creek. They collected samples of water and found abundant damselfly nymphs, an occasional dragonfly nymph, a variety of beetles, aquatic worms and other macroinvertebrates. Beneath the weir and other bridges you can see vibrant colonies of eel grass waving in the shallow flow of the stream. This vegetation provides habitat for some of this aquatic life. 

Anthony Larkin, a Level Up Academy teacher, climbs down along the weir to point out a turtle to his students.

After planting, many of the classes tried out some newly learned techniques for monitoring water in the creek. They collected water and then carried it onto the weir to measure the creek’s pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen and transparency.

Jodie Hardenbrook, a science teacher at Roseville Area Middle School,
looks on as her students pour creek water into a transparency tube
to measure its clarity.

Except for the first day of the planting when the turbidity of the water was somewhat murky after a rain, the water was remarkably clear. Dissolved oxygen levels were in the 8-9 ppm range and the pH measured around 8.6.

A Harmony ESL student carries water up from Keller Creek
to test it for dissolved oxygen, pH and temperature.

The portages near the weir make it handy
to get down to the water’s edge.

How to Get to the Restoration Area

Starting from the South:

To give you a feel for the restoration’s progression, take a stroll along the creek from bottom to top or the reverse. It is really easy to access. One option is to park in the lot on the north end of Lake Phalen. Take the walking path to the north along the creek. The straw erosion control blanket delineates the restoration. If you look closely, you will see thousands of young native plants popping through the blanket. On your way you will pass by a monument near the Frost Avenue Bridge that provides pictures and history of the area.

Starting from the North:

You can also access the full length of the creek restoration from the north, starting with the first stretch of the restoration completed two years ago. Enter Keller Creek Regional Park through the Golfview Picnic Area entrance. This entrance is just north of Roselawn Avenue (south of County Road B in Maplewood). You need to be traveling north on Highway 61 in Maplewood to get to this entrance. Take the road in the park to the top of the hill, park in the lot at the top and walk down the newly paved pervious asphalt trail to the bottom. On your left you will see the newly dedicated Tuj Lub courts adjacent to the creek. Tuj Lub is a traditional Hmong top spinning game. These courts officially opened on June 10 with a grand opening celebration.

 

Senator Foung Hawj presents spinning tops to partners who helped make the Tuj Lub Courts possible. Partners include Ramsey County, the City of Maplewood and the Legacy Fund.

Proceed south along the east side of the creek to the weir where the restoration was done two years ago. If you cross over the weir and walk along an informal trail on the west side of the creek you can see the now thriving wet meadow areas planted by students and other volunteers in 2016. 

The vibrant wet meadow was established last year on the west side of the creek. In the background you can see the Tuj Lub dedication celebration held at the new courts on June 10.

Cross back to the east side of the creek and continue to walk along the creek. You will pass under several arched bridges and eventually arrive at the north parking lot of Lake Phalen. The creek opens up into Round Lake and then its waters flow through a channel into Lake Phalen and eventually south to the Mississippi River!

You can also paddle the creek and put in at a number of spots including any of the following lakes in the Phalen Chain of Lakes: Lake Phalen, Keller Lake or Lake Gervais. To download our WaterTrail map go here.

 

Kayaks are commonly seen along Keller Creek. If the water is deep enough they can pass right through under the weir, but when the water in the creek is shallow the stone portages make it easy to get around the weir and re-enter the water.