Hog Island and Newton Creek Ecological Restoration Project

This Ecological Restoration Master Plan for Hog Island and Newton Creek defines specific measures for restoring ecological processes and key habitat within the Hog Island and Newton Creek area of concern (AOC) in Lake Superior, and provides a template for how ecological restoration can occur throughout the Great Lakes watershed. In doing so, it will partially address the habitat related beneficial use impairments (BUIs) of the St. Louis River AOC, and further the USEPA goal of delisting this AOC while meeting the objectives of the 2002 Lower St. Louis River Habitat Plan.

Hog Island, Hog Island Inlet, and Newton Creek are extremely important for local and migratory fish and wildlife populations. The restoration of these areas presents opportunities to provide essential habitat for rare, threatened, and endangered species, control invasive vegetation and other threats to ecological viability, further improve local water and sediment quality, and provide passive recreation and an aesthetic amenity for the City of Superior, WI.

The Hog Island and Newton Creek Ecological Restoration Master Plan is grounded in the principles of stakeholder collaboration and participation. The vision and goals of the project are defined by a diverse array of federal and state agency representatives, in partnership with the City of Superior, the St Louis River Citizen Action Committee, and local citizens and interest groups. A series of workshops have provided opportunities for public input into the planning process.

Based on the public input, this Plan defines a cohesive collection of recommended individual restoration projects. Each individual project includes projected costs and expected outcomes of the restoration, identifies appropriate agencies and organizations to implement the restoration, provides a phasing plan and a timeline of the restoration process, and includes a process to measure success of the restoration actions, including benchmarks for measurement.

Do you have questions or comments?
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