Gravel and sediment stack up at some North Shore river mouths following rain events and significant runoff

The Devil Track River has a new look this summer. Particularly at the river mouth where the popular North Shore River dumps into Lake Superior.

Heavy rain in May and a late snow melt in northeastern Minnesota lead to dangerously high water for a number of North Shore streams and rivers. The surging water pushed rock and sediment down the rivers, in some cases stockpiling at the river mouths in Lake Superior. These newly formed gravel bars remain in August.

“We saw the catastrophic flooding events this spring. And when you move sediment out of the river with those large rain events, the wave action from Lake Superior then (collects) all of that sediment at the river mouth” said Cory Goldsworthy, the Lake Superior area fisheries supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

In addition to creating a new look at the river mouth for those who visit some of these rivers, the changes could impact migratory fish behavior. Goldsworthy said if there are not significant rain events to open up the rivers in the months ahead, steelhead and other fish that move upstream in the rivers will have a difficult time accessing critical spawning habitat.

“We don’t want catastrophic rain events that do the same thing all over again, but just high water events to flush out the river mouths and reconnect the river with the lake,” he said.

To learn more about the weather, rain and other forces that changed the look of some of the rivers mouths along the North Shore, listen to the interview below.

Joe Friedrichs August 7, 2022