Big Island

In another featured article in the Lakeshore Weekly News today, Slip Sliding Away no More, by David Schueller, Orono voted to spend money on Big Island.

As more junk gets hauled off Big Island, the city of Orono will continue to partner with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District (MCWD) to keep the island from sliding slowly into the waves.

By installing rip rap rock around areas of Orono-owned Big Island Park, it's hoped that the waves from passing boats will do less damage to bluffs and shoreline areas there.

On Feb. 11, the Orono City Council approved its first major spending on the island park since the purchase of the land on Big Island for $5.7 million in January 2006, of which the city paid $2.85 million, the state $2 million and the MCWD $850,000.

Orono approved spending $48,000 on a new dock, $13,000 for 200 feet of rip rap and a portion of $18,000 for an improved restroom building on the island. Another portion of the $18,000 will be spent on dock pads, an item that the council will consider at a later date, according to City Administrator Ron Moorse.

In addition to erosion control, the rip rap is meant to keep vehicles from accessing the island from the ice and tearing up the land.

The island again has been the subject of vandalism over the winter.

"I can just hardly express my disappointment," said Council Member Jim Murphy. "It is just an absolute ball-bearing shame."

Orono resident and former mayor Gabriel Jabbour has been put in charge of supervising the cleanup efforts on the island.

"It's fluid process. Every year we keep on building a little more and a little more," Jabbour said.

Jabbour said the doors on the bathrooms were destroyed during the winter, and damage was also done to a pavilion in the park, he said.

"They pretty much destroyed all the doors, the bathroom doors," Jabbour said. Tire marks show where vehicles have been on the island, he said.

Mayor Jim White said he thinks an improved bathroom building will hold up to vandals.

"If you build a building with fairly good construction, you're going to find people are going to leave it alone," White said.

Jabbour said that no matter how strong they build the bathrooms, there will always be some level of destruction on the island.

"What can you do, put a security wall out there?" he said.

In a way, the rip rap will be just that. But its main function aside from blocking vehicle access is to prevent erosion, he said.

"The island is sliding into the lake," Jabbour said.

Eric Evenson, district administrator for the MCWD, said the watershed district will spend $250,000 on installing 2,725 feet of rip rap, and $80,000 on wetland re-vegetation.

Out of its budget, the MCWD will pay the city of Orono $8,000 for removal of debris and junk out of wetland areas. The watershed district also will consider levying more money for wetland revitalization, he said.

"I'm really excited about this, this whole thing that Orono's doing. Pretty exciting stuff," Evenson said.

He said as far as MCWD projects go, this is one of the more visible ones, and one other people tend to get excited about compared to some of the agency's other projects.

"People just don't get excited about stormwater retention ponds," he said.

Part of the rip rap will be done by the end of February, said MCWD Projects Manager Renae Clark.

The city hopes to have its portion done by ice-out.

Evenson said he thinks it incredible that Jabbour is able to do much of the work on the island by himself.

"I wish more people would step up to the plate and say, 'Hey, I'll take care of this for you,'" Evenson said.

White said the city plans to pay for the dock, rip rap and bathrooms out of the city's park dedication fund. He said he doesn't expect to spend more than double what the city's already decided to spend there.

"The biggest problem was just making sure we had everything cleared out of there that was hazardous," White said.

Big Island Park is located on the western side of Big Island.

Other parts of the island are used as a bird sanctuary and by private land owners.

The city's dock would be handicap accessible and allow for the steamboat Minnehaha to dock there.

The steamboat once took passengers out to the Big Island Amusement Park, until the amusement park closed in 1911.