**UPDATE -The next public meeting with the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board about the future of the Hiawatha Golf Course will be held on May 18, 2017. Time and place to be determined. Stay tuned. **
**UPDATE -It is still possible that the DNR will make the high volume pumping permit for the MPRB at Hiawatha permanent and allow a full 18 hole golf course to remain on the site. The MPRB has contracted with Barr Engineering to determine whether and how such pumping might be accomplished. The report from Barr has not been completed as of the moment. Assistant Superintendent Schroeder indicated at the last meeting on the issue that such is unlikely to happen, but with the current MPRB Commissioners anything is possible when it comes to maintaining the status quo.**
Lake Hiawatha and the adjacent golf course in South Minneapolis have been a controversial center piece of the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board (MPRB) award winning park system since its inception in the 1800’s. Early on, the MPRB advocated eliminating the lake, then known to European settlers as Mud Lake, or the more enticing Rice Lake. The controversial plan would have dammed the outflow to Minnehaha Creek and diverted the water to Lake Nokomis to maintain supply to Minnehaha Falls. That plan was never implemented. The shallow lake was purchased by MPRB in 1922 and renamed Lake Hiawatha in 1925. A mere 4 years later, the MPRB began construction of the Hiawatha Golf Course. The project included dredging the shallow lake to allow better drainage of the golf course built on former wetlands. The course opened to the public in 1934 and was a popular Depression era venue for the people of Minneapolis. From the outset, keeping the course dry enough for golf was a problem. Flooding of the course has been exacerbated over the decades as the ground as sunk to such an extent that much of the lowland areas are well below the level of Lake Nokomis. As a result, the volume of water pumped from the golf course continues to increase year after year. So much so, that by 2015 the amount of water pumped from the course far exceeded that permitted by the DNR. Historically, keeping the course dry has proved such a problem that the Hiawatha Golf Course averaged only 47% practical use over its lifetime. In 2016, the DNR has indicated that the provisional permit to allow MPRB to exceed the water pumping limit will not be renewed and the Board has been investigating alternative uses ever since. At the April 20, 2017 public meeting about the future of the golf course, Assistant Superintendent Michael Schroeder informed us that without the provisional permit, the MPRB cannot maintain an 18 hole golf course at the location. Alternative uses must be found.
One of the more ecologically sustainable and economically sane ideas for the former golf course is to create a Food Forest on the land. Ideally, the low-lying areas would be allowed to return to a wetland and the highland areas would be planted with pollinator habitat, a variety of berries, fruit and nut trees, as well as edible and medicinal plants and herbs. Food forest design would be based on permaculture principles of diversity, stability, and resilience using the natural systems of the native land. The challenge of growing a food forest in an urban area has been solved by a number of other cities, notably Beacon Food Forest in Seattle, WA. Given the stature and resources of the MPRB, design, growth, and maintenance of the Hiawatha Food Forest would be quite successful. Members of the community around the Hiawatha site have organized a public interest group to advocate for the idea. Listen to Ryan Seibold summarize the proposal:
The Hiawatha Food Forest would be a tremendous resource for the natural ecosystems, including Minnehaha Creek as well as Lakes Hiawatha and Nokomis, because the restored wetlands would help improve the water quality and encourage wildlife to return to the area. At the moment, storm sewers empty into Lake Hiawatha and dump a large amount of garbage in it. Local artist, Sean Connaughty, has been creating art from and about the garbage he has collected from the lake over the years. Even with a healthy food forest in place, it will be necessary to prevent these items from depositing in the lake. Even so, the educational and food innovation benefits of the proposed Hiawatha Food Forest would vastly outweigh the cost of pre-filtering the storm water before it enters the lake and wetland. Regardless of what the MPRB ultimately decides to do with the Hiawatha Golf Course land, handling storm water will be a big part of the project. Not only to prevent garbage from collecting in the lake, but also to prevent basement flooding and seepage in nearby homes. Clearly, the less money spent on rebuilding and maintaining the site, the more that will be available for storm water remediation. The Hiawatha Golf Course has not been profitable since the 1940’s and as golf loses popularity every year, while the cost of pumping water increases, the expense of maintaining a golf course, whether 3, 9, or 18 holes, is unsustainable. On the other hand, once installed a food forest requires little in the way of maintenance. If the site includes food preparation, educational, and regenerative programs, these could offset the costs of keeping up the food forest. But public parks and green space is not all about cash flow and the bottom line. Listen to Valentine Cadieux describe the cultural, societal, and personal enrichment that growing edible landscapes can and will provide: