DNR picks firm for Mud Lake restoration on St. Louis River
GEI Consultants will oversee Mud Lake’s rebuild on the St. Louis River, a step toward a new channel, bridge and wetland work tied to the cleanup clock.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has picked GEI Consultants to handle construction engineering and contract administration for the Mud Lake habitat restoration project in Duluth. GEI will provide full-time oversight as crews prepare to create a new channel, new deep-water habitat and marshes, remove a concrete structure and install a new 50-foot bridge.
The work is part of the larger St. Louis River Estuary restoration effort. The effort will improve hydrologic connectivity, reestablish deep-water habitat, reduce invasive species and enhance coastal wetland habitat at Mud Lake. The estuary stretches across 12,000 acres and is the largest freshwater estuary in North America, a system altered by 150 years of dredging, shoreline development and contamination.
The St. Louis River was designated an Area of Concern in 1987 under the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Mud Lake is expected to be the final Minnesota-side project needed to help remove the estuary from the federal Areas of Concern list. The St. Louis River Alliance put the Minnesota DNR's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative award for the Mud Lake habitat work at $12.28 million.
The environmental review moved forward in 2025. The DNR published the environmental assessment worksheet notice on April 22, 2025, after a public comment period that ran from April 15 through 4:30 p.m. May 22. On July 3, 2025, the agency issued a record of decision concluding that an environmental impact statement was not required.
Mud Lake is Phase 8 of the St. Louis River Restoration Initiative and has a goal of restoring and enhancing 30 acres and 5,000 feet of priority habitat, with emphasis on warm-water fish and migratory bird habitat. In July 2024, the project was halfway through design and planned for 2025 construction. GEI will provide full-time construction oversight. The project is expected to begin in 2026 and continue for two years.
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