South ST Louis Soil & Water Conservation District

South ST Louis Soil & Water Conservation District, doing business as ST Louis County Soil & Water, is a local government entity headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota that acts as a prime recipient of federal environmental grants focused on aquatic habitat restoration and stream rehabilitation in the Great Lakes region. The district operates entirely in the federal grant space (no federal contracts) and competes in full-and-open funding mechanisms rather than SBA set-asides.

The district's capability portfolio centers on the design, permitting, and implementation of cold-water stream restoration projects, including culvert removal and replacement, floodplain reconnection, native vegetation planting, and habitat connectivity work to benefit native fish populations. Representative work includes a $1.35 million Cooperative Agreement from EPA Region 5 under the Geographic Programs — Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (CFDA 66.469), awarded October 1, 2026, for aquatic connectivity restoration on Coffee Creek, a Lake Superior tributary in Duluth, covering engineering design, environmental review, culvert removal and replacement, substrate installation, floodplain reconnection, and site stabilization with anticipated reconnection of 1.4 miles of cold-water habitat and improved thermal refugia access for brook trout. The district also holds an $860,000 Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Coastal Program (CFDA 15.630), awarded May 1, 2024, for restoration of Kingsbury Creek, a trout stream in Proctor, Minnesota, involving channel reshaping, native vegetation planting, and floodplain construction. Earlier work included a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Project Grant (awarded March 4, 2022) for Miller Creek restoration of a ditched trout stream.

Customer concentration aligns tightly with Great Lakes and regional water agencies. The top five funding agencies account for 100% of recent awards, led by the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 3 (3 awards), EPA Region 5 (2 awards), with the Department of Agriculture Forest Service R9-Eastern Region, the Department of Agriculture National Resources Conservation Service, and the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service each holding one award. Recent sub-recipient activity includes work on Chalberg Creek restoration (prime grantee: National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, March 25, 2025), Amity Creek restoration and protection (prime grantee: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, May 16, 2024), and Kingsbury Creek restoration (prime grantee: Great Lakes Commission, September 28, 2023), where the district executes implementation activities under partner oversight. Activity is sparse but steady — one award per year from 2022 to 2023, then two awards in 2024 and one each in 2025 and 2026 — with combined dollars obligated across all awards totaling $3.4 million over the source period.