South ST Louis Soil & Water Conservation District

South ST Louis Soil & Water Conservation District, doing business as ST Louis County Soil & Water, is a U.S. local government entity (county-based conservation district) headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota, that serves as a prime recipient on federal environmental restoration grants and a sub-recipient on Great Lakes and cold-water stream habitat projects funded by the EPA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Department of Agriculture.

The district operates exclusively in the federal grant space rather than contract competition. Prime grant awards account for 63% of recent activity (5 of 8 awards), with sub-awards making up the remainder. The district's capability portfolio centers on stream restoration engineering, culvert removal and replacement, floodplain reconnection, habitat improvement for native trout species, and permitting and environmental compliance across cold-water tributaries and stream systems in the Duluth, Minnesota area and the broader Great Lakes region. Two named examples illustrate the scope: a $1.35 million Cooperative Agreement from EPA Region 5 (awarded October 1, 2026, under the Geographic Programs — Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, CFDA 66.469) to design and implement removal of two barrier culverts and replacement of one with a stream-simulation crossing on Coffee Creek, a cold-water tributary to Lake Superior, with final deliverables including final design documents, as-built documentation, and reconnection of approximately 1.4 miles of upstream habitat running through September 30, 2029; and an $860,000 Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program (CFDA 15.630, awarded May 1, 2024) to restore Kingsbury Creek in Proctor, Minnesota, including stream channel reshaping, native vegetation planting, and floodplain construction, completing September 30, 2027.

Customer concentration is narrow and regionally focused. The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 3 accounts for three awards; EPA Region 5 for two; and the Department of Agriculture Forest Service and NRCS for one each, covering 100% of recent activity. Combined dollars obligated across all eight awards total $3.4 million. In its sub-recipient role, the district participates in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative projects managed by the Great Lakes Commission, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, with recent sub-awards addressing culvert installation and floodplain restoration at Chalberg Creek (awarded March 25, 2025 under NFWF prime), turbidity and geomorphic restoration at Amity Creek (awarded May 16, 2024 under Minnesota PCA prime), and sediment reduction at Kingsbury Creek (awarded September 28, 2023 under Great Lakes Commission prime). Activity is modest and episodic — one award per year in 2022 and 2023, two in 2024, one in 2025, and one in 2026 — with no federal contract vehicles or contract prime positions in the source data.