Last updated: December 11, 2024
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Waabizheshikana: The Marten Trail
In the ongoing work of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), the NPS Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program (RTCA) has been instrumental as a partner in helping support “activation” of spaces for recreation as restoration and remediation efforts take place.
Through a unique cooperative effort with the EPA and the City of Duluth, Minnesota, the Midwest Region of RTCA is currently providing technical assistance to a trails effort along the St. Louis River Estuary. This effort is called Waabizheshikana, or the Marten Trail.
(Waabizheshikana [waa-bah-zhay-shay-kuh-nuh]
“We’ve got a great project with several components,” said Cliff Knettel, Assistant Manager of the City of Duluth – Parks and Recreation department. “We’re connecting people back to the River and providing opportunities for folks to recreate on the Estuary again.”
For many years the St. Louis River Estuary, which empties into Lake Superior, was the home of heavy industry including metalworks, shipyards, appliance and furniture factories, lumber mills, and the US Steel Duluth Works. While providing jobs for many generations of Duluthians, who often lived in company towns such as Riverside and Morgan Park, these industries were heavy polluters. After decades the St. Louis River, which forms the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin in this area, was seriously impaired by pollutants and debris that decimated fish and wildlife habitat and populations, clogged water channels, and contaminated water and soil with heavy metals and other toxic materials.
In 1987 the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement created 31 Areas of Concern (AOC), locations with human-caused environmental changes in the chemical, physical or biological integrity of the Great Lakes system. The St. Louis River is the second largest U.S.-based AOC, with many impacts including degraded fish and wildlife habitat and declining populations; restrictions on fish, wildlife and drinking water consumption; and restricted access to beaches.
Under the GLRI, established in 2010, the St. Louis River AOC has had extensive remediation and cleanup work involving federal, state, local and tribal efforts. The objectives are to delist the river from its AOC designation while improving river health and access for both people and wildlife, increase outdoor recreation opportunities, and provide an economic boost to the area.
(Courtesy of EPA)
The NPS Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program became involved in the St. Louis River AOC cleanup effort in 2022. Under a unique collaboration, the GLRI is supporting the provision of technical assistance from the National Park Service via RTCA Community Planner Chris Morgan. Among other Great Lakes projects, Morgan, who is officed with the City of Duluth, is providing technical assistance for Waabizheshikana: The Marten Trail, an existing 3.3- mile trail.
Morgan has worked closely with the City of Duluth on their efforts to expand and improve park and trail spaces near historically disadvantaged neighborhoods located along the St. Louis River.
Waabizheshikana dates to the 1980s, when it was known as the Western Waterfront Trail. The City of Duluth built the roughly three-mile trail along the shores of the St. Louis River, some of which is an abandoned rail corridor. The trail was renamed Waabizheshikana: The Marten Trail in 2019 to honor the heritage of the Marten Clan of the Lake Superior Ojibwe. The trail corridor, which is partially shared with the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railroad, is being renovated and expanded in phased segments using funding from GLRI, the State of Minnesota, the City of Duluth, The Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR), and US Steel. At completion, Waabizheshikana will extend 10 miles along the river corridor. The long-term vision is to ultimately include gathering spaces, including an outdoor classroom and Indigenous ceremony space at Munger Landing.
Knettel said the City of Duluth bought land along the riverfront several years ago to allow for public access to the river. In July 2024, Duluth celebrated the opening of a new waterfront recreation area in the Morgan Park neighborhood, part of the Spirit Lake Remediation Project. Morgan Park was once the site of US Steel’s Duluth Works, a coking and mill operation, and is a Superfund site. The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that 60% of the work necessary to delist the River’s AOC status has now been completed and is on track to be de-listed by 2030. Perhaps most importantly, the area along Spirit Lake is now considered healthy enough for swimming, boating and fishing.
“Waabizheshikana: The Marten Trail is a unique example of the cooperative efforts between the EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and RTCA,” said David Thomson, Regional Program Manager for the Midwest Region of RTCA.
When completed, Waabizheshikana: The Marten Trail will connect isolated neighborhoods located along the western waterfront of the St. Louis River, such as Morgan Park, Irving, Fairmount, Norton Park, Riverside, Smithville, Gary-New Duluth, and Fond du Lac. Historically, these were working-class “company towns.” Now part of West Duluth, Waabizheshikana will provide an active transportation alternative for residents in these neighborhoods. The trail will end at Chambers Grove Park in Fond du Lac, near Jay Cooke State Park.
“Morgan Park is seeing a lot of use and people are super excited about (the trail),” Knettel said.
The City of Duluth is acting on an "impressive vision to connect disadvantaged communities," by providing a way for people to bike or walk to other areas, said RTCA’s Thomson.
Duluth completed two development plans on Waabizheshikana, and consulted with the local Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa on an extensive interpretive plan for the trail that will honor the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) people’s ties with the river. Signage will also include representation of the Dakota people, whose presence in the area predates the Ojibwe. Other elements of the interpretive plan seek to voice the untold stories and culture of many overlooked people who lived and worked in West Duluth, including women, Native Americans, immigrants, Black Americans and those of mixed ancestry.
“The local tribe members, particularly the elders of the Ojibwe Fond du Lac band, have been invaluable to the interpretive plan process,” Knettel said. He noted that the process involved considering both folklore and language, two elements that can be nuanced and vary in perspective.
Planned interpretive elements include story poles made from steel and decorated with diverse plants and animals native to the St. Louis River Estuary; waypoint cairns made from natural and industrial materials; concrete images of animal prints and plant patterns; and freestanding signs marking points of interest on the trail.
(Graphic: Waabizheshikana Interpretive Plan)
(Courtesy Midwest Region of RTCA)
RTCA’s Morgan has been involved in consultation with approximately 20 Native American tribes on the construction of two Waabizheshikana segments.
“While the northern segments of the trail exist, we’re filling in segments one and two,” Morgan said. These should be completed in 2025. “We’re in the stage of reviewing trail details, doing tribal consultation, and completing cultural and environmental compliance. We follow federal processes and will be particularly cautious if any artifacts are found.”
The project is under the auspices of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act which requires a two-part cultural and historical review of the possible impacts of any work. In the “desk review” component, a cultural review was done on the Marten Trail to determine if things like structures or historical sites were likely to be negatively impacted.
“Indian Point is a place of interest,” Knettel said. “Native Americans congregated there but their settlements may not have actually been there.” Further testing and results are expected this fall.
As phased cleanup work continues on the St. Louis River Estuary, along with development of Waabizheshikana, RTCA and the City of Duluth have been coordinating outdoor recreation activities in nearby neighborhoods. “Once the EPA and their partners clean up an area, we want to help make it an actively enjoyable space for residents who have historically shied away from nearby waters,” based on unsafe access or tainted water, Morgan said.
The recreation focus includes programming for disadvantaged families and youth. “We’re doing a three-year program offering all-season recreation opportunities,” Knettel said, including hiking, canoeing, snowshoeing, and fishing. All equipment, transportation, and instruction is being provided by the City of Duluth for the neighborhoods near the AOC. For example, kids in Duluth have been able to learn more about the St. Louis River and gain paddling skills thanks to partnerships the City has formed with local guide outfitters, as well as a floating classroom “Canoemobile.”
“We couldn’t do it without RTCA assistance and GLRI funding,” he said. The St. Louis River Alliance has also partnered with the City of Duluth on educational programming.
According to Knettel, the City has contributed $500,000 from its parks capital fund and has received a total of approximately $5 million from other partners. In 2022, Waabizheshikana was designated as a Regionally Significant trail by the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission (GMRPTC), which allowed the City of Duluth to receive a $1.4 million grant through the Parks and Trails Legacy Fund of the GMRPTC. To date, the City has also received $1.6 million from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
The grand vision for Waabizheshikana is a completed 10-mile trail that will provide access to restored water areas and better connect riverside neighborhoods. The trail “has been planned for a long time, since the 1980s,” Knettel said. “Now it’s happening, and people are excited.
(Courtesy of Duluth Parks & Recreation)