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July 2, 1999
Canoeing theCottonwoodFlotilla participants discoverriver's beauty, potentialBy KEVIN SWEENEY Journal Editor NEW ULM -- You don't have to go far to get away from it all. Just a few minutes from New Ulm is a place where you can paddle a canoe quietly for hours, listen to the ripple of the water and the cry of the birds, and drift with the current as you watch an eagle soar overhead. The Cottonwood River. Who knew? The folks at the Redwood/Cottonwood River Control Area (RCRCA) knew, that's who. Thursday they organized a float down the river, from a public access area a few miles south of Essig to Flandrau State Park. About two dozen canoes, carrying two or three people each (or a man and his dog, in one case) participated in the float. On a lovely afternoon -- not too hot, not too sunny, not too cloudy, and NO BUGS -- the flotilla stretched along the river as it bent and twisted its way through the county. Thanks to those bends and twists, and the heavily wooded shores and banks along the river, you couldn't see more than two or three canoes ahead or behind. In fact, for the most part you couldn't see any sign of civilization. No sign that just up those banks and beyond the trees were fields of corn and soybeans, criss-crossed by roads leading to nearby farms. With just a little imagination, you could believe that the wilderness extended for miles. The Cottonwood's current moves at an easy pace, with just enough rough water here and there to give a beginning canoer a bit of adrenaline rush. The river, thanks to last week's rains, is high enough to cover most of the rocks, which lurk below like upside-down aquatic potholes, ready to thump the bottom of the canoe that passes over them. But it is a shallow river, so anyone who gets hung up on a rock or sandbar, or takes a spill, can usually stand up and get going again. Bob Finley of the RCRCA said the purpose of the trip was to build awareness of the river among people who live nearby. RCRCA is a local joint powers organization that includes eight counties (including Brown) and eight Soil and Water Conservation Districts that make up the watershed of the Cottonwood and Redwood rivers. RCRCA gathers information about the river to help identify sources of pollution and develop plans to preserve and improve the rivers. Right now the Cottonwood River carries a fairly high sediment, said Finley. A lot of the sediment comes from erosion on the high banks along the lower part of the river, before it joins with the Minnesota River at New Ulm, but RCRCA has also identified high levels of sediment from tributaries coming into the river farther upstream. The agency has also seen high levels of phosphorus, though nitrogen levels have been good. "In general, the river is pretty healthy," said Finley. "There is a pretty healthy fish population." The RCRCA is working with its counties and SWCDs to come up with projects within the watershed to improve the river's condition. Part of that work is to involve the communities and the general public, to make them familiar with the river and its potential as a recreation area. The river starts in Lyon County south of Marshall and wends its way 147 miles or so mostly through farmland to New Ulm. Along the way there are access areas where a person can get on the river and canoe with the current. The route taken by Thursday's group is an easy one. You can put your canoe in the river at a public canoe access on Brown County Road 11, south of Essig and just past the entrance to the county landfill. It takes about 3 1/2 hours for a leisurely float to Flandrau State Park, or to a public access point where Highway 15 crosses the river in New Ulm.
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