The Brown's Creek Watershed District has taken an active role in protecting and restoring Brown’s Creek, one of the few remaining designated trout streams in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. Located in the state’s smallest watershed, Brown’s Creek stretches from the large wetland complexes located in the northern portion of the watershed through a landscape dominated by rural development and hobby farms to the more urban portion of the system where it traverses a steep, heavily wooded ravine before entering the St. Croix River.
Current Projects
Brown's Creek Restoration - BCWD has identified a couple stretches of Brown's Creek for restoration. The first phase was completed through Brown's Creek Park in 2025 and work is expected to begin on the next phase through Brown's Creek Cove in 2026.
Unique Species of Brown's Creek
Brown's Creek Watershed District is an amazing place for many unique species! Below are some resources to highlight just a few that can be found in the headwaters, middle reach, and gorge areas of Brown's Creek. We also worked with several local artists to help us tell their stories in 2025 through the Water Where We Live exhibit.
BCWD conducted a Unique Species Inventory (PDF) in 2015 to assess the quantity and quality of natural habitat in the watershed. The goal was to better characterize the flora and fauna found in the Brown’s Creek corridor so that watershed management decisions could be made taking the ecological health of the entire system into consideration.
Brown’s Creek watershed can be broken into unique landforms (areas that have very different qualities due to geologic and topographic features):
- Headwaters Region of Brown's Creek: This area includes the northern portion of the watershed from Minnesota State Highway 96 to the Goggins-School Section Chain-of-Lakes.
- Middle Reach of Brown's Creek: This area includes the Brown’s Creek corridor in the central portion of the watershed south of Highway 96 to County Road 5.
- Gorge Region of Brown's Creek: This area includes the Brown’s Creek corridor and its drainage area downstream of County Road 5 to the St. Croix River.
Completed Projects
Brown's Creek Watershed District has been successful in implementing many projects that benefit Brown's Creek and its tributaries, many of which Clean Water Fund grants were obtained for:
- 2018 and 2021 Tributary Restoration Projects
- 2019 Watershed Based Funding Metro - Brown's Creek Riparian Restoration
- 2019 Clean Water Fund Grant - Oak Glen Golf Course Reuse
- 2017 Clean Water Fund Grant - McKusick Road Stormwater Retrofit
- 2017 Clean Water Fund Grant - Brown's Creek Riparian Shading Accelerated Implementation Grant
- 2015 Clean Water Fund Grant- Brown's Creek BC Trails Park Thermal Reduction Project
- 2014 Clean Water Fund Grant - Thermal Model Accelerated Implementation Grant
- 2013 Flooodplain Restoration -Brown's Creek State Trail
- 2013 Clean Water Fund Grant - Brown's Creek Countryside Water Quality Improvement
- 2013 Clean Water Fund - Brown's Creek Neal Ave Neighborhood Retrofit
- 2012 Clean Water Fund - McKusick Lake Iron Enhanced Sand Filter Project
- 2011 Clean Water Fund Grant - Brown's Creek Oak Glen Golf Course Water Quality Improvement
- 2010 Clean Water Fund Grant - Brown's Creek Stillwater Country Club Water Quality Improvement