THE PLAN

Scroll down to learn about Bdé Psíŋ - Lake Hiawatha

Pumping 400 million gallons of polluted water into the Lake every year is not sustainable or practical. We must adapt and change to restore ecological integrity and achieve climate resilience in our watershed.

The golf course was built in a floodplain over an ancient wetland which provided sustenance for Dakota and other Indigenous Peoples for millennia. The course has subsided dramatically over the ninety years of its existence. Eventually this necessitated the massive pumping operation which the MPRB implemented in the 1990’s to keep the sinking golf course in operation. Pumping increases subsidence of the land which in turn results in the need for greater volumes of pumping.

These two photos were taken from approximately the same location on Hiawatha Golf Course near the western shore of Bdé Psíŋ - Lake Hiawatha. The left photo is from 1975, and the right photo was taken in 2022.

FROM THE MPBR

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) Commissioners approved the Hiawatha Golf Course Master Plan at their regular Board meeting on Sept. 7, 2022 by a veto proof majority 6-3.

  • “Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board approves Hiawatha Golf Course Master Plan

    Long-term plan outlines transition from 18-hole course to 9-hole course with reduced groundwater pumping, improved ecology and water management, and expanded trails and winter recreation opportunities

    Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) Commissioners approved the Hiawatha Golf Course Master Plan at their regular Board meeting on Sept. 7, 2022.

    The long-term plan outlines transitioning the course from its current 18-hole configuration to 9 holes with reduced groundwater pumping, improved ecology and water management, and expanded trails and recreation opportunities. In addition to the 9-hole course, the plan includes a driving range and practice facilities that are aimed at introducing new players to the sport in an unintimidating and welcoming space, and interpretive information and exposing visitors to the rich history of Black golfers at the course.

    MPRB staff and outside experts studied conditions at Hiawatha Golf Course as part of an effort to create a sustainable plan for the course following catastrophic flooding in 2014. A Community Advisory Committee (CAC) was formed in 2018 to make recommendations for the new Hiawatha Golf Course Master Plan. The CAC concluded its work in December 2019 and a draft plan was published for public comments in 2020.

    The plan did not pass a vote by Park Commissioners in July 2021, but a related measure that renamed the clubhouse after renowned Black golfer Solomon Hughes, Sr. did pass. New signage and exhibits celebrating Black golfers at Hiawatha and in Minneapolis were installed in 2022.

    The Hiawatha Golf Course Master Plan will guide long-term improvements at the course, same as all MPRB properties are guided by community-vetted and Park Commissioner-approved Master Plans. Currently there are no funds allocated toward the changes outlined in the plan and the course will remain at 18 holes until funding is secured.”

ENGAGE WITH THE MPBR

Open time information and contact emails

  • Here’s information on how to sign up for speaking at Open Time:

    You must submit a request to speak before noon the day of the meeting. you can also sign up to speak before the meeting starts. The following website link has the request details and link for requesting to speak:

    https://www.minneapolisparks.org/about-us/leadership-and-structure/board-meetings/

    OR you can also email your comments by Noon day of the meeting, but they will not be read aloud at the meeting. They will be added to the record and given in printed form to commissioners at the meeting. To submit comments to open time send your message in the form of an an email to OpenTime@minneapolisparks.org.

  • PUBLIC MEETING ADDRESS: Mary Merril MPRB Headquarters 2117 West River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55411

    If you are driving we recommend you give yourself plenty of time to get there because of traffic at that time. “Open Time” usually starts at 5:30 pm.  Members of the public get 1-3 minutes to speak before the board. On a busy night expect a one-minute limit.

  • Send an email at anytime to our 9 Park commissioners.

    crucker@minneapolisparks.org
    bthompson@minneapolisparks.org
    cabene@minneapolisparks.org
    balper@minneapolisparks.org
    mforney@minneapolisparks.org
    bmenz@minneapolisparks.org
    smusich@minneapolisparks.org
    tolsen@minneapolisparks.org
    eshaffer@minneapolisparks.org

    CC:
    jacob.frey@minneapolismn.gov
    abangoura@minneapolisparks.org

Beginning in the 1920’s, Rice Lake (now called Bdé Psíŋ - Lake Hiawatha) suffered under the hubris of the MPRB, which continues to this day. But the MPRB has the opportunity to do something different now, by supporting the Hiawatha Masterplan.

From 1929 to 1938, In a continuation of the genocidal doctrine of Manifest Destiny, the MPRB destroyed all traces of the wetlands and habitat of Rice Lake eliminating food and medicine sources for Dakota Peoples, including wild rice (Psin). The MPRB believed they could control nature by filling in wetlands, and channelizing the waters. They built systems which dumped untreated pollution into the watershed and pumped hundreds of millions of gallons of polluted water creating the unsafe conditions we see today at Bdé Psíŋ - Lake Hiawatha. The problems this hubris created continue unabated. This is the foundation upon which Hiawatha Golf Course is built and our reckoning has arrived as the ecology reaches its breaking point. 10,000 pounds of plastic trash removed from the Lake by Friends of Lake Hiawatha has not scratched the surface. The Park Board and City of Minneapolis are now discharging 1,000 pounds of phosphorus pollution into the impaired Lake from untreated stormwater and golf course pumping every year. 

The Lake has received a historic designation through The Cultural Landscape Foundation. It is also a part of Bdote the sacred homeland and birthplace of Dakota Peoples. It is connected to a larger watershed including the Mississippi River and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico. Rice Lake originally cleaned the waters that flow downstream by wetland filtration just a few miles before the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. The Lake will do this again, if protected and restored.  

Like Bdé Psíŋ - Lake Hiawatha, Hiawatha Golf Course has historical significance. Black Community leaders fought persistently to successfully desegregate this and other Minneapolis golf courses. In 1931 Black golfer Jimmie Slemmens formed the TCGC Twin Cities Golf Club/Association with the purpose of desegregating golf. Professional golfer Solomon R Hughes, after whom the Hiawatha clubhouse is now named, participated with other national Black golf figures in an effort to integrate the PGA. This was part of an organized local and national campaign, led by Black Community Leaders, to desegregate golf courses, clubhouses and tournaments. Under pressure from the Spokesman Recorder and TCGC, the Minneapolis Park Board finally mandated full desegregation of all of Minneapolis golf courses in 1952. The PGA was finally desegregated in 1961. Hiawatha Golf Course has hosted the Bronze Tournament numerous times going back to 1968. Some highlights of Hiawatha Golf Course include a visit by greats like The Great Joe Louis and Tiger Woods. Today, a constituency of Black golfers & community members still view the course as a valued community space. This is why we support the Hiawatha Masterplan which maintains a 9 hole golf course and celebrates the place’s history. The course can continue to host youth tournaments and the First Tee Program. 

The solution is not to repeat the mistakes of the past by perpetuating the hubris that the MPRB embodies in the despoliation of Rice Lake. The answer is not to assert even tighter control over our natural systems. The solution is to restore natural function to the floodplain, to restore adaptivity and resilience to face the worsening climate crisis. Despite the challenges we can still maintain historic Hiawatha Golf Course and celebrate the history of Black golfers by elevating 9 holes above the ten year flood elevation and simultaneously restoring natural function to the floodplain. We can also meet the needs of all the stakeholders, not just golfers. The community has been asking the MPRB and the City of Minneapolis to address their pollution of Bdé Psíŋ - Lake Hiawatha for eight years and despite knowing they are in violation of environmental law, they have regarded compliance as a political decision rather than as a legal obligation. They have chosen inaction and delay as conditions worsen.

We support the Hiawatha masterplan compromise because it makes Bdé Psíŋ - Lake Hiawatha and Hiawatha Golf Course sustainable for future generations.

We will oppose any alternative plan that: 

ALTERNATIVE PLANS

Friends of Bdé Psíŋ - Lake Hiawatha supports the Hiawatha Masterplan compromise.

  • The flow of Minnehaha Creek is critical to the survival of The Lake’s abundant aquatic life and the fragile food web they are part of. These are federally protected waters of the United States. It is unlawful and unethical to separate Minnehaha Creek from Bdé Psíŋ - Lake Hiawatha.

  • This would be a massive disruption to the fragile ecology of our most biodiverse lake. 

  • More than 250 species of animals have been observed at the Lake making it our most biodiverse lake. The Lake Delta Habitat is the last remaining refuge for wildlife in our area and includes endangered, threatened and vulnerable species.

  • Friends of Bdé Psíŋ - Lake Hiawatha have worked for years to restore biodiversity and health to the Delta in partnership with our Dakota friends, carefully restoring plant foods and medicines that were eliminated from this area. 

  • It is unethical to foist our pollution onto downstream communities. 

  • It is unethical to worsen flood risks for downstream communities by channelization of the Creek and/or by disconnecting the Lake from the watershed. The Hiawatha Masterplan will protect homes to the same extent they are protected today.

  • The Lake’s resident beaver family could overwhelm a tightly controlled system such as this, necessitating the trapping and killing of resident beavers. 

    The Friends of Bdé Psíŋ - Lake Hiawatha, along with neighbors, and community members participated in the years-long masterplanning process to ensure that the Hiawatha Masterplan did none of the above things. 

    We believe it is no longer feasible or practical to maintain 18 holes of golf at Hiawatha. We cannot continue to pump hundreds of millions of gallons of polluted water out of the floodplain and into our watershed year after year. As the golf course continues to sink, the likelihood of failure increases.