Note: The information for this  page was gathered from a letter written by Butch Sommers  in September of 1997

The earliest record of conservation efforts concerning Spring Brook are from the early to mid-1970’s.  At this time, Spring Brook was not well known as a trout stream in the Cannon River region.  During the late 1970’s, the property around Spring Brook was being pursued as a potential site for gravel mining.  At this time, St. Olaf College owned the property, and was interested in selling the land for that purpose. 

The news of this potential sale spread rapidly through the area.  Individuals who frequently visited or fished for brook trout in Spring Brook became concerned that the gravel mining operation would impair the unique stream.  With the belief that the stream was too precious to lose, Northfield resident Butch Sommers contacted the DNR fisheries department in Waterville to see what the State could do to prevent the mining of gravel around Spring Brook. 

After walking the stream and surveying the trout population, the DNR labeled the stream as a “primitive brook trout stream” for a ¼ mile stretch.  This finding encouraged the DNR to seek “easement rights” to the stream, which would enable them to manage the stream to increase brook trout numbers and angling opportunities for the public.  All property owners of Spring Brook agreed to allow the DNR to acquire their piece of the property, except for St. Olaf.  The college refused to allow the DNR to acquire their land and continued with their plans to sell the property to gravel mining operations.  Nonetheless, the cost to acquire the easements for Spring Brook was $16,000, which proved to be too expensive to fit into the DNR budget.

On December 11, 1976, a public hearing was held to discuss the impacts gravel mining may have on Spring Brook.  About 60 concerned individuals, mostly trout fisherman and/or Spring Brook landowners, expressed their opposition to the gravel mining and forced the interested developers to prepare an environmental assessment of their proposed operations.  Many more public hearings followed the release of the environmental assessment.  The city council believed the report prepared by the mining industries contained too many uncertainties, and opposed the permit to mine the area.

The inability of the DNR to secure the necessary easements led Sommers to call a couple of Carleton College professors who also frequented the stream and appreciated its rare trout population.  Surprisingly, the professors were able to accomplish what the DNR could not, convincing St. Olaf to terminate its talks with the gravel mining operation. 

The fate of the Spring Brook property was decided on August 5, 1976.  St. Olaf announced that they had sold the land to the Prawer family, who were advised about the rare stream by the DNR.  The family has done an excellent job preserving their part of the stream.  The property is stilled owned by the Prawer family today.

Photo: Meandering reach on Spring Brook (Jeff Jasperson)