You might not know it if you didn’t look for the signs down by the river, but early last summer Northfield experienced record-setting flooding. Just after most students left for the summer, Minnesota was deluged with rain. Over 10 inches of rain fell in the watershed, flooding the Cannon to a record 901.52ft above sea level. This beat 2010’s record crest of 901.5ft and was the third 100-year flood Northfield has had in fifteen years. (KYMN)

And yet, downtown, campus and the arboretum escaped with relatively little damage, largely because of changes after the 2010 flood. Facilities set up flood gates at Laird Stadium and West Gym, and security blocked off the parking lots in the floodplain. The athletic fields were covered with silt deposited from the river and there was bank erosion throughout the arb, but these are natural processes for a river like the Cannon. The old tennis courts in the arb were removed after the 2010 flood because of the cost to repair them after every major flood. Where they used to be is a large grassy field by the West Gym arb entrance, which already shows few signs of the flood.

Perhaps the one natural casualty of the floods was the beaver dams near Bell Field that washed out, displacing the beloved campus wildlife. However, there are reports they’ve already been spotted back in the Lyman Lakes and Retention Pond. Other flood evidence in the arboretum, such as debris caught in low tree branches and piles of silt around the floodplain, are already fading as nature takes its course. Although the school is hard at work repairing the West gym fields, the arb has been blooming with life from shortly after the water receded. Keeping floodplains in a natural state doesn’t just prevent damage to buildings, it also helps recharge

groundwater, creates habitat and soften flood impacts on the rest of the river.