Last fall, Minnesota DNR biologists looked at 69 road crossings on 38 North Shore streams to determine if culverts and bridges were presenting barriers to fish migrating upstream from Lake Superior to spawn. Low water levels prevail in the fall, so the lip of a concrete culvert or shallow flows through a culvert may prevent fish from swimming upstream. Native brook trout, as well as naturally reproducing chinook, coho, and pink salmon spawn in the fall.

The survey found significant impediments to fish passage at the Highway 61 crossings of of Talmadge Creek, Sucker River, Silver Creek, Onion Creek, and the Devil Track River. Due to the amount of high quality spawning habitat upstrream of the highway, the Devil Track was given the highest priority for improvement. The survey may serve as a planning tools as funding comes available to improve stream crossings along the North Shore.