2018 highlights show commitment to water quality and pollinators
In response to growing concerns over water quality and the decline of pollinators, Great River Greening expanded our work in 2018 to protect Minnesota’s waterways and build diverse habitat for our pollinators.
Thanks to our volunteers, donors and community partners, we:
Restored 1,460 acres of public land and put 2,200 acres of agricultural land into conservation practices to decrease erosion, restore wildlife habitat, and safeguard ground and surface water.
Hosted 58 restoration events, across Minnesota, joined by 2,418 volunteers.
Planted 7,526 trees and 54,118 pollinator-friendly wildflowers and grasses.
Engaged 600+ kids and teens in caring for our natural world.
Safeguarding ground and surface water in Greater MN
SE Minnesota is a new region for GRG. In 2018, we began work on reforesting and restoring prairie in Sunktokeca Wildlife Management Area (WMA): 200 acres of new public land near Faribault.
More restoration of natural areas in the watershed is planned as part of a larger effort by GRG, Trust for Public Land, and Cannon River Watershed Partnership to protect and improve the land and habitat in this fast developing area.
Volunteers worked in the Anoka Sand Plain, a unique and vulnerable ecological region that acts as a critical filter for the aquifer that provides the Twin Cities’ drinking water. They planted 210 mature trees and 7,500 wildflowers and grasses in Carlos Avery WMA and along the Rum River Shoreline that will improve filtering strength of the soil.
In Seven Mile Creek, in St. Peter, GRG continues to lead a partnership of farmers, government, business, and residents in finding environmental solutions in this agriculturally-rich region.
In 2018, we worked with a dozen landowners to use more than 2,200 acres of land to significantly reduce runoff, phosphorous, and nitrogen from their farms. Solutions included installing buffer strips and cover crops, such as rye, turnips and wheat, planted in between rows of corn or soybeans.
Creating habitat for bumble bees & other pollinators
In 20 favorite urban natural areas throughout the metro area, volunteers pulled invasive buckthorn and planted common milkweed, butterfly weed, wild white indigo, lupine and other native species that improve soil conditions and attract butterflies and other pollinators. The sites include:
- Lebanon Hills (Eagan)
- Crosby Farm (Saint Paul)
- Doyle Kennefick (Elko New Market)
- Westwood Hills Nature Center (St. Louis Park)
- Oheyawahe/Pilot Knob (Mendota Heights)
- MN River, near the MN Valley Wildlife Refuge (Bloomington)
- Minnehaha Creek (St. Louis Park)
Kicking off a Pollinator Seed Initiative
An effort to establish seed nurseries for common milkweed, butterfly weed, wild white indigo, lupine and other plants, as a back-up source for native seed shortages
In Woodbury, 75 Volunteers planted 5,000 pollinator-friendly plants in a species-style format, on communal space nearby a school that will also feature education signage.
In Shakopee, Xcel day of service volunteers planted four acres at the Xcel Energy Blue Lake Generating Plant.
Other Initiative site partners include Dodge Nature Center, Dakota County, Xcel Energy, and Washington County. Support is from The Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation.
Connecting kids and teens to the outdoors
Students from Laura Jeffrey Academy spent an afternoon at Hidden Falls in Saint Paul as part of Field Learning for Teens, where they planted pollinator-friendly wildflowers and tested the water for healthy microvertebrates.
28% of the volunteers at our restoration events were youth, including children who come with parents to our family-centric events, and students with teachers and other school groups.
In our Field Learning for Teens Program, 277 teens spent the day in this outdoor classroom focused on introducing and educating youth of color about the science of restoration, green jobs, and the role they can play in caring for the environment.
Thank you to the funders of programs mentioned in this story, including:
FLT: Andersen Corporate Foundation, The Beim Foundation, Capitol Region Watershed District, Ecolab Foundation, Mortenson Family Foundation, Subaru of America Foundation, and Terracon Foundation
Seven Mile Creek and Agricultural Watersheds Program: Clif Bar Family Foundation, McKnight Foundation, New Belgium Brewing Company, and Rahr Corporation.
Feature photo: Doyle-Kennefick is a planned regional park located in Central Scott County that features prairie, wetland, and forest. Great River Greening is restoring it in partnership with Scott County. In 2018, 150 volunteers joined us to plant 5,000 pollinator-friendly wildflowers and grasses. (Credit: Bruce Nimmer)
Community input sought for Pilot Knob/Oheyawahe landscape plan
For immediate release
(January 15, 2019) A modest trail system with two interpretive signs welcomes visitors to Pilot Knob/Oheyawahe, and shares information about this historic blufftop, located in Mendota Heights, that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.
Funded by the American Express Foundation, plans have been drafted to improve the visitor experience as it relates to education and accessibility.
Community input is being sought on these plans, between now and February 20, 2019.
The draft from the steering committee of Pilot Knob Preservation Association, Mendota Heights, and Dakota County can be found here: Oheyawahe_Historic Landscape Plan
If you have questions or comments, leave them below or contact info@pilotknobpreservation.org or Deborah Karasov at dkarasov@greatrivergreening.org.
Once comments are incorporated, the plan will be brought before the Mendota Heights City Council.
More about Pilot Knob/Oheyawahe
It’s relatively rare for a site, rather than a building or structure, to be included on the National Register of Historic Places. But the land is of cultural importance to Native Americans and significant in Minnesota’s statehood. Today it offers dramatic views of both the Minneapolis and Saint Paul skylines. To Dakota people, who called it Oȟéyawahe, “the place much visited”, the location was strategic — as it was for early Europeans. It exists as public land today due to efforts made by the City of Mendota Heights.
In 2003 Mendota Heights owned about 9 acres of Pilot Knob/Oheyawahe and acquired 25 more between 2006 and 2008 using grants and funds from the state, city, county, organizations and individuals.
Efforts to restore the city’s parcel to its pre-European settlement state — prairie with stands of oak trees — began a decade ago, said Wiley Buck, program manager for Great River Greening, a nonprofit that does ecological restoration work.
Buckthorn Burn in Wyoming, MN (CANCELLED)
We’re sorry to announce this, but we have cancelled the event taking place this, Saturday February 9 at Carlos Avery WMA in Wyoming, MN. The site conditions are not safe for volunteers and are not suitable for burning.
Due to these poor site conditions this event will not be rescheduled for this year, but please look for notices next winter for our 2020 Buckthorn Burn!
Community to build a bomb fire from buckthorn
Contact: Mary Anne Welch
Communication Manager
Great River Greening
p. 612-968-0069
mwelch@greatrivergreening.org
Media Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
FEATURE AND PHOTO OP
Invasive buckthorn is the fuel for a bomb fire at a community event in popular Minnesota wildlife management area
(January 10, 2018) Great River Greening volunteers will warm up this winter around a bomb fire of buckthorn, during a community event in the Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area. The 24,000 acres sanctuary of wetlands, forests & prairies, located 40 minutes north of the Twin Cities, is popular among hunters and birders.
- WHAT: Brush Pile Burn
- WHERE: Carlos Avery WMA Sunrise Unit, 6690 East Viking Boulevard, Wyoming, MN, 55092
- WHEN: Saturday, February 9, 2019, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
Sixty volunteers will haul, stack, and burn piles of buckthorn, an invasive plant that chokes out Minnesota’s native plant species and threatens wildlife diversity. It is expected that many of the volunteers will bring their own lunch or marshmallows and roasting sticks to enjoy a meal around the fire.
The event is hosted by Great River Greening, an environmental nonprofit and state leader in community-based restoration. GRG has worked in Carlos Avery and other public lands in the Anoka Sand Plain since 2009, to protect this environmentally sensitive area that filters most of the drinking water for the TwinCities and east-central Minnesota. It also home to 967 Species in Greatest Conservation Need.
This project is made possible with support from Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Outdoor Heritage Fund, and Connexus Energy.
About Great River Greening
Great River Greening is Minnesota’s leader in community-based restoration of the land and water that enrich our lives. We are devoted solely to stewardship, working side-by-side with 2,000 volunteers every year to transform degraded land into beautifully resilient habitat that supports wildlife and climate resilience. Since our beginning in 1995, we have engaged 42,000 volunteers and planted 485,000 native trees, grasses & flowers in 20,000 acres on 400 sites throughout Minnesota.
In 2018, Great River Greening launched Restore Minnesota, a multi-year campaign to address the current threats to our Minnesota heritage: By 2020, we will impact 10,000 acres of working lands, including critical wildlife areas; reduce water pollution entering 20+ of Minnesota’s rivers and lakes; increase resiliency, biodiversity, and pollinator habitat across 4,000 acres of public land, and inspire 3,000 youth, including ethnically diverse kids and teens, to care for our natural world.
What’s better than one tree? An entire forest.
In partnership with the Trust for Public Land and Cannon River Watershed District, Great River Greening has ambitious plans to improve water quality by planting a native forest near Faribault, Minnesota. The new natural area – called “Sunktokeca Wildlife Management Area (WMA)” – is 200-acres of mostly agricultural land with rich pockets of marsh, prairie, and emerging forest. It feeds into the Cannon River, which is a critical tributary to the Mississippi River.
What’s going on with Sunktokeca WMA?
Given its proximity to the Twin Cities, the community surrounding Sunktokeca WMA is a popular area for residential and commercial development. Although a sign of a strong economy, the booming population creates a huge demand on the area’s natural resources. The community’s prairies have slowly been plowed, its hardwood forests harvested, and its wetlands drained, resulting in serious threats to the natural landscape. For example, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency reports that excessive bacteria, nitrates, mercury, and sediment severely threaten native wildlife. Impairments also make recreation, and in some cases drinking water, unsafe for residents and visitors.
Our Goal
We envision a beautiful natural area where hikers, sportsmen/sportswomen, birdwatchers, and boaters can connect with the outdoors; where wildlife is healthy and abundant; and where the surrounding community thrives alongside nature.
You can make this happen.
Sunktokeca WMA is one of many stories across our state – expansive natural areas at risk of degradation, or disappearing entirely, because they can’t withstand our changing demands and landscape.
Make a donation today and help us Restore Minnesota.
This project is made possible in part by support from Trust for Public Land, Cannon River Watershed Partnership, MN DNR
Twin Cities Business: GRG Business Forum
The Happiness Business
The subtle art of leading beyond the bottom line.
NOVEMBER 28, 2018
When TCB’s staff sat down to compare notes on the year’s big business events and think about leaders who really made a difference—in the community as well as in their own company—Hubert Joly was the first name to surface.
It’s not only that, as Best Buy chairman and CEO, he basically saved the Titanic in his turnaround of the company. It’s not just the unexpected moves, like partnering with enemy No. 1: Amazon. It’s his ability to look beyond the bottom line. To lead from the heart.
“We’re not in the retail business,” Joly told the crowd at Great River Greening’s annual business forum in October, where he spoke about the evolution of retail. “We’re in the happiness business.”
Joly’s knack for spotting the broader opportunity in every situation has proved a huge advantage for Best Buy, as quickly becomes clear in our profile by TCB senior writer Burl Gilyard.
Reducing his company’s carbon footprint by 60 percent? Good for the environment and for Best Buy’s bottom line.
Acquiring GreatCall, which provides health care services and devices for older people? A move to make Best Buy more relevant and useful to an aging population.
Improved store experience and delivery services? Joly explained this one to the Great River Greening crowd with his impression of all of us—himself included—at home with our fancy technology: “Honey, the Wi-Fi is down.” “Honey, the printer is jammed.”
“We’re your honey,” Joly says of Best Buy.
How sweet it is to see a Minnesota company that employs approximately 125,000 across North America find its footing again and become a shining example of purposeful leadership, from diversifying its board of directors to providing access and education to teens through Best Buy’s Teen Tech Centers, like the one in South Minneapolis where we photographed Joly for our cover. We’re looking forward to hearing Joly talk about Best Buy’s turnaround and his leadership philosophy at TCB’s Person of the Year celebration on Dec. 4 (visit tcbmag.com/events for more info and tickets).
That’s where you can also meet many of the emerging leaders, pioneers, and titans you’re going to want to keep an eye on in 2019. To learn why.
Our goal with the annual 100 People to Know list, which executive editor Adam Platt shepherds so meticulously, is not to create a directory of company presidents; rather, it’s to recognize some of the decision-makers you might not yet know and give you a taste of the stories we’ll be following next year.
One more person to meet: new columnist Alex West Steinman. (And if you’re wondering where Rajiv Tandon is, he’ll be back in the mix next month.) I met Alex earlier this year on a tour of new North Loop co-working community The Coven, which she co-founded with three other mission-driven entrepreneurs. I was so impressed by her moxie, her clarity, and her focus; she left a comfortable advertising career at Fallon to follow her calling to support women in business, widen inclusion efforts, and create opportunity for people and communities that are often marginalized.
How very “millennial,” right? Well, she is a millennial, and she’s proud of it. Her voice offers a valuable perspective for those of us further along in our careers. Take it from Joly, who talks about the business insights he’s gained through reverse mentoring.
If there’s a New Year’s resolution to cull from this jam-packed issue, it’s to be open to new perspectives. You may just find opportunity where no one else thought it possible.
KARE11: Keep your storm drains clear
The storm drains on your street are meant for collecting water. But this time of year they tend to collect more leaves than anything else.
Author: Laura Betker
Published:November 1, 2018
The storm drains on your street are meant for collecting water. But this time of year they tend to collect more leaves than anything else.
“If you dig down in here you begin to see the beginnings of decay,” says Great River Greening Ecologist Steve Huckett. “And by that I mean it starts to turn black and gets all gooey and ucky. Because these dead leaves are full of nitrogen and phosphorous. All that nutrient then goes into the water system. Both into the rivers and the lakes around here.”
In many cases, there’s no filter between the drain and the lake. That influx of leaf decay means fish kills, algae blooms, and even discolored drinking water for some.
It’s a big problem and one of the main contributors to water quality. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says nearly half of our metro lakes in the Mississippi River watershed don’t meet water quality standards.
So what can you do about it?
Whether you’re in the city, the suburbs or a more rural area, there’s one solution.
“The best thing residents can do and people in the city can do is to rake up these leaves and get them off the street,” Huckett says. “Put them in a compost pile in their backyard. You could put all this in your garden and till it in. It would be decomposed and ready for planting next spring.”
Or add it to the bags of leaves headed for the city compost site.
PHOTO OP: General Mills volunteers hike to Great River…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
PHOTO OP: General Mills volunteers hike to Great River Greening planting event to celebrate 65 years of giving
[October 7, 2018 Saint Paul] More than 100 General Mills employees will leave the World Headquarters in Golden Valley on Tuesday, hike through campus and down the road to Westwood Hills Nature Center, to plant pollinator friendly plugs and seeds in plots along the lake.
The daylong effort is part of General Mills Foundation 65th anniversary celebration, which is being commemorated by way of a grant series that includes $100,000 to Great River Greening, to create pollinator projects across the state.
WHEN: Tuesday, October 9, 2018. Employees will work in two shifts noon-2:30, 2:00-4:30. Time frame includes walking time from GM campus
WHY: General Mills Foundation 65th anniversary
WHAT:100 General Mills employees will first cross Wayzata Blvd, on foot, and then plant seeds and plugs along Westwood Lake.
WHERE: The farthest northern point of Westwood Lake. Entry is on Wayzata Blvd across from Rudy Luther Toyota (not main park entrance)
According to Great River Greening Executive Director Deborah Karasov, along with the nature center in St. Louis Park, the grant supports pollinator projects in a school forest in Clear Lake, a nature preserve in Chanhassen, and a corridor in Vermillion Township adjacent to a farm managed by the Hmong American Farm Association.
She said:
“We are grateful to General Mills Foundation for this enlightened gift, and to the employees, who, for many years, have been terrific volunteer partners on our restoration work. These pollinator projects truly are a celebration of ‘giving back’. The plants will not only feed our pollinators and create a more beautiful natural area, they will produce seed for generations to come.”
Mary Jane Laird, Executive Director of the General Mills Foundation, said:
“We are so pleased that these Great River Greening pollinator projects will help commemorate General Mills Foundation’s 65th anniversary in a beautiful manner that will leave an ongoing legacy of impact.”
Not GM employees’ first walk in the park
General Mills’s employees have been working with Great River Greening, in Westwood Hills, since 2014. Hundreds of volunteers have removed acres of buckthorn and other woody invasive species from beneath a canopy that includes bur oak, red oak, white oak, hackberry, and sugar maple.
Westwood Hills Nature Center is a 160-acre natural oasis set in the midst of a busy urban area. Westwood Lake is the focal point of the nature center. The lake is surrounded by a variety of native habitats including cattail marsh, shrub carr, oak savanna, and maple basswood woodlands
About Great River Greening
Great River Greening is a local conservation nonprofit working throughout Minnesota to empower and assist local communities in restoring and conserving the land and water that enrich our lives. Since 1995, we have worked side-by-side with 40,000 volunteers to protect, restore and care for Minnesota’s natural heritage—18,000 acres and counting. Through active participation and acquired expertise, volunteers become advocates with a deep connection to the land and water. www.greatrivergreening.org
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