Thursday, November 12, 2009

King Corn & Big River Double Feature!

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 — 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Riverview Theater, 3800 42nd Avenue S, Minneapolis, MN

Following up on their Peabody Award winning documentary, the King Corn boys are back! Join filmmaker Curt Ellis, star of King Corn, for the Minnesota premiere of Big River. In their new documentary, Curt and Ian return to Iowa on a new mission: to investigate the environmental impact their acre of corn had on the people and places downstream.

Program:
7:00 p.m. King Corn
8:00 p.m. Big River
8:30 p.m. Discussion

All proceeds from this event benefit the Mississippi River Gorge Stewards Program.

Hosted by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), Friends of the Mississippi River, Land Stewardship Project, and Birchwood Café.

Tickets sold at the door. Advance sales at IATP and the Birchwood Café.

For information or for a student group-rate, contact Abby at 612-870-3433.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Watershed Friendly Yard Tour

Longfellow Community Council & Wild Ones Present the 6th annual
Watershed Friendly Yard Tour
Sunday, September 13th
3:00 - 5:00 pm
Begin tour and pick up a map at: 2925 42nd Ave S

Tour Highlights
- beautiful native plants, shrubs and trees in urban yards
- rain gardens, rain barrels...and chickens!
- talk with the homeowners
- free info on rain gardens and native plants

Enjoy a self guided tour of beautiful native plants and rain gardens during Longfellow's 6th Annual Watershed Friendly Yard Tour. Many of the yards received a grant from Longfellow Community Council in the past 7 years. Walk or Bike! This year all the gardens are within walking distance in the Cooper section of Longfellow. The tour also makes a nice bicycle ride.

Sponsored by the River Gorge Committee of the Longfellow Community Council and the Twin Cities chapter of Wild Ones. For more info contact Hillary Oppmann at hillary[at]longfellow.org

Photo courtesy Elizabeth Beckman

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Rare Critter Sighted in River Gorge


During a prairie bowl restoration outing this month, members of the Gorge Leadership Team encountered animal rarely seen in the River Gorge: a Rufous, 'red-phase' or erythritic raccoon. Red-phase raccoons' fur can range from a pale yellow to a bright orange color; the raccoon living near the prairie bowl has an orange-reddish coat.

Although red-phase raccoons are fairly rare, this raccoon, we'll call him"Rufous", has been spotted meandering just along the bike trail near the ravine just north of 36th Street & West River Parkway, or just snoozing in the crux of a large tree in the prairie bowl.

Next time you're in the Gorge , make sure to keep an eye out for this fluffy orange fur ball. Maybe you'll spot him on the Oak Savanna Tour on September 10th or the seeding on the 26th?

- Ryan Strand, FMR intern summer 2009

Monday, July 6, 2009

Cool Findings at Volunteer Events!

Volunteers at the June weeding event at Crosby Park spotted this female painted turtle laying eggs at the edge of the prairie. The very next evening, volunteers at Hastings River Flats also saw the same sight - another female painted turtle laying her eggs near Lake Rebecca. Painted turtles mate in the spring and have a super adorable courtship ritual where the male swims up to the female and tickles her cheeks with the backs of his forepaws. When the female painted turtle is ready to lay her eggs, she will find a suitable spot, preferably one with soft, sandy soil and good sun exposure, and use her hind legs and claws to dig a hole. She'll then lay 4-15 eggs in the hole, cover them up, and leave the nest. Lots of predators like to eat turtle eggs, but if they manage to escape this fate, the eggs should hatch about 72-80 days later, around mid to late August. The little hatchlings will crawl out of the nest (though some hatchlings overwinter in the nest) and make their way to water.

The following week, volunteers removing invasive species like spotted knapweed and hoary alyssum at the Pine Bend Scientific and Natural Area found this skink! Skinks are a type of lizard with no pronounced neck and relatively small legs. Their movement resembles a snake more than a typical lizard. There are three types of lizards in the state of Minnesota - the prairie skink, the 5-lined skink, and the 6-lined racerunner. This little guy is most likely a prairie skink.

One especially skink-experienced volunteer was able to catch the speedy little guy so that everyone could get a closer look at him. Skinks are able to shed and regenerate their tails, and this one seemed to be in the process of growing a new tail. The new tail will look a little different and be shorter.

Volunteers at the July Crosby weeding event found this perfect little bird's nest in an American Hemp plant in the middle of the prairie they were removing yellow mustard and burdock from. If you click on the photo to enlarge it you'll notice that two of the eggs have brown speckles and one is plain white. The brown speckled eggs are likely cowbird eggs. Brown-headed Cowbirds are notorious brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds and relying on them to incubate and raise their young. Scientists have recorded over 220 bird species that have been parasitized by cowbirds, and though some reject the cowbird eggs, at least 150 species are known to have raised the cowbird chicks. It's hard to say what kind of bird made this nest and laid the white egg - our best guess is a chipping sparrow.

That same plant was covered in beautiful irridescent, metallic green beetles, like the one on this volunteer's hand. These are dogbane beetles. They feed mainly on plants in the Apocynum genus (dogbane), as well as milkweed. Dogbane and milkweed plants contain poisonous chemicals in their sap, or milk, that are toxic to many animals - in humans, for example, these chemicals can have lethal effects on the heart. These plants likely developed these chemicals as a defense mechanism to keep animals from munching them. However, dogbane beetles are able to eat the leaves, and instead of being poisoned by the chemicals, they store them in glands and then secrete them when they are threatened by predators!

And last but not least, that same evening we also spotted this mutated black-eyed susan! The stem was thick and flat, and instead of a normal flower, the brown center was bigger and flipped kind of like a hamburger patty, with the petals coming out of the top and bottom. Deformities like this can be caused by a variety of factors, but are typically a response to some sort of pathogen or pest, quite often a fungus.

Restoration events will be taking a bit of a break in August, and then kicking back up in full force for September and October. Be sure to check our upcoming event listings at www.fmr.org/participate/events or sign up for our twice-monthly e-newsletter, Mississippi Messages, at www.fmr.org/news/messages.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Old Wagon Road Planting

Gorge Stewards volunteers recently assisted staff from the Saint Paul Department of Parks and Recreation in a project that provided erosion control, improved habitat, and increased plant diversity along a sad slope near the Meeker Dam ruins site.

The area along the Old Wagon Road Trail (which was recently redone using pervious pavers) was suffering from serious erosion, so the wonderful staff from St. Paul Parks devised a plan to stabilize it using bio-logs, erosion blankets, and native plants. Volunteers laid erosion blanket up the side of the slope, then staked bio-logs at the base holding the blanket in place. Bio-degradable cornstarch stakes were also used to hold the blanket in place. Finally, a variety of native ferns, sedges, grasses, and forbs were planted through the erosion blanket. These plants will provide habitat to our native critters, and their roots will help hold the soil in place and prevent further erosion of the slope.


A big thank you goes out to all the hard-working volunteers who helped with this important project!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Spring = Garlic Mustard Pulling

Spring time for the Gorge Steward means time to pull garlic mustard, and that's exactly what our dedicated volunteers have been hard at work doing!

The season started off April 30th with the annual pull at the floodplain forest near the sand flats, down the long stone staircase near 34th Street and West River Parkway in Minneapolis. This area has been overrun with garlic mustard, but volunteers have been coming each spring for several years now to uncover the jack-in-the-pulpits, violets, and other native plants. Garlic mustard seeds can remain viable in the soil for 5 or more years, so we know this area requires a longer term commitment, but we are seeing a difference and starting to expand our garlic mustard-free zone!

The following week, on May 6, volunteers headed to the lovely spring ephemeral patch at Crosby Park in St. Paul that the Gorge Stewards have adopted over the past few years. Here we work to protect the trout lilies, dutchman's breeches, large-flowered bellwort, bloodroot, and other goodies that are fighting the rampant garlic mustard for survival. The majority of these awesome volunteers pledged to return to the site on their own to pull for another 6 hours each by the end of May. To read a volunteer's perspective, check out volunteer Carrie's post about the event on her own blog:
http://playschooling.blogspot.com/2009/05/garlic-mustard-pledge-to-pull-kick.html

And finally, the Gorge Leadership Team had their first Team Outing of 2009, and again, much garlic mustard was pulled! This team of super volunteers worked in the oak savanna, oak woodland, and prairie bowl at 36th Street & West River Parkway in Minneapolis, where garlic mustard has been largely kept at bay. Each year a few patches crop up, and each year we pull them out!

Along with garlic mustard, volunteers also attacked a recurring (but smaller!) patch of reed canary grass, and a few stubborn buckthorn re-sprouts.
Link


Friday, April 24, 2009

Happy Arbor Day!

"Planting a tree is the easiest way to improve the value of your property, reduce your energy needs, shrink your carbon footprint and improve our air and water quality."

- Tree Trust

The City of Minneapolis is once again providing 1,000 trees to Minneapolis residents at a low cost through Tree Trust, a local company founded in 1976 in response to the devastation caused by Dutch Elm Disease, and the need to reforest the Twin Cities metro area.

If you're a Minneapolis resident, you can do your part to make Minneapolis a greener city by planting one of these trees this May. Celebrate Arbor Day by ordering one today! Go to www.treetrust.org for more information.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Happy Earth Day!

The sun is shining, all sorts of lovely little spring woodland flowers are popping up in the river gorge, and it is finally starting to really feel like spring! What a perfect day to get outside and do something for the environment. Pick up trash along the river or in your own neighborhood, plant a native plant, start composting, or make a resolution to produce less waste or buy more local produce. There are many ways to celebrate Earth Day - just do something!

Thank you to the almost 250 volunteers who celebrated Earth Day early this year by joining us this past Saturday, April 18th at the annual Minneapolis Earth Day Clean Up! Check out this video, taken at the event.



A special big thank you to Peace Coffee, Parkway Pizza, and Ranger Dave Wiggins from the National Park Service for making the day extra fun!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Recreation on the Mississippi River

Throughout April park rangers at the Mississippi River Visitor Center will be helping people plan their summer vacations! Just stop by the Visitor Center, located in the Science Museum of Minnesota, to get advice about lodging, camping, regulations, recreation activities, and more for trips to national parks throughout the U.S.
Link
On Thursdays in April at 7pm they will be holding special presentations about specific parks, including a presentation on April 23 about our own National Park, the Mississippi National River & Recreation Area.

For more information and the complete schedule of special presentations: http://www.missriverfund.nonprofitoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B361AD92E-7246-455D-87F7-9933146EC170%7D&DE=%7BAF68A519-EFDF-4716-8A3F-1500D60DCFDE%7D

Photo courtesy of Tim Boyle.Link

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Earthworm Invasion

Reprinted from Conservation Minnesota.

In recent weeks, Minnesotans have begun to notice earthworms emerging from their winter hideouts. Although not exactly cuddly, earthworms are to many of us welcome signs of spring.

Trouble is they’re an invasive species and they may be upsetting Minnesota’s ecology, especially forest health. That’s right.

Contain those crawlersAs the University of Minnesota’s “Great Lakes Worm Watch” website says: “Ask anyone on the street if earthworms are good for ecosystems and you will undoubtedly receive a resounding “YES!” When asked why, they may say something like ‘earthworms mix and aerate the soil.’ It is a basic ecological concept that we may have learned as early as kindergarten.”

But the same experts know the truth: once-native Minnesota earthworms were wiped out with the last glaciation. And the earthworms we typically see in the state now were introduced by European settlers. (There are native worms in Minnesota, but no native earthworms.) They came with rocks and dirt used as ballast and in plants whose soil may have included earthworms or egg cases.

Why’s that a problem? Because U of M researchers have documented dramatic changes in native hardwood forest ecosystems when exotic earthworms invade, including losses of native understory plant species and tree seedlings, changes in soil structure and declines in nutrient availability.

Says Cindy Hale of the University of Minnesota’s Natural Resources Research Institute in Duluth: When earthworms invade these previously earthworm-free forests, they mix the thick layer of spongy, slowly decomposing matter we call duff into the soil, which changes the structure, the chemistry, and the biology—the living organisms in the soil—literally eating the rooting zone out from under the forest understory plants.”

Changes caused by invasive earthworms may lead to further changes in the forest that:

  • undermine small mammal, bird and amphibian populations;
  • increase the impacts of herbivores like white-tailed deer;
  • and facilitate invasions of other exotic species such as European slugs and exotic plants like buckthorn and garlic mustard.

“These results suggest that exotic earthworms may pose a grave threat to the biodiversity and long term stability of hardwood forest ecosystems in the region. Much more research is needed,” says the U.

What can be done?

The way to control earthworms is to control the ways in which they spread by carefully managing:

  • Bait worms, most of which are non-native species, including those sold as night crawlers, Canadian crawlers, leaf worms, or angle worms. Unused bait shouldn’t be dumped on the land or water.
  • Compost, leaf mulch and topsoil
  • Landscape plants or trees with soil around their roots
  • Soil movement during road building
  • Vehicle tire treads that carry soil including:
  • Construction, farming and logging equipment, all terrain vehicles, mountain bikes.

There is hope. “Without humans moving them around, earthworms move slowly, less than a half mile over 100 years", says Hale. So if we get a handle on the unintentional ways we introduce and spread earthworms, we may be able to keep them from invading new areas.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Parkway Pizza at the Earth Day Clean-Up!

For the second year in a row, the good people at Parkway Pizza will be providing pizza for all the volunteers at FMR's Earth Day Clean Up sites!

Come help give the river gorge a good spring cleaning, take part in one of the biggest city-wide events of the year, and be rewarded with a slice of delicious pizza!

Saturday, April 18th, 9:30am-12pm
36th Street & W. River Parkway
44th St. & W. River ParkwLinkay
No pre-registration necessary

For more information and directions, go to: http://www.fmr.org/participate/events/earth_day_cleanup-2009-04-18

Parkway Pizza is located at 4457 42nd Ave. S in Minneapolis, and has free delivery (612-729-9090). Stop in to support them - and tell them thanks for supporting FMR and the river gorge!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Earth Day in the City


Celebrate Earth Day by participating in the 15th Annual Minneapolis Earth Day Watershed Clean Up, Saturday, April 18th, 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.! Last year's event drew about 3000 community members who picked up 22,000 pounds of trash! 2009's event promises to be even bigger and better, with over 40 clean-up sites throughout the city. Find out more at www.minneapolisearthday.com.Link
FMR will be coordinating two sites for the Clean Up, at 36th Street and West River Parkway and 44th Street and West River Parkway. Both sites will also feature educational presentations to learn more about topics like geology, native plants, and invasive species. Go to www.fmr.org/participate/events for more information on these two sites.

You can also support the Earth Day Clean Up by participating in the 5K Recycle Run, Sunday, April 19th. Go to www.minneapolisrecyclerun.com for details and registration info.

First two photos courtesy of Peter Kastler.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Bringing Nature Home


From the
Audubon Minnesota website: Link
Monday, March 16, 2009 - 7:00-8:00pm
Macalester College, John B. Davis Lecture Hall, Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center

Dr. Douglas Tallamy, author of a new book that calls for planting gardens that appeal to wildlife—especially insects—brings his important message to St. Paul on Monday, March 16. The author of Bringing Nature Home, How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens, will speak at 7:00 p.m. in the John B. Davis Lecture Hall in the Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center at Macalester College. The event is free and open to the public.

Many birders, gardeners, and landscapers are already great fans of Tallamy’s book and viewpoint. An entomologist and dynamic speaker, he will discuss the clear link between native plant species and native wildlife.

As more and more of nature disappears under bulldozers and chain saws, gardeners may just be the salvation of birds and other wildlife. Wild creatures are losing places to live and breed at an alarming rate, and their food sources are shrinking. If more and more of us filled our yards and gardens with native plants, we’d help create the biodiversity that sustains all life forms, including our own.

Tallamy clearly makes the case for natives and against alien plants. He shows how non-native plants are nearly invisible to native insects and other wildlife: if insect larvae haven’t evolved with a plant they can’t use it. In this way we lose strands in the web of life, a scenario occurring all over the world. How important is this? Research shows that 96 percent of North American’s land birds rely on insects to feed their nestlings, and insects rely on native plants.

“We help decide which animals will make it and which will not every time we plant or remove something from our yards,” Tallamy says.

For everyone interested in the conservation of birds and other wildlife and everyone who gardens, this is a “don’t miss” event. Please refer to the Macalester College campus map (pdf). The Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center, where the lecture will be held, is building #25 on the map.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Minnehaha Creek Falls and Glen Restoration Project Open House

You're invited to a public open house to learn more about the Minnehaha Creek Falls and Glen Restoration Project.
*Saturday, March 14,* 10 - 11 a.m.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist Brad Perkl will present information on the history of the site and what the restoration project involves. The Minnehaha Creek construction project includes the stabilization of approximately 1,390 linear feet of WPA walls, repairing failed portions of the walls and providing erosion protection for the area immediately downstream of the walls. Construction began late January and is expected to be complete by August 2009.

The open house will be outside - meet near Sea Salt Restaurant in the northwest corner of the park. Attendees will not be taken inside the construction area due to safety reasons.

The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, in cooperation with the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board, the State of Minnesota and the Minnesota Veterans Home is partnering with the Corps of Engineers on this project.
Link
Photo courtesy of Tim Boyle, http://dignature.smugmug.com/


Friday, February 27, 2009

Peregrine Having Lunch in the Middle of Snelling Avenue

Taken from a story at kare11.com.

SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- After 20-plus years as a St. Paul police officer, Bob Winsor has seen just about everything. But what happened at Snelling and Ashland Friday was certainly a first.

Officer Winsor blocked a couple lanes of traffic for 30 minutes to protect a bird that was feasting on a pigeon in the middle of the road. His reasoning was simple: "Anything that kills pigeons is good with me."

But Winsor soon learned he was protecting a rare peregrine falcon, which is the fastest bird in the world.

"It's a great success story," says Lori Naumann with Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources.

It's unusual to see a peregrine in the middle of a busy road, Naumann says, but they are becoming more common in the Twin Cities. And it wasn't always that way.

"In the 1950s and 60s, they were almost extinct," she says. "They were placed on the endangered species list."

Thanks to intense restoration projects that started in the 1970s and 80s, Minnesota now has more than 50 peregrine pairs, which raised 93 young last year.

"The population is doing really, really well," Naumann says.

The U.S. ban on D.D.T. was another reason for the peregrine's comeback. It was removed from the U.S. endangered species list in 1999. It remains on the state's threatened species list, but Naumann says it could be removed in the next couple years.

Because the peregrine on Snelling had a band around its leg with the code "27A," we know she was born in 2007 and is named Elspeth. She's named after the granddaughter of Bud Tordoff, the man behind Minnesota's peregrine restoration.

"Dr. Tordoff passed away last year, so it was pretty special to see that this was a bird that's still surviving," Naumann says.

Elspeth is simply a sign of his success, which is good news for peregrines, but bad news for pigeons.

By Joe Fryer, KARE 11 News

photos by Peter Leete



Friday, February 6, 2009

The Colors of a River: Pollution and the Upper Mississippi

“The Betsy-Nell,” Clarence Jonk wrote in 1933, “has been lowered into the sewage-laden water where fish die, bloat and turn idly about in the eddies, showing their worm-infested bodies like a curse to the men who infected their world. Continuously their white mouths nudge the manure of humanity, the off-wash of the streets and gutters; and here, curling under our starboard side, a brown foam bubbles and steams. Such is our baptism into the Great River.” (River Journey)

What was the Mississippi River like when only American Indians and early explorers paddled its waters? When did we first begin polluting the Mississippi and how? How bad did it get before anyone did something about it?

At his recent presentation, "The Colors of a River - Pollution and the Upper Mississippi River", historian and author Dr. John O. Anfinson of the National Park Service discussed these questions and took a look at the pollution issues facing the great Mississippi today. About 160 community members braved a frigid evening to hear the presentation, which was held at Augsburg College on Monday, January 26th.

John is a historian with the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, a unit of the National Park Service. John is the author of a history of the metro area Mississippi River entitled A River of History. As an independent scholar, his book, The River We Have Wrought: A History of the Upper Mississippi River has been published by the University of Minnesota Press .

Here is John summarizing the talk, followed by the conclusion of his presentation:



Photos courtesy of Chris Higgins.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

River Gorge Featured in 1000 Friends of MN's Legacy Letters

1000 Friends of MN and Twin Cities Public Television have been working together to create short videos, called "Legacy Letters" highlighting some of the places and things MN residents treasure the most in our state. The videos are each a minute in length and are airing for the next year on the Minnesota channel (TPT's digital channel). According to the 100 Friends of MN website, "The videos will feature the hopes, dreams, memories, concerns, and visions of Minnesotans like you who can articulate what’s working well and what’s needed in Minnesota."

One of the places we treasure the most is the Mississippi River Gorge. Check out the following video about why this place is so special, featuring Carolyn Carr, ecologist with Ecological Strategies and key figure in the volunteer-based restoration efforts of the gorge.
Link