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!