West River Parkway Trail Improvements Open House

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is planning to reconstruct three miles of bicyle and pedestrian trails along West River Parkway from Franklin Avenue south to Godfrey Parkway. The trail will connect to the recently reconstructed section of trail at Godfrey Parkway along the side of Minnehaha Park.

Reconstruction will provide improved trail safety and durability, separated bike and pedestrian trails where possible, and river bluff protection and enhancement. The project may include other elements, such as signage, site furnishings, drinking water fountains and landscaping, depending on available funding. Planning and design efforts are expected to occur this fall and winter. Trail construction is anticipated to begin in the summer of 2009.

The public is invited to comment on plans at an open house to be held at Brackett Park on Wednesday, Dec. 10, at 6:30 p.m. Brackett Park is located at 2728 39th Ave. S.

For more information contact Nick Eoloff, project manager at 612-230-6465 or e-mail neoloff@minneapolisparks.org.

It has been a great season for the Gorge Stewards project, packed full of invasive species removals, seed collecting and spreading, interpretive hikes, prairie planting, geology, birding, and more. A big THANK YOU goes out to all the volunteers who worked so hard to care for our precious river gorge this season, as well as to the program funders and sponsors (see the list to the right).

Check out these photos from some of the Gorge Stewards events this season!

Vote Yes on the Clean Water, Land & Legacy Amendment!

This Tuesday, November 4th you will have the opportunity to vote on Minnesota's Clean Water, Land & Legacy Amendment.

All is not well in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Forty percent of the waters we have tested are polluted, and most of our lakes and streams have not even been tested. Funding for water, parks, and wildlife habitat remains near historic lows, and we are losing access for swimming, fishing, and wildlife watching. We have to act now, with this amendment, to protect our state's many water sources----for our own health, and for that of our wildlife, before they are lost forever.

The amendment would increase the State sales tax by three-eighths of one percent. This amounts to only about $1 a week and $56 a year for the average Minnesota household - a small price to pay for protecting our clean water, wildlife habitat, and natural areas.

While the latest polls show that Minnesotans are strongly supportive of the amendment -- 59% say they will vote yes -- we also know that many people who haven't heard about the amendment may leave that question blank, and anyone who doesn't vote on this question gets counted as a "no" vote. As a result, it appears the vote will be VERY close.

This amendment is about protecting our WATER RESOURCES, LAND AND NATURAL AREAS.
There is tremendous growth in Minnesota: over 1 million acres of wooded lands, natural areas and farmland will be lost over the next 25 years, as Minnesota continues growing faster than any other state in the Midwest. We want to make sure that while we grow, we are protecting and preserving our natural areas for recreation, which is so much a part of why we love it here, and protecting our lands for game habitat, wildlife, fishing, hunting, and hiking. The amendment will also help to fight global warming by protecting forest lands in Minnesota.

This amendment is about preserving our CULTURAL RESOURCES.
Minnesota has a long and proud tradition and history of arts and culture. Arts and cultural education are critical not only to our children's future but also to our state's economic well-being. Like our natural resources, our states cultural resources are an important part of our tourism industry and our great Minnesota quality of life.

This amendment is about FUTURE GENERATIONS.
Things as important as clean water are well worth protecting in our Constitution, and worth creating a permanent funding source for - especially when future generations rely on our actions today. Acting now to ensure that we properly protect our water, parks, wildlife, and arts and cultural resources for our children and grandchildren is an investment well worth making.

For more information about the the Clean Water, Land & Legacy Amendment, check out the Vote Yes! website at http://www.yesformn.org. Click on "FAQ's" at the bottom of the page for some great information about the amendment.

Thanks in advance for your help in seizing this incredible opportunity to leave a healthy Minnesota to future generations! Please spread the word!

Tales of Rivalry at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Border

Have you ever noticed those cement structures that poke up on the east side of the river, just north of the Lake St. Bridge? It’s the remnant of a long-fought battle between Minneapolis and St. Paul. No, it’s not some 19th century battalion, although it does traverse the border between the two cities. It’s all that remains of the first lock ever built on the Mississippi River.

The Meeker Island Lock and Dam was built in 1907 and dismantled in 1912. An ironic finale to a century-long quest to tame the Mississippi River Gorge for steamboat navigation.

By the mid-1800s, the City of St. Paul marked the head of navigation on the Mississippi River and Minneapolis was on its way to becoming the milling capitol of the world. But each City envied the others’ glory and hoped to reap its own share of it from the river. Minneapolis’ quest to move navigation upriver was finally realized with construction of the Meeker lock and dam and another low dam and lock at the site of the current Ford dam in St. Paul. But even as they were being built, St. Paul was pushing for one high dam that could generate hydropower, and would flood out the Meeker project as a result. In the meantime, the milling industry was winding down, and the rest is history.

Well actually it’s all history, and I and 50 other folks were lucky enough to get the complete tale last weekend during the Meeker Island Lock & Dam Ruins Interpretive Tour led by Dr. John Anfinson. John is a Historian for the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area – a unit of the National Park Service that runs through the Twin Cities. If you missed the Meeker tour, look for it again next Fall. John also gives a presentation about the Meeker story called “Rapids to Reservoirs,” with lots of great photos from the Minnesota Historical Society.

Of course it’s also a great time of year to explore the area on your own. The ruins can be accessed from East River Road at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Border. There is an old wagon road on the St. Paul side that was recently converted into a new trail, and there are iron steps that lead down from the Minneapolis side.

It’s also pretty cool to see the site from the water – sign up for FMR’s Gorge Fall Colors Paddle on October 11th and you can take it in riverside!

The Mississippi River Gorge Stewards Leadership Team

Volunteers have been working in the gorge for several years now, and while there are always some new faces at events, we definitely had a group of "regulars". We started thinking about how to put the knowledge, dedication, and experience of these seasoned volunteers to the best use in the gorge, as well as how to offer them greater opportunities for learning, greater responsibility, and a richer volunteer experience. With funding from the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization, the Gorge Stewards Leadership Team was formed!

Members of the Gorge Leadership Team were asked to commit to volunteering at least 25 hours in the gorge this year, including attending a 2-hour indoor and 3-hour outdoor training, and participating in at least 4 of the 6 team outings. The rest of the hours can be completed a variety of ways, such as participating in and assisting with public events in the gorge, tabling, speaking, or otherwise assisting with outreach. The team outings combine training with restoration work, and are directed by ecologist Carolyn Carr. The subjects Carolyn chooses vary, but there is an underlying focus on phenology and how things progress and change over the growing season. Team members are also helping to monitor different sections of the 36th and West River Parkway site, and contributing to written and photographic documentation of species and conditions present.

From the very first training session and at every team event since, this group has proven to be quite the inquisitive bunch! Full of great questions, and noticing even the tiniest bugs or weird bumps on plant leaves. One of the most exciting things about the team for me has been watching the interactions and overhearing tidbits of conversations, where folks are sharing the different knowledge, skills and experiences that they each bring to the team, and learning from each other as well as from Carolyn.

This is the first year for this exciting project, so we are learning as we go and tweaking little bits here and there. We have accomplished quite a bit so far this season, and hope to continue the project in years to come. Thank you to all of the Gorge Leadership Team members for all your hard work and dedication to the river, for keeping us on our toes, and for being such an inspiring group of people to work with!

Photos courtesy of Hillary Oppmann

Summer Blooms

The gorge is blooming! Check out these photos from dedicated long-time volunteer and Gorge Leadership Team member Tim Boyle. Can you identify these native plants? See even more great photos here.

This is an exciting and colorful time of year to go for a hike in the gorge, or have a picnic up at Giggly Hills and check out the prairie plantings.

New Prairie at Crosby Park!

There's a new prairie in town! Crosby Park in St. Paul now boasts a beautiful new interpretive prairie, thanks to the hard work of many volunteers last Saturday, May 31st.

These hard-working folks planted, watered, and mulched almost 1000 native prairie plants as part of a restoration project in partnership with St. Paul Parks & Recreation, funded by Capitol Region Watershed District.
This semi-formal section of the prairie planting will hopefully provide visitors with an opportunity for education about prairies and native Minnesota plants. To that end, name markers bearing the name of the species were placed by several plants, and new signage about this project and the importance of Minnesota's prairies is in the works.

The group was such a bunch of rock stars that we finished early with the planting, mulching, and watering, but many volunteers stuck around to remove invasive weeds (like giant ragweed and Canada thistle) from the adjacent area.

Volunteers will be needed throughout the season to help care for this new planting by weeding and other tasks, and to help prepare the rest of the site to be seeded in the fall. If you are interested in helping out with this project, contact sue through our contact form or at 651-222-2193 x14.

Photos courtesy of professional photographer Rikk Flohr, www.fleetingglimpse.com. For more photos from this event, click on this link.