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!

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.

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.

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.

As 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.

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 Parkway
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!

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.
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.

Bringing Nature Home

From the Audubon Minnesota website:
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.

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.

Photo courtesy of Tim Boyle, http://dignature.smugmug.com/