Shoreview Green Community Self-Guided Tour, August 4 - 5

You can read about best management practices for water quality, but on Saturday and Sunday, August 4 & 5th from noon to 5:30 PM each day you can tour 11 real examples in Shoreview and Lake Owasso yards.

The free, self-guided Shoreview Green Community TOUR map is available at the
Shoreview Clean Water booth near the Lake Johanna Fire Station at Victoria and 694
at Slice of Shoreview July 27 - 29th and on the City of Shoreview's website: http://www.ci.shoreview.mn.us/WhatsNew/WhatsNew.html Sponsors include city of
Shoreview Environmental Quality Committee, Rice Creek Watershed District, Grass Lake Water Management Org., and the Sierra Club Northstar Chapter. Call 651-483-9867 with any questions.


Did you know that in 2006 Bloomington business and residents used 4.8 Billion Gallons of water on average, up from 4.5 Billion in 2005. That works out to 13.1 Million Gallons Per Day.

Bloomington wells provided 76% and the remaining 24% had to be purchased from the City of Minneapolis.

Izaak Walton Creek Clean Up

Join us on Sunday May 20th at Izaak Walton Creek at 12:30 pm near the
Bass Ponds in East Bloomington for clean-up and short program on the
suitability of the spring-fed creek to support trout populations. The
meeting place is the MN Valley Bass Ponds parking lot one block east
of the intersection of Old Shakopee Rd. and 86th St. near the Cypress
facility.



The short program will be led by Dr. Leonard Ferrington, Professor of
Entomology at the University of Minnesota and developer of the
Volunteer Stream Monitoring Interactive Verification Program used to
do biological monitoring of streams and rivers throughout the U.S.and
Canada. Dr. Ferrington will demonstrate the invertebrates he has
found in studying Izaak Walton Creek and talk on the effects of
pollution and storm water run off on aquatic species and fish habitat.



http://www.entomology.umn.edu/midge/VSMIVP.htm



Dr. Ferrington, students, and staff of the Minnesota Valley National
Wildlife Refuge have been monitoring the stream with hopes of
restoring trout populations. The source of the steam is approximately
500 yards away from the light rail coming out of the MOA. It
originally flowed into the Bass Ponds which were established as a
volunteer fish hatchery by the Minneapolis Chapter of the Izaak Walton
League in 1926 in order to restore depleted populations of black bass
in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest--- hence the name "Izaak Walton
Creek."



The program is free and open to the public, especially school age
children. It will take place in conjunction with clean up project to
remove trash and debris from the creek and surrounding watershed area
led by the Boy Scouts. Volunteers should be prepared to walk short
distances on rough terrain while picking up trash and debris that
people have dumped in the valley. Trash bags will be provided. For
more information/directions, call John Crampton 612-396-6010 or Gregg
Thompson 612-618-8616.

Bloomington just won't adopt sustainability

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/sustainability/GreenPrint07_home.asp

Why can't we get Bloomington to move forward with sustainability? They just want to keep putting up buildings without the road structure to support it. And they seem quite proud of it. Yet after at least 15 years have not even solved the 84th Normandale issue, and in fact worse now but the buildings continue to go up. And not even Green buildings at that.


I asked the City Council at the end of February 2007 to put some sustainabiliyt metrics on the city web site. Simple things like how much elcecticy does the city itself use and how much gasoline. It would be nice to know what we are paying and using as a city. Yet they have to "study" that.

Sad state of affairs.

Upcoming Events

Clean Ups

Community Clean-ups-April 20-21

Join local clean-ups to pick up leaves, sand, salt and other debris that flows as storm water run-off to pollute local streams, lakes, and the Minnesota/Mississippi Rivers. These clean-ups, sponsored by the Friends of the Minnesota River and Nine Mile Creek Watershed District, are scheduled for:

Eagan cleanup is Friday April 20th along Nichols Road. Contact is Terry Houle at Lockheed Martin (651-456-4211) or terry99@gmail.com

Edina Cleanup is along Nine Mile Creek on Sat., Apr. 21st from 9-11 a.m. Contact is Kevin Bigalke at 952-835-2078.

Bloomington Cleanup is at Central Park (Moir Park) along Nine Mile Creek, from 9-11 a.m. on Saturday the 21st. Contacts are Lori Nelson (612-370-9123) or Erica Bonebo at Normandale CC (952-250-0196). Get outside, get some fresh air and exercise, meet new people, get the kids to help out….improve water quality in our local streams.

Izaak Walton Creek (Near Bass Ponds) Clean-up-May 19th

Mark your calendars for Saturday May 19th 1-5 PM for a work project to cut out invasive species and do clean-up at Izaak Walton Creek near the Bass Ponds/Mall of America. This creek is being studied for possible stocking as a trout stream. Entomology students from U of MN will demonstrate collecting and identifying invertebrates to assess the ecological health of the stream. Contact John Crampton, 612-396-6010 jcrampt@comcast.net or check our website: http://www.bushlakeikes.org

“Landscaping for Wise Water-Use” Classes Now Playing in Your Neighborhood

Interested in learning environmentally-friendly landscaping techniques? Gregg Thompson and our chapter received a grant from the Toro Foundation to conduct classes on environmentally-friendly landscaping and rain-garden design and construction. These classes are offered to interested citizen groups and individuals at our chapter lodge or by arrangement in neighborhoods. For more information go to our website: http://www.bushlakeikes.org or contact Gregg at (612) 618-8616 bushlake@bushlakeikes.org

An Inconvenient Truth" Screening and Community Meeting on Global Warming

"An Inconvenient Truth" Screening and Community Meeting on Global Warming

April 10, 2007 - 7 p.m.

Normandale Community College, Room C1022

Come learn the scientific facts about global warming and about all of
the work happening locally to stop it by attending a screening of Al
Gore's Oscar-winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth" and learn
about global warming solutions. Contact Sam Landenwitsch at
612.767.2444 for more information.
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Also sign up for free bus ride Saturday to Global Warming Day of Action on April 14th at State Capitol:

http://www.globalwarmingdayofaction.org/

Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) and the Izaak Walton League in the Midwest

History of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) and the Izaak Walton League in the Midwest

Kevin Proescholdt, Director of the Midwest Wilderness and Public Lands Program for the Izaak Walton League of America-Midwest Office will speak on the history of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) and successful battles over the past 80 years by the Izaak Walton League and other environmental organizations to preserve and protect wilderness areas and hunting-fishing habitats in the BWCA, the Upper Mississippi River Valley and other areas of the Midwest. Mr. Proescholdt’s talk is 6:30-7:30 pm on Thursday April 12^th at the Izaak Walton League-Bush Lake chapter lodge, 7515 Izaak Walton Road, Bloomington. The program is free and open to the general public. A director’s meeting follows Mr. Proescholdt’s talk at 8 PM. For more information call Jill Crafton 952-944-5583.

For a complete calendar of upcoming activities, go to: http://www.bushlakeikes.org

Sign the Petition- online

Bloomington residents please sign the online petition to urge your city council to sign the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. There is no time to wait. Also please tell your friends.

http://northstar.sierraclub.org/campaigns/air/coolCities.html

Click the link on right sidepanel or paste the above link into your browser.

Link may not be fully operational until Friday March 16, 2007.