News from 2009

Contents

News Archive
Months: April, June, August, September, October, December,
All Years

Bite Me!

I’m going to make an assumption that I have been bitten by more species of animals than any other person reading this article right now. Sure, there may be a dogcatcher in the crowd that can top my bragging rights for total number of bites, but I’m pretty sure that I’ve been bitten by the largest variety of animals. My first foray into the world of animal husbandry landed me an unpaid 36-hour per week internship at the Milwaukee County Zoo – Oceans of Fun show. During the summer, I prepared food for the seals and sea lions, a task ...
More

In Search Of The Fairest Garden

When the Washington Conservation District (WCD) approached the county fair board in 2006 about building four demonstration raingardens at the Washington County Fairgrounds, some board members were a bit skeptical. In addition to the one week per year that people flock to the county fair, the fairgrounds are also host to a variety of events, including horse shows, canine agility competitions and llama festivals. These raingardens would need to be attractive, effective and able to survive with no maintenance from the grounds staff and only occasional upkeep from Master Gardeners and WCD staff. Three years later, the gardens are thriving ...
More

If You Plant It, They Will Come

In his book, Bringing Home Nature: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens, Douglas Tallamy makes a suggestion that many of us would find strange. He advises that we plant trees, shrubs and flowers that are native to our area in order to intentionally attract more insects to our yards. “What?” you are likely thinking. “Why would we want more bugs? Aren’t there enough in Minnesota already?” Not all bugs are created equal, however, and without a healthy variety of insects in our yards, we won’t be able to sustain the birds, tortoises, foxes and other animals that most ...
More

Raingarden Interview

Blue Thumb was featured in a WCCO Mondale and Jones segment about raingardens on June 1, 2009. You can listen to a podcast of the 10-min interview at

http://www.wccoradio.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=3765086


More

Dentist Seeks Buffer Zone Along The Zumbro River

http://www.startribune.com/local/52031387.html?page=4&c=y

ROCHESTER - The Zumbro River is slow and lazy on a summer's day as it curves along a gentle bend near Terry Klampe's home just outside Rochester.

But all is not tranquil in Olmsted County.

Klampe, a dentist and ardent conservationist, has filed a complaint to give the river some space in farm country.

Farmers are thwarting the law by planting corn and soybeans to the edge of the river and its tributaries, Klampe said, violating pollution rules that require a 50-foot buffer of permanent vegetation to protect streams and lakes from soil and ...
More

Golden Opportunity

A Minneapolis couple celebrate their 50th anniversary with a unique gift to the neighborhood - rain gardens for everyone on their block.

By KIM PALMER, Star Tribune Last update: August 26, 2009 - 7:47 AM

After 50 years of marriage and four grown kids, most couples are done with procreating. Not Bob and Debby Wolk. They recently gave birth to 11 baby rain gardens, one for every yard on their southwest Minneapolis block.

The Wolks hatched the plan earlier this year. Their 50th anniversary was a few months away, and they were trying to come up with ...
More

Don't Have A Green Thumb? Try Blue On For Size

Free workshops throughout the south metro teach residents how to prevent pollution and fight mosquitoes with rain gardens.

http://www.startribune.com/local/south/37748854.html?elr=KArksUUUU


More

Area Church On A Mission To Create Cleansing Waters

Read how Clark Memorial United Church of Christ in South St. Paul is creating an eco-friendly parking lot.

Visit: http://www.stpaulpublishing.com/images/South_St._Paul_Voice_September_2009.pdf.


More

Blue Thumb – Planting For Clean Water™ Program Wins Award For Educational Materials.

St. Paul, MN – September 17, 2009.

On September 16, the St. Paul Garden Club held their Autumn Joy Flower Show at Como Park’s Marjorie McNeely Conservatory. In the conservation education exhibit category, the Blue Thumb – Planting for Clean WaterTM program received the Garden Club of America’s Ann Lyon Crammond Award for its “Discover the Secret” and “What Color Will Our Lakes Be?” educational exhibits. Congratulations to Blue Thumb for creating excellent display materials, and thanks to St. Paul Garden Club member Andrea McCue for her coordination of Blue Thumb’s presence at this event. Awards were also ...
More

Nature Shapes The Course Of Storm Drainage

Even now, with fall rushing toward winter, the handsome gardens along Rushmore Drive in Burnsville draw the eye with their maroon sedums, purple asters and waving ornamental grasses.

All the gardens are near the curb, and all drop a foot or two below street level at their lowest point.

They're rain gardens.

Since they were planted in 2003, they've attracted national attention for their success in diverting storm water that would have gone directly into a local lake. About 90 percent of the water that flows off Rushmore Drive now filters into the ground instead, trapping debris ...
More

Three West-Metro Lakes Are Targeted For Cleanup To Reduce Their Pollution

To meet federal clean water standards state officials are considering ways to keep runoff and the pollutants it carries out of the lakes.

By LAURIE BLAKE, Star Tribune Last update: October 7, 2009 - 12:05 AM

Storm water carries so much phosphorus into a chain of lakes in Maple Grove and Plymouth that it may take 20 years to get the three lakes off the state's impaired waters list.

That's the finding of a new report to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency which describes the extent of the pollution in each lake and what can be done ...
More

Specially Designed Gardens Treat Parking Lot Runoff

Stillwater, MN - October 15, 2009

It’s a good thing I don’t melt in the rain like the bad witch from the Wizard of Oz. This October has been rough on all of us Minnesotan’s, but especially so for whiny people like myself. I’ve got a month to go in training for a triathlon that takes place next month in Arizona and biking outside is quickly progressing from unpleasant to miserable.

Two weeks ago, a torrential downpour overtook me out in the country, ten miles away from my office in Stillwater. (Apparently the hour-by-hour weather forecast is not ...
More

Flutter By, Butterfly

Stillwater, MN - October 29, 2009

It seems almost obscene to talk about butterflies at a time of year when, short of a winter vacation in the tropics, most of us have no hope of seeing one of these fluttering beauties for the next six months. If you’ve been out walking or biking though, on one of the rare days this fall when it wasn’t raining, sleeting, snowing or just plain freezing, you may have noticed a tiny parade of furry, orange and black caterpillars moving slowly across local roads and trails. As strange as it may seem for ...
More

She’S Got It Made In The Shade

Stillwater, MN - October 9, 2009

Local watershed educator Dawn Pape speaks to hundreds of people each year about landscaping for clean water. The mastermind behind the Blue Thumb program and a Master Gardener herself, one of Pape’s biggest pet peeves is when people complain that nothing will grow in their shady yards. “Here!” she’ll say, thrusting a colorful brochure into their hands, “This is a list of 40 plants, all native to Minnesota and half of which grow perfectly in the shade.”

As Pape and many other gardeners have discovered, the trick to landscaping a shady yard ...
More

Water Mining

Stillwater, MN - December 17, 2009

Palm Springs, California is a land of contrasts. In a place that seldom sees more than two inches of rain per year, the streets are lined with bougainvillea and golf courses glisten with lush green grass. Wealthy retirees live in gated communities, while outside the gates a younger, increasingly Latino population is steadily growing. You can hit a local taqueria for lunch, spend less than $5 for one tamale and three tacos, and then throw down more than $100 for dinner at a swanky supper club later that evening. I arrived in Palm ...
More