Events & Activities

Public Listening Session on the President's America's Great Outdoors Initiative

srich — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:55:03 -0500

Please join senior representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Council on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Department of Defense for a public listening session and discussions in Minnesota on conservation, recreation, and reconnecting people to the outdoors.

This past April, at the White House Conference on America's Great Outdoors, President Obama signed a memorandum establishing the America's Great Outdoors Initiative to develop a conservation agenda worthy of the 21st century and to reconnect Americans with our great outdoors. The President understands that protecting and restoring the lands and waters that we love and reconnecting people to the outdoors must happen at the local level.

Therefore, President Obama directed the principal leaders of the America's Great Outdoors Initiative to travel across the country to listen and learn from people directly involved in finding grassroots solutions to conserve our lands, waterways, historical and cultural resources, and reconnect Americans to the outdoors. The President indicated that the sessions should engage the full range of interested groups, including tribal leaders, farmers and ranchers, sportsmen, community park groups, foresters, youth groups, businesspeople, educators, State and local governments, recreation and conservation groups, and others.

This listening session in Minnesota offers an opportunity for us to engage in a conversation about the solutions you and your community have created to address the challenges and opportunities facing land and water conservation; for engaging people in outdoor activities; and in restoring and conserving our vital natural and cultural resources.

The public listening session and discussions on August 4^th provide an opportunity for the leaders of the America's Great Outdoors Initiative to hear from you and other voices in the region about solutions for building a 21^st century conservation and recreation agenda and for reconnecting people with the outdoors.

To register, please visit the EPA website:

http://www.epa.gov/region5/news/features/americasgreatoutdoors.html

This event is free and open to the public.

In the event you are unable to participate in person, please submit your comments and ideas via the America's Great Outdoors website at http://www.doi.gov/americasgreatoutdoors/.

If you have questions, please call Jennifer Ostermeier at (312) 353-0618.

Crosby Shoreline Buckthorn Haul

srich — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:53:32 -0500

Help remove invasive buckthorn from shoreline at Crosby Farm Regional Park in St. Paul. This event marks the beginning of an exciting effort to restore shoreline of Upper Crosby Lake. Removing invasive species is the first step toward increasing native species and improving habitat and water quality. Crews will be cutting the buckthorn before the event, and volunteers will be needed to help haul the brush out of the area.

As always, staff will provide all guidance, tools, and gloves needed for a productive and fun event. Children accompanied by a parent or guardian are welcome.

Volunteers will be the first to be invited to continue the restoration project in the future.

Ready to register?

To ensure a high-quality experience, capacity is limited and pre-registration required. To sign up, contact Volunteer Coordinator sue rich at srich[@]fmr.org, or by selecting "Volunteering" in the drop-down "Category" menu of our contact form. Please include: the name of the event, your name, address, and phone number and the number in your party.

You will receive a confirmation email and additional details, such as directions and what to wear, from srich[at]fmr.org within, at most, a week. If you have earthlink or an active SPAM filter, please add sue's email address to your contacts to ensure receipt.

More information

This event is part of the Gorge Stewards program, which actively engages citizens throughout the Twin Cities in the stewardship of the national treasure that is the Mississippi River Gorge. Gorge Stewards volunteers are also active in maintaining the nearby demonstration native prairie at Crosby.

St. Paul Raingardens Walking Tour

srich — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:53:19 -0500

Led by staff from Capitol Region Watershed District (CRWD) and Metro Conservation Districts, and hosted by Friends of the Mississippi River, this tour features several raingardens in St. Paul’s "Garden District." Each was constructed by CRWD and St. Paul’s Department of Public Works as part of the Arlington Pascal Stormwater Improvement Project. In addition to improving water quality, these raingardens are also a neighborhood amenity — contributing beauty, wildlife interest, and an opportunity for education in this subwatershed of Como Lake.

The tour will involve walking on paved park trails and sidewalks for approximately 2 miles over a two-hour time period. The tour is free and open to all, but capacity is limited to maintain a quality experience. Pre-registration is required and early registration encouraged and appreciated. This webpage will be updated when the tour has reached capacity. (The meeting place will be emailed to registrants only.)

Ready to register?

To ensure a high-quality experience, capacity is limited and pre-registration required. To sign up, contact FMR Program Assistant Meghan Dudle at mdudle[at]fmr.org or by selecting "Meghan Dudle" in the dropdown menu under "Category" in our contact form. She can also be reached at 651-222-2193 x23. Please include: the name of the event, your name, address and phone number and the number in your party.

You will receive a confirmation email and additional details, such as directions and what to wear, from mdudle[at]fmr.org within, at most, aweek. If you have earthlink or an active SPAM filter, please add Meghan's email address to your contacts to ensure receipt.

The confirmation, including location details, will be sent via email. (If you do not have email access, we would be happy to call you but please allow more time for a response.)

If you have earthlink or another e-mail with an active spam filter, please add mdudle[at]fmr.org to your Contacts or Address Book to ensure receipt of your confirmation email.

Oak Savanna Interpretive Tour

srich — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:24:07 -0500

Carolyn Carr, an ecologist with Ecological Strategies, will lead an interpretive tour of the special Oak Savanna in the Mississippi River Gorge. Carolyn has years of experience conducting educational and outreach programs to protect open space and restore natural areas, particularly in urban areas, and has been an integral part of the work in this section of the River Gorge.

Gorge Stewards volunteers have embraced and played a key role in the health of this community gem. This area harbors the highest quality plant communities remaining in the River Gorge, including a mesic prairie and a remnant oak brushland/woodland undergoing restoration to oak savanna. Through Oak Savanna Workdays and other River Gorge events, volunteers remove invasive species, pick up litter, collect seeds, plant native species, and more. Thanks to their countless hours, not to mention the collaboration of many partner organizations, the area that was once a buckthorn thicket now has renewed life.

Read more about the history of this oak savanna at this oak savanna workday listing.

Ready to register?

Please note that while this tour is free, pre-registration is required as capacity is limited, and early sign-up highly encouraged. This page will be updated and note when the event fills.

• If you are certain you would like to and are able to attend, online registration is immediately available via Eventbrite:

Are you printing this for someone who doesn't have internet access?

Please let them know they can register by phone with sue rich, in Tuesdays-Thursdays, at 651.222.2193 x14, and need to include all of the following in their voicemail message:

The name of the event,
Their full name,
The number in their party,
Their home address including ZIP,
Number(s) where they can be reached for confirmation, and
An indication of familiarity with this general area and/or a request for directions from their home or other starting point.

Raingarden Workshop

srich — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:16:40 -0500

Please note: There is a $10 admission for the workshop. All participants will receive the Blue Thumb Guide to Raingardens (normally $20), and one lucky participants will receive a free rainbarrel, courtesy of the Capitol Region Watershed District.

Many people don’t realize that some standard lawncare practices can cause serious damage to nearby lakes, streams and rivers. However, homeowners interested in preserving local water quality can start right in their own backyards.

The natural beauty and practical benefit of a raingarden make it an increasingly popular choice for home landscapers who want to do their part to improve water quality, and many residents seek resources on how to add these lovely features to their yards, schools, and businesses.

Join a landscape ecologist from Metro Conservation Districts to learn what a raingarden is, how to build one, and why they can be important for our lakes, rivers and wetlands.

The workshop will take a how-to approach, giving participants information about:
• where a raingarden should be placed,
• soil preparation,
• plant selection, and
• other nuances of raingarden construction.

Printed materials about will be provided for participants.

Ready to register?

To ensure a high-quality experience, capacity is limited and pre-registration required. To sign up, contact Volunteer Coordinator sue rich at srich[@]fmr.org, or by selecting "Volunteering" in the drop-down "Category" menu of our contact form. Please include: the name of the event, your name, address, and phone number and the number in your party. (As soon as St. Paul Community Education is ready to process class payments, sue will email you the link to process your payment.)

Seed Collection at the Sand Coulee/Rare Prairie

srich — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:36:19 -0500

Enjoy a hands-on seed identification and collection training while enjoying a rare example of a sand gravel prairie. Seed will be used for further habitat restoration. Large quantities — of volunteers and seed alike — needed! Previous seed collection is not required — all abilities and groups are welcome. This activity, though, is very detail oriented and best suited for teenagers and up.

About the Coulee
Home to 13 rare plant and animal species, FMR helped this Hastings-area gem earn SNA or Scientific and Natural Area status from the Department of Natural Resources — affording it the highest level of protection in the state. The site is home to pussytoes, prairie smoke, blue-eyed grass, Carolina puccoon, and toadflax to name just a few native plant species, and is renown for its bird population, including larksparrow, loggerhead shrike, and many other species who depend upon such rare patches of native habitat.

To learn more about the Sand Coulee, please visit our Sand Coulee profile feature and our Sand Coulee project page.

This event is also part of the Vermillion Stewards program, which involves volunteers in hands-on stewardship and educational programs throughout the unique Vermillion River watershed.

Ready to register?
To ensure a high-quality experience, capacity is limited and pre-registration required. To sign up, contact FMR Program Assistant Meghan Dudle at mdudle[at]fmr.org or by selecting "Meghan Dudle" in thedropdown menu under "Category" in our contact form. She can also be reached at 651-222-2193 x23. Please include: the name of the event, your name, address and phone number and the number in your party.

You will receive a confirmation email and additional details, such as directions and what to wear, from mdudle[at]fmr.org within, at most, a week. If you have earthlink or an active SPAM filter, please add Meghan's email address to your contacts to ensure receipt.