By Mary Blitzer
Stewards advocate for policies related to water, forests, and wildlife.
Forests and Wildlife
The Forests and Wildlife Stewards welcomed special guests Jim Manolis, Sachi Graber, and Leah Hall from The Nature Conservancy (TNC) at their last meeting. During the meeting, the Stewards received an informative presentation from Manolis, and were able to discuss their involvement in the Minnesota Forest Resource Council (MFRC). The Stewards were also able to weigh in on the sequestration debate (which sequesters more carbon, old growth trees or young trees?) and hear input and opinions from the TNC team.
The Stewards also discussed The Nature Conservancy’s new report, Nature and Climate Solutions for Minnesota. This report is important, because it puts an emphasis on finding natural climate solutions through our forests. Some of these solutions involve forest restoration work, tree planting, and identifying tree species that are going to be the most climate resilient – especially on our North Shore and in northern Minnesota. It’s no secret that Minnesota’s climate is changing more rapidly than most states in the U.S, and Minnesotans are already witnessing rising temperatures, warming water, and fewer days of ice. Therefore, it is imperative that we act now and use natural solutions to preserve our land, our communities, and our ways of life.
Water and Wetlands
One of the issues the Waters and Wetlands Stewards consistently tracks is the Lake Hiawatha cleanup effort. Unfortunately, solid waste, largely from streets, sidewalks, and parking lots, travels to the lake through the storm sewer. The amount of trash pulled out of the lake usually totals about 1600 pounds annually. So far, cleanup efforts have largely fallen to the community group Friends of Lake Hiawatha, although the Stewards believe that the city of Minneapolis and the Parks Board (MPRB) should take more responsibility for the problem.
The new Lake Hiawatha Master Development Plan, which calls for "replacing the limited capacity storm water pipe at the north side of the Lake with a free flowing channel to reduce flooding in the watershed to the North, management of trash removal from the watershed, treatment of runoff to reduce pollutant loads to the Lake which is impaired for excess nutrients and bacteria and incorporation of stormwater best management practices as required to manage site runoff" (MPRB, 2020), was recently rejected by the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board, but we expect it will come up for another vote soon.
The Water Stewards are submitting a letter on the Storm Water Management Plan to highlight that this plan currently does not include trash as a pollutant and has no plan for trash collection.