Conservation heroes honored at annual recognition dinner

Glass artist Eric Sommers designed this year's Watershed Excellence Awards based on the structure of a water molecule.

During our annual recognition dinner held Nov. 8 at Keller Golf Course in Maplewood, we recognized several local citizens and conservation professionals for their outstanding efforts in the watershed. The evening was also a great chance to connect with dozens of friends and partners who continue to make positive contributions in our community.

Here are this year’s Watershed Excellence Awards recipients, followed by photos of other attendees who helped make this a special night.

Watershed Excellence Awards

Mark Gernes
Roger Lake Stewardship Excellence Award

Award recipient Mark Gernes(left) with presenter
Dana Larsen-Ramsay. Photo by Anita Jader.

Mark Gernes has been a RWMWD volunteer for 24 years, contributing scientific expertise and enthusiasm to countless watershed projects. As a research scientist for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, a former state park naturalist and Maplewood resident, he brings a wealth of plant and animal knowledge, monitoring expertise, and dedication to improving the natural environment. He is a current member of the District’s Citizen Advisory Commission and serves as co-chair of its LEAP and Environmental Forum teams.


Virginia Gaynor
Outstanding Partner Award

Award recipient Ginny Gaynor (left) with presenter
Mark Gernes. Photo by Anita Jader.

Virginia (Ginny) Gaynor, natural resources coordinator for the City of Maplewood, has successfully merged city projects and District goals through her vision, support and open communication. She is instrumental in the preservation and  restoration of open spaces including Fish Creek Natural Area and Gladstone Savanna. She has championed new conservation techniques such as using compost bags for shoreline stabilization at Kohlman Creek and a reinforced turf parking lot at Bruentrup Heritage Farm. A creative leader in rain garden design, Ginny has developed innovative prototypes and led many workshops.

Ann Hutchinson (left) accepted her award in costume
with presenter Sage Passi. Photo by Anita Jader.

Ann Hutchinson
Youth Engagement Award
Ann Hutchinson, lead naturalist at Maplewood Nature Center, is a creative leader in engaging youth in watershed, habitat and outdoor learning projects. Since the early 2000's, she and her team of naturalists have engaged hundreds of local students in watershed topics by using theater, puppets and outdoor experiences like rain garden planting. Ann recently partnered with RWMWD to offer pollinator and watershed lessons for students in St. Paul, North St. Paul and Maplewood, along with service learning opportunities at Southwood Nature Preserve, Fish Creek and Beaver Lake.


Anita Jader
Conservation Champion Award

Award recipient Anita Jader, District Administrator
Tina Cartsens and presenter Michele Hanson.

Photographer Anita Jader has helped to raise awareness of native landscaping in the watershed, and she has photographed dozens of RWMWD events including the annual awards dinner and WaterFest. Anita and her husband Scott were pioneers in restoring their shoreline on Kohlman Lake, using native plants to prevent erosion and provide pollinator habitat. She has generously shared private access to the lake for carp management and other District projects, and she actively supports invasive buckthorn and garlic mustard removal in the watershed.


Cathy Troendle
Community Catalyst Award

Award recipient Cathy Troendle (left) with presenter
Karen Wold. Photo by Anita Jader.

Cathy Troendle is a strong leader in restoring Southwood Nature Preserve in North St. Paul as a valuable natural area and educational resource for the community. She has volunteered thousands of hours to remove invasive species, organize prescribed burns, grow plants, coordinate volunteers, raise funds and implement the preserves’ management plan. Cathy organizes an annual Prairie Days festival, leads classroom lessons and field days for local students, and has been active in the Master Naturalist program for the past 10 years.


Debbie Meister
WaterFest Champion Award

Award recipient Debbie Meister (left) with presenter
Linda Neilson. Photo by Anita Jader.

Debbie Meister has been the driving force and creative impetus behind the success of WaterFest, RWMWD’s annual community event, for many years. Thanks to her collaborative leadership, WaterFest has become a rich venue to learn about water, natural resources and taking action in the watershed. Beginning months in advance, Debbie engages cities and partner agencies, solicits sponsorships, coordinates exhibitors and volunteers, and promotes the festival to local media. WaterFest 2018 will be held June 2 at Phalen Regional Park.

Faces in the crowd

Enjoy a few candid shots of this year's recognition dinner captured by Anita Jader, Conservation Champion and our go-to photographer for District events.

The watershed community celebrates at Keller Golf Course.

Board members Cliff Aichinger and Dianne Ward.

Master Water Steward Chris Strong and her husband Richard showed off their
door prizes: buckthorn walking sticks created by Carol Gernes and Debbie Barnes.

Youth Engagement Award recipient Ann Hutchinson fittingly donned a heron
costume she uses to teach young people about watershed conservation.

Jordan and Sarah Wein of Carp Solutions and Capitol Region Watershed District, respectively,
brought their son Cooper (the evening's youngest guest).

L-R: Sherry Brooks, retired Farnsworth Elementary science specialist, Henriette Bissoy,
L'Etoile du Nord science specialist, and Ed Shinbach, Master Gardener school coordinator.

Board member Jen Oknich looked on as her daughter received a door prize from intern Matt Doneaux.

Artist Eric Sommers (left) displays Mark Gernes' Watershed Excellence Award. Eric crafted
this year's awards using glass, white marble and cedar at his studio in Minneapolis. 

Ramsey County Master Gardener Sally Prouty was the lucky winner
of this wooden birdhouse handmade and donated by Dave Nelson.

Keller Creek - A Channel for Restoring, Learning and Recreation

By Sage Passi

Mounds Park Academy biology students kick off this year's planting season at Keller Creek.

e
Keller Creek is a passageway that has long been a thoroughfare for people traveling up and down the Phalen Chain of Lakes. Planting along Keller Creek is an annual affair as we restore this corridor. This spring, the relatively cool weather and frequent rains helped to make the buffer planting a success. Amazingly, not a single restoration session had to be cancelled despite the imminent rain forecast on many of our scheduled planting days!



Chris Klatt, Natural Resources Intern, Tracy Leavenworth, education consultant, and Don Vegoe, Ramsey County Master Gardener, assist Mounds Park Academy students in restoring native plants along the Keller Creek buffer.

Now in its third year, this latest phase of the restoration creek buffer project encompasses an area along the east side of the creek between the north parking lot at Lake Phalen near the boat launch and just south of the Frost Avenue Bridge. To prepare the area, invasive trees and shrubs were removed. The turf grass along the edge of the path next to the creek was killed and a seed mix planted beneath the erosion blanket fabric that covers the planting area.


To prepare the site, discs on the seeder cut slits in the dead turf and seed
was then dropped onto the soil. A heavy roller helped to close the slits and increase the seed-soil contact.

In mid-to-late May, over 375 students in fourteen classes from Mounds Park Academy, L’Etoile du Nord French Immersion, Weaver Elementary, Level Up Academy, Harmony Learning Center and Roseville Area Middle School gathered at the site to install 3,500 native plant plugs with the help of Natural Resources staff, Simba, interns Chris, Matt and Anna, education staff, Sage and Tracy, and Ramsey County Master Gardeners. These native plantings are now in the ground and thriving.

A student in Harmony Learning Center’s Adult ESL
class plants at Keller Creek.

Liddy Rich, ESL teacher at Harmony School, helps her students learn new
vocabulary words while they are oriented about the planting.

In the coming weeks, Natural Resources staff and Ramsey County Corrections inmate crews will install plants on steeper slopes and in the water in areas that were too hard for students to navigate.

Prior to coming out to the creek, classes studied the history of changes along the creek, learned about the planting zones (the upland prairie, wet meadow and emergent zones) and the ecological value of buffers and their role in preventing erosion. To review some of the creek’s many changes over time, go to this link.

Since the restoration project began three years ago, park patrons that walk by the restoration area often share positive comments and express appreciation for the work that is taking place in the park. Kayakers, canoeists and even paddle boats glide by on the creek, taking in the beauty of the area. A bicycle and walking path along the creek often carries people who are traveling between Phalen Lake and Keller Lake or others who are making connections to the Gateway Trail. At the weir or other bridges over the creek, you will often find people fishing. One sunny morning during the restoration project, a student spied a sturgeon lingering by the weir’s wall. When asked what he has been catching, a nearby fisherman reported that he often sees blue gills and big mouth bass in the creek.

The weir in Keller Creek

 

On most of the planting days, time was built into the schedule for students to explore the aquatic life in the creek. They collected samples of water and found abundant damselfly nymphs, an occasional dragonfly nymph, a variety of beetles, aquatic worms and other macroinvertebrates. Beneath the weir and other bridges you can see vibrant colonies of eel grass waving in the shallow flow of the stream. This vegetation provides habitat for some of this aquatic life. 

Anthony Larkin, a Level Up Academy teacher, climbs down along the weir to point out a turtle to his students.

After planting, many of the classes tried out some newly learned techniques for monitoring water in the creek. They collected water and then carried it onto the weir to measure the creek’s pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen and transparency.

Jodie Hardenbrook, a science teacher at Roseville Area Middle School,
looks on as her students pour creek water into a transparency tube
to measure its clarity.

Except for the first day of the planting when the turbidity of the water was somewhat murky after a rain, the water was remarkably clear. Dissolved oxygen levels were in the 8-9 ppm range and the pH measured around 8.6.

A Harmony ESL student carries water up from Keller Creek
to test it for dissolved oxygen, pH and temperature.

The portages near the weir make it handy
to get down to the water’s edge.

How to Get to the Restoration Area

Starting from the South:

To give you a feel for the restoration’s progression, take a stroll along the creek from bottom to top or the reverse. It is really easy to access. One option is to park in the lot on the north end of Lake Phalen. Take the walking path to the north along the creek. The straw erosion control blanket delineates the restoration. If you look closely, you will see thousands of young native plants popping through the blanket. On your way you will pass by a monument near the Frost Avenue Bridge that provides pictures and history of the area.

Starting from the North:

You can also access the full length of the creek restoration from the north, starting with the first stretch of the restoration completed two years ago. Enter Keller Creek Regional Park through the Golfview Picnic Area entrance. This entrance is just north of Roselawn Avenue (south of County Road B in Maplewood). You need to be traveling north on Highway 61 in Maplewood to get to this entrance. Take the road in the park to the top of the hill, park in the lot at the top and walk down the newly paved pervious asphalt trail to the bottom. On your left you will see the newly dedicated Tuj Lub courts adjacent to the creek. Tuj Lub is a traditional Hmong top spinning game. These courts officially opened on June 10 with a grand opening celebration.

 

Senator Foung Hawj presents spinning tops to partners who helped make the Tuj Lub Courts possible. Partners include Ramsey County, the City of Maplewood and the Legacy Fund.

Proceed south along the east side of the creek to the weir where the restoration was done two years ago. If you cross over the weir and walk along an informal trail on the west side of the creek you can see the now thriving wet meadow areas planted by students and other volunteers in 2016. 

The vibrant wet meadow was established last year on the west side of the creek. In the background you can see the Tuj Lub dedication celebration held at the new courts on June 10.

Cross back to the east side of the creek and continue to walk along the creek. You will pass under several arched bridges and eventually arrive at the north parking lot of Lake Phalen. The creek opens up into Round Lake and then its waters flow through a channel into Lake Phalen and eventually south to the Mississippi River!

You can also paddle the creek and put in at a number of spots including any of the following lakes in the Phalen Chain of Lakes: Lake Phalen, Keller Lake or Lake Gervais. To download our WaterTrail map go here.

 

Kayaks are commonly seen along Keller Creek. If the water is deep enough they can pass right through under the weir, but when the water in the creek is shallow the stone portages make it easy to get around the weir and re-enter the water.

 

Roger Svendsen Champions Cigarette Litter Clean-Ups

By Sage Passi

Roger Svendsen has been picking up cigarette butts around Lake Phalen for almost a decade. He brought his stash to Lake Phalen for Waterfest this year to call attention to the litter issue.

 

Roger Svendsen keeps a log count of every cigarette butt he’s picked up for the past nine years in the Phalen/Round Lake area. He has a regular beat and walks around these lakes each day. His love of Lake Phalen and the natural areas in the park are a strong driving force behind his commitment to keeping this park clean.

 

 

Roger Svendsen walks around Lake Phalen every day, no matter what season.

One late May morning this spring, while I was out at Keller Creek near Round Lake helping classes during our restoration efforts, I spied Roger coming down the paved path. I decided to seize the moment and take some time to accompany him on his route to get a closer look at what has become Roger’s passion for almost a decade. As we proceeded on our walk, I asked him how he first got started on this mission.

He told me that he was discussing litter problems in the park with some park staff years ago and asked them if they picked up cigarette butts during their rounds. “We’re paid by the hour,” they told me. “There isn’t enough time in the day or money to do it.” This was the prompt that drew him into taking on this issue with full gusto.




I ran into Roger near Keller Creek while he was on his “beat”.




Roger searches for cigarette butts in a storm drain
emptying near Round Lake.

As we walked along the path, Roger soon deviated from the sidewalk and headed down some brushy, overgrown trails to several stormwater outfalls and storm drains hidden back in the woods.

 







Roger determined that this outfall empties run-off from nearby streets
like Larpenteur Avenue into Round Lake and then into Lake Phalen.
It’s one of many regular stops along his beat.



Roger at the inlet to Round Lake

 
As Roger bent down with a stick to push a cigarette butt closer to him that was floating in the murky detritus near one of these drains, I realized that this was both a healthy obsession and a commitment with some physical demands.

No cigarette butt goes undetected!

“People have suggested that I get one of those trash grabbers so I don’t have to bend down to pick up the cigarettes, but I figured out that if I bend over to pick them up, I stay much more limber. “

At age 73, Roger has acquired a fair amount of notoriety for his role in cleaning up Lake Phalen. He’s been the subject of multiple local newspaper stories and videos. His take on his public image was summed up in this comment,

“My daughter once asked me, “How would you like being known as the daughter of the Cigarette Butt Guy?” I told her that I figure at my age, I don’t think it matters if I am crazy!”

As we continued our stroll around the park, I could tell that this daily walk has multiple benefits for both Roger and the community. Walking around the lakes each day provides him with the opportunity to be immersed in the beauty of the natural world and keep fit. But it also allows him to stay connected to a life tied to helping people with chemical addictions. Roger tells me he worked in the field of chemical addiction for many years before he retired.

The puzzle pieces were starting to fit together.

Roger’s walks provide opportunities for him to experience both “Beauty and the Beast”. His bridge view in Phalen Park frames the “island” where Roger spends time each week looking for cigarette butt litter.

 
As we got closer to the “island” in Phalen Park, Roger relayed a rather troubling fact that on more than one occasion he has picked up as many as 2,000-3,000 cigarette butts on the island in one visit.

He dedicates certain days to focus on parts of the park, including parking lots.

Hearing this has prompted me to contemplate some of the statistics and research I have been digging out about cigarette butt pollution since getting acquainted with Roger. Here are some facts I have learned;

The Scoop on Cigarette Butt Litter

 

• 5.6 trillion cigarettes are sold globally every year; 360 billion are sold annually in the United States.
• Butt waste is toxic: Cigarette butts leach organic chemicals and heavy metals (including lead, chromium, and arsenic) into the water and the environment that are toxic to fresh and salt-water fish. 
• A 2009 study found that the chemicals in a single filtered cigarette butt have the ability to kill half the fish living in a 1-liter container of water. They are poisonous when ingested by children and other living organisms. 
• Whatever their direct health impact on or benefit to smokers, cigarette filters pose a serious litter and toxic waste disposal problem. Cellulose acetate is photodegradable but not bio-degradable. Although ultraviolet rays from the sun will eventually break the filter into smaller pieces under ideal environmental conditions, the source material never disappears; it essentially becomes diluted in water or soil.
• In a review of litter cleanup project reports, the Keep America Beautiful campaign reported that cigarette butts comprise from 25 to 50 percent of all collected litter items from roadways and streets.
• The overall littering rate for cigarette butts is 65%, and tobacco products comprise 38% of all U.S. roadway litter. 
• Cigarette butt littering is often associated with the physical environment (38%), i.e. for every additional ash receptacle, the littering rate for cigarette butts decreases by 9%. Cigarette butt littering is also attributable to individual motivations; for example, 77% of individuals in a survey stated they did not consider cigarette butts as litter.

  

Tallying the Cigarette Litter in Phalen Park
 

Roger Svendsen with his stash of cigarette butts at WaterFest 2017

I decided to invite Roger to have a display at WaterFest this year about his stewardship efforts. He told me he stores the cigarette butts he has collected over the years along in boxes in his garage. When he showed up at WaterFest, he lugged the boxes he has accumulated full of cigarette butts up to the Pavilion and placed this shocking amount of litter at one of the entrances.

As visitors walked by, they experienced a rude awakening with the potent aroma of tobacco. It made quite an impact. His tally revealed he has picked up 481,929 butts in nine years. He told me his goal is half a million butts which means he’s close to reaching his goal. That’s quite a remarkable achievement.

We’d like to thank Roger for his awesome dedication to this cause! Imagine the impacts on our treasured lakes if he hadn’t taken on this mission!

-------------------------------------------------------

References
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, ISSN 1660-4601
www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

Keep America Beautiful
https://www.kab.org/cigarette-litter-prevention/problem-and-facts

Honoring Linda Neilson and the Ramsey County Master Gardeners

By Sage Passi



Linda Neilson receives the Citizen Engagement Award from Sage Passi at the Recognition Dinner.

 

The Citizen Engagement Award, presented to Linda Neilson, Ramsey County Master Gardener, at RWMWD’s 2016 Recognition Dinner in November, like many of our Watershed Excellence Awards given to incredible people, programs and entities, is long overdue. This award recognizes an individual or organization that effectively facilitates citizen participation efforts to improve and protect water quality. Since 2005, the Ramsey County Master Gardener program has engaged a large group of volunteers in supporting the watershed in a myriad of different water and habitat improvement, education and stewardship projects.

 



Master Gardeners Rose Cherlin, Cees Duijndam, Linda Neilson and
Mary Knuth-Kedrowski gear up for seed-planting season at Farnsworth.

Linda Neilson and Master Gardeners have a Decade of Partnership with the District

For over ten years, Linda Neilson and the Master Gardeners have played a pivotal role in helping to establish and build this partnership. Linda's vision, dedication, knowledge, tenacity, attention to detail and commitment have helped shape this remarkable collaboration. She has gone far above being a typical volunteer by promoting and supporting watershed education, planning for and making projects happen, and helping train and engage a robust group of individuals. Her networking and teambuilding skills have resulted in increasing watershed awareness and the development of solid and growing volunteer and citizen involvement in the communities in the Watershed District.
 

 

Linda instructs Battle Creek Middle School science students
in sod removal at their residential rain garden project.

Linda and the dedicated efforts and commitment of her cohorts, school program coordinators, Ed Shinbach and Rochelle Robideau, and over sixty volunteers have helped this partnership become a dream-come-true for the Watershed District. Her participation, and that of her colleagues, has made it possible for the District to develop our classroom “greenhouse” operations and teach young people about the use of native plants in protecting water and improving habitats.




Nancy Nygaard helps students transplant seedlings.

Linda and other Master Gardeners have helped us design and install many demonstration residential, school and church rain gardens, implement native habitat projects and helped support our yearly public rain garden workshops.



Kris Baird, Rose Cherlin, Linda Neilson and Jodi Refsland-Wilson work on the design for Children's Discovery Academy butterfly and native shade garden.

Linda and Master Gardeners have also supported our shoreline and habitat restorations at Lake Phalen, Keller Lake, Phalen Golf Course, Keller Creek, Battle Creek, Casey Lake and Southwood Nature Preserve. These projects have brought beauty, biodiversity and water quality improvement to our community. They have also raised the public's awareness of how they too can increase biodiversity and improve water quality and pollinator habitats.

Laurie Holmberg assists students in planting along the Keller Lake shoreline.

Linda is extremely generous with her time and creative in finding resources

Each holiday season she brings bags of delicious homemade caramels for the staff and Citizen Advisory Commission members to enjoy. She has gifted us with a fancy new edger perfectly adapted to rain garden plantings and watering wands. Linda also brings us newspaper clippings, informational handouts and much more.

"How many shovels full of dirt do you need to remove in order to build a rain garden?"
- Linda Neilson

Linda is an Avid Nurturer and a Strategist

She has an eye on both the present and the future and able to see the connections between people and their community. She is good at grasping what people need to learn and understand, finding ways they can work together, expanding what they can accomplish, determining what it takes to involve them, and then developing plans to mobilize them and build on their capacity. Linda's vision has become the way of doing business with the Master Gardener Program and we are eternally grateful for all their assistance!

Master Gardeners review how to assess rain garden sites
and do infiltration tests.

What began as a small operation has grown greatly over the years. With the help of Master Gardeners we have been able to provide assistance for both small and large-scale projects in the community.



Merlin Schlicting assists Weaver fifth graders in planting their Clean Water rain garden in one of our large-scale projects.

 

Linda's Early Commitment to Water and Environmental Education

Linda began as a Master Gardener in 2005. Just one year after her internship was complete she signed up to be a school coordinator for the Ramsey County Master Gardener program. Together, Linda and other enthusiastic Master Gardener volunteers, including school co-coordinator Rochelle Robideau (right), teachers and students, working with the Watershed District were able to build momentum and start our first school yard habitat restoration project on American Indian Magnet’s school ground. At the time, this was a large-scale school undertaking for us. But it wasn't long before Master Gardeners were signing up for our next projects.

School Coordinator Rochelle Robideau teamed up with Linda and
other Master Gardeners to help American Indian Magnet School
construct a large-scale prairie garden on their school grounds.

Soon after this first school yard habitat restoration project, others schools wanted to participate, including St. Peter Catholic and L'Etoile du Nord Schools.

Ed Shinbach helped mobilize students to build a rain garden
after the school completed this large-scale hillside restoration at L'Etoile du Nord.

 

Many habitat and rain garden projects were accomplished simultaneously with team support at schools in our District. We were learning together and building a growing enthusiasm and concern for water.

Learning to Teach Kids and Adults the Steps of Rain Garden Design and Construction 

Integral in that process were site assessments, exploring types of soil conditions and measuring infiltration rates. Rain gardens became king-of-the-hill in our public outreach. With no one around during the summer and so many school projects to maintain, we learned it was more practical to take our school rain garden operation offsite to residences where homeowners could take care of their own gardens.

Master Gardeners tour some of the smaller rain gardens built by
students and homeowners with Master Gardeners support.

 

These "practice rounds" ushered in an era of demonstration rain gardens at private residences around the District. Linda worked with us to develop a hands-on training process for both Master Gardeners and homeowners. From here we developed our rain garden training series, “Stopping Water Where it Drops”. These public workshops evolved into a partnership with Maplewood Nature Center and with sustained support by Master Gardener volunteers who helped homeowners start designs for their projects.
 

Linda Has Empowered Youth to Take on the Battle with Buckthorn

Another intensive project that Linda and Master Gardeners worked on with middle school students was buckthorn removal along Battle Creek. The buckthorn in the woods adjacent to Battle Creek School was out of control. What could they do about this tenacious problem? They focused on reducing the spread of this invasive species in targeted areas and then used the harvested buckthorn for a shoreline restoration project with the guidance of the Watershed District's natural resources staff.



"The Master Gardener posse readies weapons for buckthorn destruction."
- Linda Neilson

Buckthorn buster, Linda Neilson, on duty!



Planting through erosion fabric along Battle Creek requires serious concentration.

Master Gardeners Return to Engage with New and Ongoing Projects

Master Gardener interns try our projects early on and then often return to work with us when they are official Master Gardeners.

Over sixty volunteers have worked on projects designed to engage youth and residents in projects hat infiltrate rain water, stop erosion, remove invasive plants, restore habitats and shorelines, enhance pollinator habitats, enhance or create demonstration native plantings and gardens, educate citizens, increase the community’s awareness and openness to BMPs and provide education at WaterFest and other Watershed events.

Left: Jan House helps do setup for a school shoreline planting along Keller Creek.
Right: Nancy Nygaard checks to make sure plants are securely planted in the ground.

 

Linda has Expanded her Work to Become a Master Water Steward

In order to carry on with her advocacy and hands-on involvement in the community with watershed-related outreach and in-the-ground projects, Linda completed the Master Water Steward Training in 2016. She helped initiate and support an infiltration capstone project in the Bennett Lake Subwatershed in Roseville with another Master Water Steward, Hallie Finucane and hopes to continue engaging residents in that community. Linda remains very active on our Watershed District Citizen Advisory Commission. We look forward to continuing this collaboration!

Linda Neilson advises Roseville resident, Anne Haugan,
about plant choices as part of her Master Water Stewards'
capstone rain garden project.

 

Ramsey County Master Gardeners' Achievements
 in Partnership with RWMWD

An * indicates projects Linda was involved in and/or took a leadership role.

Church Rain Garden Projects at Nine Sites

Design assistance and/or construction and education for church rain garden projects at First Covenant*, Cross Lutheran*, Our Redeemer Lutheran*, Hope Lutheran, First Hmong Assembly of God, Prince of Peace, Redeeming Love*, Lakeview Lutheran,* and Grace Lutheran*

 

Linda helped create the design for a large section of Cross Lutheran's "mega"
rain garden in Maplewood that infiltrates parking lot runoff. Here she
 measures and paints the zones for different plants that the congregation will install.

 

Formed a church rain garden advisory team in 2013 to assist with Legacy funded projects*
 

 

Roger Hintze divides sedges during Prince of Peace Church's
rain garden installation. Roger played a pivotal role in engaging
his church in this Clean Water stewardship project.

 

Homeowner Education and Assistance 

Developed a training process for Master Gardens for site assessments, rain garden design and construction with mentoring teams*

Provided consultation for residents at the District’s annual 'Stopping Water Where It Drops' rain garden training series*

Assisted Casey Lake residents in their Clean Water Grant rain garden projects in 2014*




Ed Shinbach and Barbara Le Tourneau, Ramsey County Master Gardeners, engaged with a team of  many Master Gardeners who helped Casey Lake neighborhood residents plant their curb-cut rain gardens.

Restoration and Rain Garden Projects Involving Students Since 2005

Assisted classes in the Phalen Shoreline Restoration in 2005-07*, the Casey Lake Restoration, the Battle Creek Shoreline Restoration*, the Keller Shoreline Restoration in 2012-13*, the Keller Golf Course Restoration in 2013-14 and in the Keller Creek restoration project in 2015-16*

 

Master Gardener Donna Andersen assists students with
the Keller Creek shoreline restoration project.


Assisted students in the Southwood Nature Preserve Prairie Restoration in 2016 and the field day in 2015*

Master Gardener Joe Baltrukonis assists St. Peter fourth graders with a
  native habitat planting at Southwood Nature Preserve in North St. Paul.
Master Gardeners helped students at seven schools grow over 1,200 plants for the project.

Worked with students to assist homeowners in conducting site assessments.*


Ok students ... it's time for some rain garden math.

Worked with homeowners to develop planting designs.*

 

Barbara Brockway consults with homeowners on their rain garden.

Built demonstration rain gardens at eleven neighborhood sites*

Here's a rain garden a couple of years after its creation
by Battle Creek Middle School students and Master Gardeners.

Schoolyard Demonstration Projects

Master Gardeners engaged and helped educate classrooms at eighteen schools while working on watershed projects in the district for the past eleven years. Here are some of their accomplishments on school grounds.

Rochelle Robideau helping students plant seeds

Helped students plant and grow seedlings under the lights at eleven schools for watershed projects for the past eleven years*

Don Vegoe and Betsy McNulty assist Farnsworth
students in planting native shrubs next to their building.

Provided assistance in creating and maintaining schoolyard demonstration projects listed below:

• Farnsworth Aerospace - Design and creation of native gardens at both campuses*
• L’Etoile du Nord - Hillside restoration and rain garden*
• Battle Creek Middle School – Battle Creek Shoreline Restoration and buckthorn removal and schoolyard gardens*
• Mounds Park Academy - Wetland buffer, rain garden basins, buckthorn removal*
• American Indian Magnet – Prairie garden design and planting*
• Harding High - Courtyard garden*
• Achieve Academy - Rain garden
• St. Peter School – Design, planting and maintenance of large native garden*
• Children’s Discovery Academy – Design and planting of butterfly and shade garden*
• Willow Lane Elementary - Hillside project*
• Level Up Academy - Demonstration native garden
• Clean Water Legacy - Rain garden plantings at three schools in District 622; Maplewood Middle School, Weaver and Harmony Learning Center

Donna Andersen admires the completed rain garden at
Weaver Elementary with the fifth graders who helped plant it.

A special thanks to these key Ramsey County Master Gardeners

We especially want to thank and acknowledge three Ramsey County Master Gardeners who play key roles in the Watershed collaborations: Ed Shinbach, Rochelle Robideau and Jamie Aussendorf. 

Ed Shinbach is one of two school coordinators for the Master Gardener Program. Ed recruits and posts all of our volunteer opportunities on 'Sign Up Genius' and is in regular contact with the Watershed District regarding volunteer opportunities.

Rochelle Robideau is the other school coordinator. She has run the school “greenhouse operation” for many years. This operation runs from December to mid-April and includes seed stratification, planting and transplanting with classrooms, supervising and training volunteers, interacting with teachers and students, transporting materials, providing reports and staying in contact with the Watershed District in order to insure everything runs smoothly in twenty-five classrooms. 





Jamie Aussendorf is the Ramsey County Master Gardener Program Volunteer Coordinator who provides program support, communications and encouragement.






The Citizen Engagement Excellence Award is both an individual award for Linda and an appreciation and acknowledgment to the entire Ramsey County Master Gardener Program!

Thank you all! We couldn’t do this without all of you!