Community Confluence

Join us for a gathering to review input from our Fall Community Conversations in the Watershed. Help us prioritize watershed issues and actions in our 10 year management plan. Please free to participate even if you didn’t attend one of the fall meetings. We welcome everyone! Refreshments will be served. For more information contact Sage Passi, Watershed Education Specialist at sage.passi[at]rwmwd.org or at 651-792-7958.


Date: Thursday, January 30, 2014 6:30 PM-8:00 PM Doors open at 6:15 PM
Location: Maplewood Community Center, Room C and D, 2100 White Bear Avenue, Maplewood

Watch our website (www.rwmwd.org) for more details and/or preregister via Eventbrite.

Neighborhoods Turn into Living Classrooms

By Tracy Leavenworth and Sage Passi


Conrad Freeks, longtime Beaver Lake resident shares his stories and perspective with
L'Etoile du Nord fourth graders.

This fall two fourth-grade classes from L’Etoile du Nord French Immersion and a second grade class from Battle Creek Elementary left behind their traditional classrooms to engage in interactive watershed learning experiences in their East Side neighborhoods. Ames Lake, Battle Creek and Beaver Lake became the “living classrooms” for Nick Gasho’s and Audrey Gagnaire’s fourth-graders and Don Booth’s second-graders who explored the surroundings of their nearby water resources by bus and on foot.


These neighborhood tours were designed by Watershed District staff to introduce students and teachers to water-related issues that are happening right “in their back yards” and connect them with local watershed stewards who can provide ideas, inspiration, and assistance for meaningful service projects that students can implement in their own community. This fall, the community partners who supported these initial investigations included Maplewood Nature Center and St. Paul Community Education’s Service Learning Program.

L’Etoile du Nord’s Investigation at Ames Lake reveals some “hot buttons”

Sage Passi uses quilt pictures to explain the
history of Ames Lake to French Immersion students.

  Preparation for these field trips involves an introduction to watershed basics and some hands on learning in the traditional four-walled classroom. Before venturing to Ames Lake, Gasho’s fourth-grade class used squares from a story quilt to learn the history of how the lake was once filled, paved over and covered with a shopping mall back in the early 1960’s.
Ames Lake, though much different now than it once was, is a success story of urban habitat restoration in the City of St. Paul that still faces some on-going challenges.


On their field trip at Ames Lake the fourth-graders “met” the native plants that surround the lake and learned that efforts to manage the area were needed to remove invasive plants. They learned that the prairie around the wetland needs to be burned periodically to remove unwanted species and to nourish the soil. They explored the variety of habitats the plants provide for animals and birds and documented issues including invasive species, turbid water, litter and graffiti. 
 

French Immersion students enjoy a first-hand experience of Ames Lake’s ecology on their scavenger hunt.

“My students loved the activities and are excited to keep it going,” said L’Etoile du Nord French Immersion teacher Gasho in a follow-up email after his tour in late October. During their enviro-scavenger hunt bingo at Ames Lake, Gasho commented that the students, who would normally have had a difficult time focusing in the classroom, worked enthusiastically to recognize native plants and documented landmarks and issues they discovered around the lake.  


This coming winter and spring his students will have the opportunity to meet some of the local enthusiasts and elders who have been involved in the neighborhood projects. They’ll return for a visit in the winter and then when the lake thaws in the spring, they’ll investigate the water quality, study animal and insect life, learn how the area connects to other wildlife corridors and bring their learning to life through a service learning project.



Uh-oh....graffiti!

Kathy Sidles, a local environmental activist, joined French Immersion fourth-graders at their clean-up event at Ames Lake last spring. It’s a partnership that she hopes to continue with French Immersion students this year and augment their efforts by uniting multiple East Side St. Paul schools in a joint effort to clean-up and remove invasive plants at Ames Lake and along the Bruce Vento Trail that runs through St. Paul neighborhoods.

 

Battle Creek gets a visit from Don Booth's motivated second-graders



Beginning the adventure along
the creek corridor.

Battle Creek, the stream in East St. Paul that precipitated the birth of Ramsey Washington Metro Watershed District in 1975, has spawned many watershed heroes through the years, including a long list of teachers, students and citizens who have taken on the mission of advocating for and protecting its water quality and nearby habitats by building rain gardens, installing trench drains and doing creek shoreline restoration and buckthorn removal.

Battle Creek Elementary second-grade teacher, Don Booth, no stranger to teaching, is a recent transplant to the neighborhood and is destined, in all estimations, to become a hero in the area in the near future. It may be his first year teaching at Battle Creek Elementary, but he has an impressive track record of guiding his students to watershed action and community involvement in many projects over the years. While teaching at Parkway Elementary School on the east side of St. Paul a number of years ago, he and his fourth grade students installed a native garden and took on the goal of saving the large wooded area and open space next to the school to prevent it from being sold by the School District. His efforts helped set the stage for the next school that moved into the building. Following the lead of Don and other Parkway teachers, L’Etoile du Nord moved forward in Parkway's former space to complete a butterfly garden, a large scale hillside restoration project and a rain garden on the school grounds.

Left: Tracy Leavenworth pours a bucket of water to demonstrate run-off into the creek. 
Right: Don Booth's class waits for the water to arrive at the nearest storm drain.

 

Visiting a Battle Creek Neighborhood rain garden built by
middle school classes and residents.

This fall’s field trip in the Battle Creek neighborhood provided an opportunity for Don and his class to find their bearings in the neighborhood. They took a walking tour to the creek near the school and observed how water carrying pollutants flows to storm drains and then into Battle Creek. They visited two rain gardens and met a couple of the neighbors who built them with the help of Battle Creek Middle School classes a few years ago. They learned how rain gardens prevent run-off from polluting the nearby creek and took note of the problem of buckthorn as they walked along the creek corridor.


As the year progresses, it will be inspiring to see how these second graders turn their observations into action steps with the guidance and seasoned experience of their teacher, Don Booth.

Audrey Gagnaire’s fourth-graders team up with Beaver Lake residents and Maplewood Nature Center

Ann Hutchinson shares her LEAP Award-winning garden with
French Immersion fourth-graders.

Gagnaire’s tour began at the home of Maplewood Nature Center Naturalist, Ann Hutchinson, who lives across the street from the west shore of Beaver Lake. Ann is a longtime partner of the Watershed District who provides education for the community about watershed issues and helps lead citizens to take action. A few years ago she helped the Nature Center become a model for “Protecting Water One Rain Drop at a Time,” by installing innovative best management practices (BMPs) and colorful signs to communicate clean water messages to the community.


French Immersion fourth-graders discover the features at Maplewood
Nature Center that help to maintain clean water.

Ann initiated French Immersion’s trip by doing some teaching on her own turf – her home turf that is. Turf is not exactly a word in Ann’s vocabulary. Ann’s mission is to “replace” turf in her yard by planting beautiful native plants that perform water-cleaning functions and provide great habitat for birds, butterflies and other creatures. She and her husband, Rich Lindell are the recipients of a LEAP (Landscape Ecology Award Program Award) in 2007 for their sustainable yard practices. 

Students discover a place above Beaver Lake where runoff is causing
erosion on the hillside leading down to the lakeshore.

 
After identifying examples of watershed stewardship in her yard, Ann guided the students along the sidewalk above the shores of Beaver Lake, pointing out erosion issues and calling attention to wildlife and plants present in the area. The next tour stop, a couple blocks from her home was at Achieve Learning Academy to explore two rain gardens that the school established in 2011 with help from the Watershed District. While there, Gagnaire’s fourth-graders collected seeds from the native plants in the rain gardens and learned how their long roots soak up water and protect it from being polluted before it ends up in nearby Beaver Lake. 

Left: Collecting seeds at the Achieve Learning Academy rain gardens.
Right: Checking out the outlet at Beaver lake.  There are a lot of leaves in the water here!

For their next stop, the French Immersion fourth-graders visited eighty-eight year old resident and self- taught Watershed Steward, Conrad Freerks and his wife, Yvonne on the east side of the lake. Freerks recently attended one of RWMWD’s Community Conversations in the Watershed and sent the District a long letter documenting his observations from around the lake including a tally of people who frequent the paths around the lake. Students listened to his stories about how the area surrounding the lake has changed over time while walking down to the shoreline below his Beaver Lake home.


The neighborhood tour culminated at Maplewood Nature Center where students explored the watershed features on the site that included several rain gardens, pervious pavers, a cistern, a drain channel and a rain chain. They interacted with teaching tools inside and outside that related to ecosystems and water quality protection. Delighted students were surprised with hot chocolate from the Nature Center and chocolate cookies freshly baked by Conrad’s wife, Yvonne. It was a welcome treat on such a cold day!

Left: Homeowner Conrad Freerks gives the students a tour of his Beaver lakeshore property.
Right; Students enjoy a lesson (and hot chocolate!) at Maplewood Nature Center.

As this class considered the issues they encountered on their neighborhood tour (erosion along the lakeshore, a build-up of leaves in the lake near the outlet and lake level fluctuations pointed out by Conrad), they also took note of the partnerships developing between the Watershed District, homeowners and the Maplewood Nature Center. They will have much support on their chosen project in the spring!


Our partners who help us with our investigations and projects such as these are invaluable. They are the ones helping students determine how clean their water is and what their role can be in improving it. Our partners are critical conduits who help us find and make connections between people and places. They show us the way to tap into resources, inspire a group’s imagination, foster visions, share knowledge of the community and teach leadership skills.


Many thanks to these partners who help expand the definition of a "classroom:"

-St. Paul Community Education

-Maplewood Nature Center

-Engaged and willing teachers

-Enthusiastic students

Rain Garden Pilot Program Recap: Year 1

By Nicole Soderholm, District Inspector

As we’re sure you’ve all noticed, it is definitely winter. The District’s rain gardens have temporarily turned to ‘snow gardens,’ but not before Minnesota Native Landscapes was able to finish the year’s maintenance on the rain gardens selected for RWMWD’s pilot study targeting rain gardens in Little Canada. If you’ve missed the introduction or mid-summer update of our pilot study on rain garden maintenance, take a quick peek at our April 11, 2013 and June 6, 2013 Ripple Effect posts for more information.

Rain garden on Noel Drive in Little Canada.

RWMWD has enjoyed contracting with Minnesota Native Landscapes this year, and we’re all impressed with the noticeable changes to the function, health, and aesthetics of the rain gardens under their care. Regular maintenance is truly one of the most important factors in improving the function and longevity of a rain garden –preserving its ability to effectively capture and filter pollutants in rainwater.

Rain garden on Carla Lane on the east side of Lake Gervais.

This year, maintenance included weed and debris removal (trash, leaf litter, etc.), sediment removal, mulch replacement, and cutting back plants to allow for new growth. In October, Minnesota Native Landscapes planted a variety of native plants in over 30 rain gardens in Little Canada that had previously been looking a little bare. See some species examples in the photos below. We’re excited to see these new plants flourish this coming spring!
 

Left to right: Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpureum). 



Left to right: Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnate), tussock sedge (Carex stricta), Jacob's ladder (Polemonium reptans), wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa).

Now that we’ve gotten these rain gardens back to their height of function and beauty, we are planning on implementing ‘Year 2’ of this pilot study. We are especially interested in whether we will see a change in the amount of time and materials spent now that the gardens have been regularly maintained for an entire growing season. Stay tuned for future updates! 

For more information on the pilot program, please contact
Paige Ahlborg (paige[at]rwmwd.org or 651.792.7964)

Rain garden at Rondeau Park in Little Canada

For tips on maintaining your rain garden, see our Rain Garden Maintenance Guide.

 

Interested in learning more about rain gardens and the role they play in protecting our lakes and streams? Visit our Rain Garden webpage for information and helpful links/resources.

December Mystery of the Month

Which fish is which?

Above are two ~3” long fish that were pulled from Markham Pond. As you can see they are very similar in appearance. They are also very similar in their dining habits. So who is who in this round-up of benthic feeders?



1 fish, 2 fish, 5700 goldfish!


The answer to the question is the fish on the left is a goldfish, and the fish on the right is a young-of-the-year common carp. The differences between young carp and goldfish are fairly subtle, although much easier to discern when you have them side by side. First and most obviously is the golden cast to this goldfish – this is not always a reliable characteristic, as the color of goldfish in the wild varies. Another difference is the size of the scales and the eyes, relative to body size; goldfish scales and eyes are larger. Again, this is easiest to spot when you are looking at both. A more reliable characteristic is the presence of 2 sets of barbels (whiskers) near the mouth on the common carp; goldfish have none. And though they are there, you can’t actually see them on either fish in the photo above!


Several young-of-year carp and goldfish were visible on one side of the
draw-down net.  The net was set up to keep adult carp from swimming
downstream.  These little guys, however, swam upstream and were trapped.

The fish above were pulled from Markham Pond. Markham Pond is a 13 acre shallow pond in Hazelwood Park in Maplewood. Markham is a part of the flow path for the Phalen Chain of Lakes and is connected to Kohlman Lake through Kohlman Basin and Kohlman Creek. Markham serves as a carp ‘nursery’; a spot where conditions occasionally allow a large number of carp eggs to hatch and young-of-the-year to thrive. There is also a large resident population of goldfish. A 2010 capture/mark/recapture study of fish in Markham Pond by a U of M graduate student found an estimated 21,000 goldfish along with 35,000 young-of-the-year carp.

Large adult carp swim in the shallow Markham Pond near the outflow pipe
while thousands of young carp and goldfish swim between the net and the outflow pipe.

Removal involved only a few staff with nets.

 As a step in the ecological restoration plan for Markham Pond, RWMWD and Maplewood staff are in the midst of conducting a drawdown of the pond, to reduce or eliminate the carp and goldfish population and help clear the water. During the early stage of the draw down, District staff removed 6,600 small fish from Markham. Upon close examination, it appears about 86%, or 5700 are goldfish, and about 900 are young of the year carp. We will be writing more about the Markham Pond ecological restoration plan in next month’s Ripple Effect.

Approximate size range of those removed from Markham Pond.  With your new
knowledge, can you tell which fish is which in the photo above? 

 

Jack Frost Earns Lifetime Achievement Award - Expanding on the Watershed Stewardship Awards

Jack Frost.  Photo by Anita Jader.

Jack Frost was awarded the Roger Lake Stewardship Excellence Award. Named for the 30-year Watershed District leader who passed away last December, this award recognizes an individual who has, during his or her lifetime, played a significant and long-term role in watershed management and demonstrated leadership in natural resources stewardship.



A fitting first recipient of this award, Jack had a long dedicated career as a professional engineer, water resources coordinator for the Metropolitan Council and 19-year Manager of the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District. In his 34 years at the Metropolitan Council, Jack was known for his working knowledge of wastewater, stormwater and overall water management issues in the region. At the Watershed District, Jack’s ability to blend technical understanding of water management approaches with his innovative, practical approaches to water quality and flood control, was a major contributor to thoughtful, considerate, and innovative Board actions. His service as the Board Treasurer was very much valued by the Board and staff. Jack’s budgeting skill and financial management contributed to the Watershed District’s high accounting standards and our routine clean audit reports. Jack has moved to the Madison, WI area to be closer to his kids and his grandchildren but systems he developed are still valued and in use.

Simon Properties Earns Stewardship Award - Expanding on the Watershed Stewardship Awards

The Outstanding Partner Award, accepted by Jennifer Lewis and Tim Pothen.

Storm before the calm.  Tree trench construction was an organized
disruption to the parking lot before completion.

Simon Properties, owner of Maplewood Mall, was selected for the Outstanding Partner Award, which recognizes an individual, group or business that effectively collaborates with Ramsey-Washington metro Watershed District to achieve exceptional results in water resources management.

Five years ago, District staff approached the Mall management with a bold idea, saying: “Let us alter your parking lot to capture stormwater runoff, take parking spaces to create rain gardens to infiltrate the stormwater and let us do this without purchasing property or easements.” The proposal was enthusiastically accepted. For the past five years, the District has worked with Mall management staff and headquarters, tenants, anchor stores and maintenance staff to retrofit the property with stormwater management features while beautifying the site.

Stakeholders at a tile breaking ceremony prior to the start of the project.

Innovative rock tree trenches, planted with 375 trees, have created parking lot groves. Fifty-five rain gardens capture pollutants from the parking lot and main entrance and a 5,700-gallon rainwater cistern collects polluted runoff from the Mall’s roof. Educational signs and artwork illuminate the clean water features. Together, the mall improvements meet the goal of treating the first inch of rainfall runoff from the entire site to improve water quality of Kolman Lake and the remainder of the Phalen Chain of Lakes. This project is the first major mall retrofit in the country and has attracted national and international attention.


The completed main entry with porous pavers, rain gardens, native plantings, a cistern, educational signage and mural, artificial creek bed and rain trenches.  Phew!

Watershed District Advisory Committee Openings

The Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District is seeking residents to serve on its Citizen Advisory Committee. The Committee provides input to the District on its projects, programs and annual budget and assists with events and education activities. The Committee generally meets six times per year. Members are appointed to a two-year term. Interested applicants should send an email to cliff[at]rwmwd.org with your contact information and a brief statement of why you would like to serve. 

The application deadline is January 10, 2014.



Information about the District, its programs and boundaries can be found at www.rwmwd.org. 

To determine if you live in the District, click on About the District and then Are You in the District?