Stewardship Wrap-up
The leaves have changed colors, the first snowflakes have fallen, and another busy season of stewardship activities has come to a close. Almost 3,000 volunteers have been hard at work caring for many of the important natural areas that make our Mississippi so special. Gorge Stewards volunteers continued their battle against invasive species like garlic mustard and buckthorn at the floodplain forest, oak savanna, and maple basswood forest in Minneapolis, and assisted with the restoration of the new prairie at Crosby Park in St. Paul, now in its second season. Through the Vermillion Stewards program, volunteers continued to work to remove invasive species and collect native seed from the Sand Coulee Scientific and Natural Area, contributed to a streambank stabilization project at an Aquatic Management Area, and participated in several river clean-ups. Volunteers at the Pine Bend Scientific and Natural Area helped tend the dry sand prairie by removing spotted knapweed, and cut back native but invasive sumac from the surrounding woodland. Other volunteer projects throughout the watershed included acorn planting, erosion mitigation, and a variety of invasive species removal events.
A big "thank you" goes out to all the volunteers who contributed time and energy this year to improve habitat, preserve native species, and protect water quality! Your efforts are an essential part of a healthy future for our great river.
About 250 volunteers removed trash from along the river as part of the annual Minneapolis Earth Day Clean-up, April 18, 2009.
Families, individuals, community groups and businesses joined forces to remove trash from the river gorge during the annual Minneapolis Earth Day Clean-up, April 18, 2009.
Volunteers removed trash from a section of the Vermillion River as part of an annual clean-up event in Farmington, May 2, 2009.
Representatives of several local agencies involved in watershed protection joined a Hastings high school biology class to explore the Vermillion River by canoe and kayak, May 6, 2009.
Volunteer Sara Muchowski plants native woodland plants into a steep slope along the Old Wagon Road Trail in St. Paul as part of a project to mitigate erosion and improve plant diversity and habitat, June 3, 2009.
Burdock and other invasive plants were removed from the newly restored prairie at Crosby Park in St. Paul by volunteers like Fred Tyler, July 8, 2009.
Volunteer Karen Jenkins helps tend the demonstration prairie garden at Crosby Park in St. Paul, now in its second season, July 8, 2009.
Volunteers collected native seed at the Sand Coulee Scientific and Natural Area to further restoration efforts of the rare sand gravel prairie, October 10, 2009.
Volunteer Alyssa Neeb plants acorns in a woodland at Crosby Park in St. Paul to help improve habitat and support a native woodland ecosystem, October 17, 2009.
Volunteers haul and stack invasive buckthorn at a protected floodplain forest along the Vermillion River, October 24, 2009.