FMR Updates

Pullers. Painters. Planters. Pickers. — Hats off to FMR volunteers!

by sue rich

July 14, 2015

Volunteer planting native shrubs in the oak savanna woodland along the Mighty Mississippi in south Minneapolis.

Because of you: A great year for the river, The 2014 FMR annual report

by Whitney Clark

June 23, 2015

Friends of the Mississippi River 2014 Annual Report cover

The good, the bad and the dirty: The environment and the 2015 special session

by Trevor Russell

June 15, 2015

Following the chaotic end of the 2015 regular legislative session, the conservation community rallied to build public support for a veto of a highly controversial environmental bill: the Omnibus Environment and Agriculture Bill.

While Governor Dayton is to be commended for his veto of the original bill, a renegotiated bill surfaced during the recent legislative special session and was passed with many of the same dirty water provisions that were in the original bill.

Overall, the Omnibus Environment and Agriculture Bill remains one of the most anti-clean-water measures to come out of the state legislature in recent memory, and includes an especially egregious repeal of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens' Board.

Oversized development downsized at Mississippi and Minnesota River confluence

by Alicia Uzarek

June 12, 2015

Last month, FMR appealed the Saint Paul Planning Commission decision to grant a height variance in the confluence area because we believed it would greatly impact this significant portion of the river corridor. We are pleased that the Saint Paul City Council decreased the building height variance to allow a 60 foot building instead of a 73.5 foot building — a 13.5 foot decrease.

EPA releases Clean Water Act update

by Alicia Uzarek

June 12, 2015

On May 27, 2015, the Obama Administration released an update to the Clean Water Act called the Clean Water Rule or the Waters of the U.S. Rule. The rule will better protect water quality, aquatic life and clean drinking water for 1 in 5 Minnesotans by more clearly outlining which streams, lakes and wetlands are protected under the Clean Water Act.

Good news, bad news in the fight to stop invasive carp (2015)

by Irene Jones

June 12, 2015

The closing of Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock is good news for Minnesotans. It will help ensure that invasive carp are not able to migrate upstream of downtown Minneapolis. Unfortunately, last week’s good news for the Mississippi was mired by the bad news about Bighead carp arriving in bigger numbers in the St. Croix River as far north as Stillwater. >>