A few days north of Minnesota

Thirty-five years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the estuaries and bays surrounding Valdez are clear and clean again and the area has become a popular destination for fishing excursions, kayak trips, and other outdoor adventures.

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St. Croix River – Wild and Scenic, Close to Home

In theory, a person could hop into a kayak, canoe, or SUP and paddle from Marine to Stillwater in much less than seven hours, but what would be the point? Stopping to lounge in the shallow water and enjoy the beaches and wildlife in the St. Croix River is the best part of the journey.

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When gardening with native plants, be prepared for change

If you’re willing to embrace the change inherent in a mostly native garden, you’ll be rewarded with a landscape that is constantly evolving, vibrant, and full of life. It’s almost like getting a new set of gardens every month!

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Tending to the grove

At a church in Woodbury, two bur oak trees have stood tall for more than 250 years. They’ve watched the land transition from prairie to farmland to busy suburbia and play so central a role in the story of the congregation that the people decided to call this place The Grove. 

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Even with rain, lawns remain brown

Lawn irrigation creates the largest demand from municipal water supplies during the summer.

What can you do to keep your yard looking good, without draining the water supplies we all depend on?

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For love of forests

On this evening in June, our group is gathered at Belwin to learn about managing woodlands for resiliency, and one of the key take-aways is that a love of forests requires landowners to actively engage with and care for their forests and woodlands.

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Forest Lake alum treatment scheduled for September

This fall, the Comfort Lake-Forest Lake Watershed District (CLFLWD) will be conducting an alum treatment on Forest Lake to address phosphorus in the lake bottom sediments that contribute to algae growth. Alum (potassium aluminum sulfate) is a nontoxic compound that is also used for drinking water clarification.

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Debunking myths about raingardens

Known as raingardens, these gardens are typically situated along roadways or near the bottom of a downspout, and their job is to catch and hold rainwater until it soaks into the ground, is taken up by the plants, or evaporates. Beautiful as they are, people sometimes have misconceptions about how raingardens work and how to care for them.

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Ford Plant closes, Hidden Falls returns

When the Ford Assembly Plant closed in 2011, the Capitol Region Watershed District and City of St. Paul seized the opportunity to engage the wider community and transform the site into a thriving residential neighborhood with parks and recreational amenities.

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