Do you really like me?

My best guess for prom queen this year is the St. Croix River, liked by 16,850 people. Hopefully all those people are ready to roll up their sleeves and pitch in on projects to keep the river clean, now that its been declared impaired for excess phosphorus.

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Green streets, blue water, yellow ducks

Starting next year, the bright yellow Derby Day ducks will enjoy cleaner, bluer, water during their annual float down Perro Creek thanks to the Middle St. Croix Watershed Management Organization’s (MSCWMO) upcoming Green Streets Project.

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Street Sweepers – sucking soon on a street near you?

Hence, dirty roads today often mean smelly lakes next summer. To combat this problem, many east metro communities like Woodbury sweep their streets twice a year, once in the fall to keep leaves from clogging the storm sewers and once in the spring to remove leftover winter sand.

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Things that make you go eww

To recap, septic systems need to be inspected and pumped every three years and replaced periodically, otherwise they can leak sewage into drinking water supplies and nearby lakes and rivers or overflow into your backyard and basement like a toilet in reverse. If that doesn’t win the applause-o-meter for eww, I don’t know what will.

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One BIG pile of leaves

This year, the Freshwater Society has launched an initiative called Community Clean-ups for Water Quality, which encourages citizens to help keep lakes and rivers clean by removing leaves and other debris from city streets during the fall and spring when this debris poses the biggest threat to our waterways.

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Stillwater Gets a Blue Star

This September, Stillwater took the Blue Star assessment and scored high enough to land themselves a spot on the Blue Star Leader Board, as well as one of the coveted Blue Stars. The city attained high points for natural resources preservation and management, stormwater management policies, and inspections and enforcement.

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A Little Government Goes a Long Way

Fans of small government can also appreciate the fact that the Conservation District employs only thirteen staff, doesn’t collect any taxes and achieves significant conservation achievements solely through engaging private property owners in voluntary projects.

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Putting Down Roots

Where now there are corn fields, wheat fields and houses with close trimmed lawns, once grew big bluestem, purple coneflower, compass plant and cylindric blazing star.

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