When the snow falls and lakes freeze over, Minnesota’s wildlife employ a variety of adaptations to stay alive.
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Helping homeowner associations navigate stormwater and green infrastructure maintenance
The East Metro Water Education Program (EMWREP) and University of Minnesota have worked together to develop an education toolkit and launch a three-part Stormwater Leadership Series for HOA board members, which was piloted tis spring5.
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Try chicken grit as an eco-friendly alternative to salt
One way that homeowners, businesses, HOAs, and community organizations can help to reduce water pollution from winter salt is by using chicken grit as a no-salt alternative.
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Beaver Love: A new initiative aims to help beavers and people co-exist in harmony
Last winter, Andy Riesgraf and Emily Fairfax teamed up to establish Beaver Innovations LLC, a UMN start-up company that is focused on finding ways to help beavers and people coexist in harmony.
The duo’s first three beaver co-existence projects are located in Washington County at the Big Marine Park Reserve expansion site and Cottage Grove Ravine Regional Park, made possible by funding from Pollinator Friendly Alliance’s biodiversity project.
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How a billboard helped to transform weeds into prairie
Round leaf bittersweet is an invasive woody vine, native to China, Korea, and Japan, that was introduced to North America in the mid-1860s as an ornamental shrub. The vines girdle and smother trees and out-compete our indigenous American bittersweet, making it a formidable foe in our Minnesota woodlands. In an attempt to eradicate bittersweet from their soon-to-be prairie, Wendy and Mark tried killing it off with a low-heat fire, digging up the roots, and smothering it with a large blue tarp. All efforts proved unsuccessful until now.
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Fish, with a side of anti-depressant?
How and why are chemicals like estrone, DEET, cocaine, antidepressants, oxycodone, and veterinary antibiotics ending up in our lakes and rivers?
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Cattails to the rescue?
Could cattails help to solve phosphorus and chloride pollution in some of our lakes and wetlands? A new pilot initiative led by the South Washington Watershed District (SWWD) aims to find out.
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Improvements at Square Lake Park will help to keep the water pristine
Square Lake is one of the clearest lakes in the Twin Cities area and ranks in the top 1% for water clarity in the entire North Central Hardwood Forest Ecoregion of Minnesota. New park improvements underway this fall are designed to help keep Square Lake clean for years to come.
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Minnesota Water Stewards goes statewide
David, Kim, Barb and Mike are part of an elite cadre of volunteers helping to engage communities across Minnesota and western Wisconsin in grass-roots projects to protect and restore lakes, rivers, and streams.
Beginning in 2026, Freshwater is taking the program statewide and removing the enrollment fee so that more people can participate. Locally, the St. Croix Valley Foundation has provided grant funds to Washington Conservation District (WCD), Freshwater, and North Woods and Waters to train-in a new cohort of volunteers, starting in 2026.
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Indigenous-led organizations work to re-connect people with the land
Learn about Indigenous-led organizations, including the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC), Waḳaƞ Ṭípi Awanyankapi (formerly known as Lower Phalen Creek Project), Owámniyomni Okhódayapi (formerly known as Friends of the Falls), and Dream of Wild Health.
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East Metro Water 