Tips and tales about keeping water clean
November 13 workshop will address septic systems, private wells, and other groundwater topics Nearly 140 years ago, Minneapolis first began pumping from the Mississippi River to provide drinking water for the city’s growing population. At the time, the river was a dumping ground for human sewage, garbage, and carcasses from the local slaughterhouses. Thousands of…
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Nov. 13 workshop will offer advice for estate planning In 1972, Bob and Marilyn Rosenquist bought themselves a piece of the American dream – 40 acres of farmland in eastern Hugo with rolling hills and plenty of woods. Marilyn came from a big farming family in South Dakota and soon the couple was raising 16-17…
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Did you ever watch the MTV show Pimp my Ride? In each episode, the team would select a person with a truly awful car and then spend a few days restoring and customizing the vehicle. I could have definitely used their help twenty years ago. My first clunker was a Dodge Omni, which was a…
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Volunteer event scheduled for Oct. 11 in Woodbury Three years ago, volunteers gathered in a wind-swept field on a rainy spring day to plant 3000 young oak trees for a future oak savanna. The site – located on the border between Woodbury and Cottage Grove – is part of a conservation corridor created by South…
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Free workshop at Washington County Fairgrounds: Oct. 2, 5:30-7:30pm During my sophomore year of high school, my mother and I moved into a new house on the edge of town. Surrounded by thick bushy pines and nestled on a three-acre chunk of land, the amenities of the yard made up for the fact that it…
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I’m training for an Ironman triathlon and, despite my best intentions to prevent triathlon from taking over my life, triathlon has taken over my life. On a typical day I get up at 4:45am to fit in my first workout before starting work at 7am. I do my second workout over lunch, leaving the evening…
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It shouldn’t be a secret, but you might be surprised to learn that 49% of lakes in Washington County have improving water quality. Trout are surviving and may be reproducing in Brown’s Creek again. Woodbury has cut its annual groundwater use by nearly 35 million gallons in only one year, and Bone Lake in Scandia…
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In addition to its annual tree sale, the Washington Conservation District offers advice and assistance to landowners hoping to create and improve woodland habitat on their properties.
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These records are computerized for easy use, unlike the handwritten notes from Minnesota’s first land surveys, which are stored on yellowed paper at the Historical Society.
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Not so long ago, in a galaxy awfully close to home, the Minnesota legislature allocated $132,169 to Washington County to battle against real life aquatic invasive species (AIS) that creep steadily further into our beloved lakes and rivers each year.
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