Mound Springs Park Creek Clean Up

In early December, River Watch, in partnership with the South High School All Nations program and MIGIZI, took on the challenge of cleaning up a freshwater creek at the Mound Springs Park in Bloomington, MN. South High Instructor, Carmen Gavin-Vanegas, discovered this polluted stream while on a walk with her family. She contacted River Watch, and we got to work figuring out how to involve her All Nations students in the cleaning of this creek.

We began our project with a blessing and a smudging ceremony led by Tedi Owl and AllenMichael Owen from MIGIZI. Then, with a truck bed’s worth of equipment (shovels, wheelbarrows, safety gloves, rope), fourteen students and five adults trekked down the beautiful trail to the heavily impaired creek. Upon arriving, the shallow creek, nestled in the steep ravine, was mostly frozen over. The ice made traversing the ravine relatively easy, but made it decidedly more difficult to remove the trash in the creek bed. Over two hours, we removed 13 tires, a car battery, a folding chair, 2 microwaves (just a guess, as they were incredibly rusted), and other bits of plastics and refuse. Prying the tires from the creekbed was particularly strenuous because, on top of them being frozen into place, they had been there so long the tires had embedded themselves deep into the soil. We were able to remove every large piece of trash (looking at you large metal tank), but we got everything we could out of the waterway, which will undoubtedly reduce the amount of toxins leaching into the stream and nearby lake.

It was so gratifying to see the students engage in work that immediately resulted in cleaner water. This work was particularly special because Mound Spring Park is a culturally significant area to Indigenous Minnesotans, having one of the highest concentrations of burial mounds in the Twin Cities. I owe a great deal of gratitude to the passionate group of organizers, without whom this project could not have been accomplished.  Thank you to the All Nations Student of South High School, Ms. Gavin-Vanegas, MIGIZI’s Tedi Owl, AllenMichael Owen, and the president of the Lower Minnesota River Watershed District Joseph Barisonzi. I can’t wait to see what the stream looks like when we go back in the spring.

River Watch Report November '23 Newsletter

Check out the highlights of River Watch's Fall Programming!

River Watch Report 11.23 Newsletter.pdf

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The Metro Water Festival: Wacky Watersheds

Since 1998 (with a few exceptions [COVID-19]) the Metro Water Festival has invited elementary students to the MN State Fair Grounds to explore the wide world of water science. In the form of a field day, classes move from station to station with activities centered on different topics presented by government orgs (DNR, MPCA, FWS, BLM) and local non-profits like River Watch. Patti and I had the pleasure of leading an activity at the Water Festival this year, working with 6 different groups of 4th Graders.

The activity was simple: define and create a watershed. Each student was given a ball of clay and asked to shape it into something we would find on a map (hills, valleys, farms, roads, bridges, parks) and we combined them all together to make a unique watershed. Then we poured water on the clay creation and saw how it moved across the environment.

The real strength of this hands-on activity is that students of all levels can use their creativity to participate and begin to understand how water moves across the environment. With a simple piece of clay, everyone can contribute something meaningful to the “map”. The secondary lesson is to point out how water creates runoff, and the environment/human impacts can move pollution through the watershed to downstream areas, where it collects.

Though the sessions were short (25 minutes) we witnessed so much creativity and mental connections being formed in the students' young minds. I hope we can participate in future festivals celebrating and investigating the vast topics of water science. It is our most important resource.

A Wacky Watershed assembled by Water Festival participants!