News from 2008

Contents

News Archive
Months: January, June, July, August, September,
All Years

Epa Launches "Green Infrastructure" Plan To Reduce Stormwater Runoff,

EPA Launches "Green Infrastructure" Plan To Reduce Stormwater Runoff, Sewer Overflows

1/17/2008

Washington, D.C. - The EPA, with state and national partners, released a comprehensive plan to reduce runoff and increase environmental and economic benefits for communities. The strategy will help reduce stormwater runoff and sewer overflows by promoting "green infrastructure" approaches, such as green roofs, trees and tree boxes, rain gardens, and porous pavements. Green infrastructure techniques, technologies, and practices reduce the amount of water and pollutants that run off a site. These tools have many other benefits, including cost savings, improved air quality, urban ...
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Raingarden Guide Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 15, 2008 Contact Elizabeth Storey, 651-644-8888

New Guide to Raingardens available to residents of Capitol Region Watershed District

Have you ever wondered what to plant in that low spot in your backyard where the grass won’t grow because water puddles there after it rains? Or how to fix the erosion gully where rainwater drains away from one of your downspouts? Well one solution may be to plant a raingarden.

A raingarden is a depression designed to catch rainwater runoff in your yard. It is planted with plants that don’t mind getting partially flooded ...
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Raingarden Guide Poster

Poster TEXT: What do you plant in that backyard low spot where the grass won’t grow?

One solution may be to plant a raingarden.

A raingarden is a depression designed to catch rainwater runoff in your yard. It is planted with plants that don’t mind getting partially flooded on occasion. The raingarden is positioned to prevent stormwater from reaching paved surfaces and contributing to polluted runoff going to our lakes and rivers. Raingardens provide wildlife habitat and winter interest in your yard.

The Blue Thumb Guide to Raingardens is an illustrated how-to manual with details about raingarden ...
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Blue: It's The New Green

Pioneer Press http://www.twincities.com/life/ci_7934793 Article Last Updated: 01/12/2008 11:35:54 PM CST

Last year, Twin Cities Green ushered in a new era of environmentally conscious lifestyle shopping. This year, the retailer might want to consider a name change.

To Twin Cities Blue.

Advertising agency JWT, known for its trend forecasting, has declared blue the new green and submitted it as one of the top 10 trends of 2008. The deepening color of earth friendliness is being attributed to an increased focus on climate change, which relates directly to the seas and the sky - both blue.

Another sign ...
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Local Clean Water Program Recognized

Blaine — The Blue Thumb–Planting for Clean Water program, which was started by the Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD), will receive the Governor's Award – Minnesota Government Reaching Environmental Achievements Together (MN GREAT!) on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at the Minnesota Air, Water and Waste Environmental Conference.

The Blue Thumb program is an online outreach program with A-to-Z information to help residents plan and plant native gardens, raingardens and shorelines with native plants. The Web site bluethumb.org features planting blueprints, a plant selector tool, local retailers and landscapers, grant information, how-to guides and more.

The 17th annual award honors ...
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Metro Blooms Offers Grants For Rain Gardens

Link to Video and KARE 11 website

The local gardening group Metro Blooms will provide information and some money for Hennepin County residents willing to dig into a rain garden project.

"We've got Virginia Bluebells over here. This is an iris," Minnehaha Creek Watershed Educator Julie Westerlund said as she pointed out specific plants in a Lori Anderson's Minneapolis yard.

The patch of plants is like a treasure chest for green thumbs.

"They have great root systems," Westerlund said of the native plants surrounding her.

The collection of plants and grasses is called a ...
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Rain Man

CARAG - Steve and Connie Green's frontyard garden at 34th Street & Hennepin Avenue has been part of the annual neighborhood garden tour for several years.

But lately it's the system used to water the garden that's drawing community attention.

Using a network of gutters, pipes, pumps and a 1,000-gallon tank, Steve has developed a rainwater reclamation setup that saves up to 12,000 gallons each year. He and several neighbors reuse the water throughout the spring and summer on adjoining gardens.

"In every sense of the word, it's a green idea," Steve said.

Steve, 65, and ...
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Want Cleaner Lakes? Start In Your Own Back Yard

Good gardening practices can help a yard thrive and keep nearby waters clean, as illustrated by efforts in the Rice Creek Watershed District.

BLUE THUMB PLANTING FOR CLEAN WATER

For more information, go to www.bluethumb.org. Grants are administered by county conservation districts.

Other watershed districts may offer clean-water gardening grants. For help finding a district, go to www.cleanwatermn.org or www.mnwatershed.org.

By MARIA ELENA BACA , Star Tribune Last update: June 18, 2008 - 12:59 AM Dawn Gustafson spotted a Monarch butterfly in her back garden one morning last week. It darted from the golden alexander to ...
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Channel 12

To view video, please follow this link: http://www.twelve.tv/news/newsitem.aspx?newsid=334&newsitemid=6874


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Kare 11 Features Blue Thumb: The Secret To Leisurely And Eco-Friendly Landscaping

"Blue Thumb - Planting for Clean Water" assists residents in planning and planting native gardens, raingardens, and shorelines with native plants.

By visiting http://bluethumb.org/, homeowners can find planting blueprints, a plant selector tool, local retailers and landscapers, grant information, how-to guides, and more. Blue Thumb plantings create gorgeous landscapes that provide great habitat for birds and butterflies while decreasing all of the top water quality concerns, the need for herbicides and pesticides, air pollution from mowing and drinking water used for irrigation.

View Belinda and Bobby Jensen's "Grow with KARE" segment on Blue Thumb at: http://www.kare11.com/video/sponsored/player_grow.aspx?aid=78567&storyid=519063

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Website Helps You Get A Great Yard With Less Mowing And Watering

Video at http://www.kare11.com/video/player.aspx?aid=77972

"We come out here and we feel like it's holding Minnesota in its arms. It's gathering in the good wet Minnesota and converting it to blooms and oxygen," homeowner Ted Kiesselbach said of his yard full of rain gardens.

The area is a kaleidoscope of lush green plants and colorful blooms. And when you get up close you find them alive with equally-colorful insects.

"There's a lot of vitality here," Kiesselbach said.

Brimming with vitality, these patches are rooted in practicality.

"We were getting lots of water in the basement," Kiesselbach ...
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Rain Gardens: The Eco-Friendly Landscaping Option Is Catching On

St. Paul Pioneer Press Article Last Updated: 08/20/2008 10:07:21 AM CDT

If Brown's Creek had arms, it would hug Elizabeth Brod.

The creek is healthier now that Brod has installed two water-cleansing rain gardens in her back yard.

Better yet, her homeowners association helped persuade 12 neighbors to do the same.

"It was very worry-free," she said as she tended the new plantings in the fresh mulch of her Stillwater yard earlier this month.

She is one reason Minnesota leads the nation in water-cleaning landscaping techniques, including lakeshore plantings. Another reason is the half-price sale ...
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Field Trip Helped Settle Selection Of Plants For Landscape Design

Special to the Star Tribune Last update: August 8, 2008 - 10:51 AM

Our landscape architect, Dustin Halverson, planned for a tree near the front windows on the southwest corner to provide shade and a sense of scale. After mulling about six tree options, we opted for a Swedish columnar aspen because its shape provides the height we need to tie the landscaping and the house together without impeding upon the structure.

There is much to consider when selecting plants for landscaping. Grasses vs. flowers, natives vs. cultivars, size and shape, bloom time, soil type and color all ...
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Raingardens In Southern Washington County

The South Washington County public access television station featured a segment about raingardens in its "Public Works News" during August 2008. The video clip includes footage from the raingardens at the Washington County South Service Center and information about the Blue Thumb website and Blue Thumb Guide to Raingardens. Link to clip: http://swctc.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=934&meta_id=32270


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