Back to Work

Last night I was thinking about ending this blog.  You know, things get old and repetitive and you start wondering if you should find something else to entertain yourself with.  I hadn't been picking up trash on my designated mile along the Mississippi River in weeks.  So this morning I went up to have a look.  There was a guy with a guitar at First Bridge Beach to quietly serenade me while I picked up litter.  That was nice.  I found this little message on the sand.  Ok, things are starting out well.

This graffiti is new.  Should it stay or should it go?

 Grabbing clothes out of the water with a stick is always a fun activity.

I am always careful about picking up needles.  I put it in that bottle and capped it.  Should I do something else with it I wonder. You know that Whole Foods bag on the upper right of this picture says "Make your day a whole better".  Ok, I'm starting to feel like somebody's sending me a litter message.

A little further past First Bridge Beach was a patch of what I think is Yellow Loosestrife.  I will have to send a photo off to the Botanical Wanderings Facebook group to verify.  It may be an escapee from someone's garden.

 A little further down the path in the woods by James Rice Playground was a nest of Colt 45 cans.

But all in all it was a productive morning and a reminder that 3 weeks is way too long in between trash walks. Oh, and thanks for that little trashy heart. That was the last thing I picked up.

Two Days, Five Hours

Hello little piece of trash.  You made my day.  I was out picking up trash over the last several days.  Two days exactly and about five hours of work in total.  What can one person accomplish in that time?  Both days I walked the 1 mile West River Parkway route between Hennepin and Plymouth Bridges.

I barely got this sofa cushion stuffed in the park and rec trash barrel.  Onward to First Bridge Beach where a mom and her teenage son were camping.  I tried to pick up around their tent and be as quiet as I could, but you know I've got work to do and it's ten o'clock in the morning.  I should have recommended to them, if they have to sleep out another night, a place a little further up river that is more private with a water fountain and a bathroom.

On June 1st the City of Minneapolis was supposed to start a ban on plastic bags but at the last minute the state overruled it citing it would be problematic for the city to have different rules than the state.
http://www.startribune.com/state-legislature-blocks-plastic-bag-ban-in-minneapolis/425517333/
 The city, by the way, has banned Styrofoam takeout containers and that seems to be working fine.  Anyway, I have mixed feelings about plastic bags because I do use the plastic bags I get at the downtown Target.  I figure that I use each Target bag 2 to 3 times when I am picking up trash before they just get too filthy.

So in five hours I can pick up about a dozen bags of trash.

Bassett Creek has really been stinky this week.  There were probably a dozen or so rotting fish, several other dead animals, and one old dried out muskrat carcass that was as hard as leather.  I was reading an article recently about fireworks disrupting fish and wildlife and it is that time of the year.  We do love our fireworks here.  But the fish are most likely Common Carp and unwanted by the fishermen who just caught them and they get left behind on the bank of the creek.  Like bait, I'm guessing the DNR would prefer that they go in the trash can.

This last month I have been following a facebook group called Take2Miss.  You might think that the name refers to the river, but it is actually the state of Mississippi and specifically a litter problem along the Pearl River.  Like our Mississippi River, the Pearl River is the water source for a part of their state and also empties into the Gulf of Mexico.  And they have a litter problem.  They are planning a large cleanup of all 444 miles of that river this coming September.  So let's see, people on both sides of the river, double that, can one person work all day, no, not likely.....do they need 800 people to truly clean it up?  That's a massive undertaking.  Do they have tires and other large items that will need to come out. More likely it will need to be a yearly project. The importance of this group and the photos of trash is that it documents what a shit show their natural spaces have become.  See for yourself. http://www.take2miss.com/take2miss.html

So good luck folks.  Wish I could join you down there in Mississippi this September.

26th Mississippi Riverboat Cleanup

Last week was the 26th annual Mississippi Riverboat Cleanup.  This was just my second year for this adventure.  I can't believe this Twin Cities group has been doing this for a quarter century.  There were 75 volunteers and we removed 1160 lbs of trash, 120 lbs of recycling and 11 tires.  When I looked at the dumpster with our trash, it seemed like it was far less of a haul than the previous year. So, I went back to last year's blog and found that we had removed 3.7 tons of trash.  I think there were over 40 tires pulled out last year.  Our boat cleanup crew cleaned up virtually the same spot as last year which included both sides of the river just north of the 494 bridge.  So maybe next year our Conservation Corps hosts will choose another site for us to work on. More details and photos about the event are on their website.
http://www.conservationcorps.org/newsroom2/2017/6/19/26th-mississippi-riverboat-cleanup

I sat on the back of the boat (ok, the stern) enjoying the trip down river while listening to one of the event's team members tell stories about the river over the loudspeaker.  The stories kind of drifted in and out of my consciousness while I watched eagles circling around over head.  One of those stories that caught my attention was of a train accident from 1912 along the river.  It was a foggy morning and the engineer didn't realize the swing bridge was open and off they went into the river with people and livestock headed to South St. Paul where the folks in town could hear the stricken cries of the animals.
http://www.twincities.com/2015/10/14/from-the-archives-train-headed-for-south-st-paul-stockyards-plunges-into-river/

Volunteers on the boat were divided up into 5 work groups.  This year I worked the shady side of the river instead of the steep rocky side.  Lesson learned last year.  Yes, our group hauled out that wooden pallet that got lodged on the tree stump.  Last year I didn't realize that there is a trash contest for most dangerous trash, oldest trash, weirdest trash, etc.  This year I knew to hang on to some bit of trash that might fit into one of those categories.  Last year I found a drug needle but just threw it into my bag not realizing that I might have a winner!  Not going to make that mistake again.

So this year I found that can of carburetor cleaner.  That can looked like it had been there awhile and had a hole worn through it so all the remaining contents of that gets into our drinking supply.  Nice.  I thought I was a shoo in until we heard that one of the cleanup teams on the rocky side had found a hand gun.  Well, there goes my entry for most dangerous thing found.  But....the police were called and it was handed over to them for obvious reasons.  So....if it's not on the boat it can't be entered into the contest.  Darn.  My carburetor cleaner took home the most dangerous win and I selected a nice beer mug as my prize!

Shipwreck at First Bridge Beach

It's going to be another hot day here and the storm from a couple of days ago took out our air conditioner.  So off for an early morning walk before it gets too muggy.  I spotted this little tableau at the beach at First Bridge Park near the Hennepin Avenue Bridge.  I always appreciate folks who leave a little scene like this for me to discover on one of my walks along the river.  There is a story here.  There was a man and a small child.  He didn't make it, but the mermaid took the child to the shore who raised it on sushi.  Many years later....

Further along the river at Middle Beach the storm created a big snag of tree trash mixed in with garbage.  The great thing is most of it is easily accessible from the shore.

I'm just going to spend twenty minutes here which is about what I can put in one big bag.

There is always some interesting stuff in the mix of trash.  Cute clog.  That's a handle from a water ski rope.  I'll be back up here next week.  Hope the mermaid is still there next time.

Cleaning in the Weeds

I've had a busy couple of days here walking from downtown Minneapolis to the Broadway Bridge and beyond.  I wanted to get out some of my aggression by picking up Styrofoam bits along the stretch after listening to Trump tell the world that the USA would be leaving the Paris Climate Agreement.

First I want to thank the City of Minneapolis and Park and Rec for their removal of this graffiti at First Bridge Park.  I used the online city graffiti complaint page to ask for this to be covered over because it is neither artistic nor interesting.  The online method is pretty painless.  Take a picture, give the location (street address or intersection) and wait a couple of weeks.  (I did pick up that trash there on the steps.) 

I made a little cardboard dust pan to sweep up this mess.  I left 3 pennies behind.

Goat's Beard are blooming along the walking path.

I found this stuff in the weeds near the ramp where the water skiers do their summer shows.  That can opener is an old model.  The engine additive has probably already caused some pollutants to get into the river.

Artifacts...we are just supposed to leave them alone.  I think it depends on what it is.

There is always so much Styrofoam along this section of the Mississippi River.  The small bits are such trouble to gather up.

Sometimes I find interesting stuff along the way.  That's a bag of weed just below the beer can.  About 2 cups worth.  What's the street value of that?  Since I was almost to the Park and Rec Office I walked it over there.  The Park and Rec Police office in that same building.  They were not that eager to have me turn it over to them.  They said I should have called 911.  Such a bother.  I should have just dumped it in the weeds and recycled the bag.  Anyway, if you are missing your pot, try the lost and found at Park and Rec.

Crime Scene on the Mississippi

Last week I volunteered with Big River Journey.  A hundred plus 4th graders boarded one of the Paddleford Boats at Harriet Island for a trip along the Mississippi River.  Kids rotated between 6 stations where they could learn about river navigation, otters, eagles, macro invertebrates, geology, or my station, river trash.  The name crime scene pulls them in of course and they get to dump out bags of trash found in the river and try to figure out how it got there and why it might be bad for it to stay in the river.  Hopefully those kids came away with an understanding of what a storm drain is, maybe how it differs from the sewer system, and just maybe they will remember what a watershed is.  They will probably all remember that they are made up of 60% water and they most likely get their drinking water from the Mississippi River.  When I was out for a walk along Minnehaha Creek days later and saw this storm drain, I thought removing this is easy enough to do.  So do it! Otherwise, it's headed right to the river!

We have had a lot of rain lately and the Creek was really full.  We started our hike at the 46th Street station on the Light Rail Blue Line.  The trail takes you past Lake Hiawatha, Lake Nokomis, and into the neighborhoods of cute homes along the creek.  You could follow the creek all the way to Lake Harriet before heading back north toward downtown Minneapolis.

The creek had a lot of Virginia Waterleaf in bloom as well as Violets and a few Dame's Rockets.  

It's always good to get distracted by a new restaurant along the way and this one is a keeper.  Somewhere into the Lake Nokomis neighborhood is this little gem called Hot Plate. It's breakfast (plus beer) and the food was really great.  I was starving when we got there and the pancakes with lingonberry butter plus chicken fried steak, sausage gravy, eggs, and fried potato was actually way more fuel than what I needed to keep walking.  The restaurant's owners are collectors of old paint-by-number paintings and the weirdness abounds.  Picture an Emmett Kelly's "Weary Willie" next to the Virgin Mary and you get the idea.  Lava lamps and plastic figurines and old 1980's style hand held electronic games add to the decor.  This place is definitely worth the detour off the trail.

Minnesota Valley Wildlife Refuge Hike

Is it possible to visit the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Bloomington without a car? Yes, I was there last week without the benefit of a car.  From downtown Minneapolis get on the light rail in the direction of the Mall of America and get off at the American Blvd Station just one stop past the Humphrey Airport.  The entrance to the refuge is just a block south of the station.

If you're flying into the Twin Cities you might have noticed the vast wetland along the Minnesota River as you approach the airport.

At the visitor's center turkeys were there to greet us.  They were competing with the squirrels for the bird feeder droppings.  The squirrels were winning.

I

Some of the trails were a little muddy.  We planned to hike 4 miles in and hopefully get out of the refuge by way of the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge just past the Highway 77 Bridge.  The volunteers in the Visitor's Center were not sure if the Cedar Bridge was open.  Well, if not then it's 4 miles in and 4 miles out or figure out some other creative way to get home.

There were several varieties of violets growing in the shady areas. 

Last year's leftovers are cool to look at too.

The refuge is 14,000 acres of land stretching 70 miles along the Minnesota River.

Eventually, the trail brought us along side the Minnesota River and the Highway 77 Bridge in the distance. When the river floods it brings trash into the refuge.  I picked up a few things and left it along the dirt track for workers to haul out.

When we got under the Highway 77 Bridge there was graffiti.  Doesn't matter how remote the area, there will always be graffiti under bridges. There was a lot of it and here is a sampling of it.

There is, of course, plenty of wildlife in the refuge.  We saw deer, river otters, nesting geese with their young and plenty of turtles.  It was nice to see wood ducks.  Usually, it's just mallards.  If you're a bird watcher bring your binoculars.  I can only identify the obvious cardinals, woodpeckers, grackles, and robins. 

  

That's the Old Cedar Bridge and our way out of the refuge.  After I got home I read that the bridge will be closed in July for repairs.

This is the view looking back to Bloomington and the office buildings where we got off the light rail.  From here it's a couple miles to the Mall of America. Time for a little shoe shopping and relaxing at one of the many restaurants before getting back on the light rail.

https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Minnesota_Valley/about.html