 May 2024
Education program for all ages.
Tiny aquatic bugs living in our lakes, streams and wetlands called macro-invertebrates are an important part of the ecosystem and have many fun and interesting adaptations to live in the water. Spring Peeper Meadow in Chaska is home to one of the most diverse communities of these critters in Carver County.
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During this program, meet dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, learn about giant water bugs and diving beetles, and try to capture the elusive phantom midge. Collect live samples with provided equipment and learn how to use a key to identify each bug.
Hosted by Carver County Water Management Organization and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Register through link.
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Carver County is introducing a new curbside mattress collection pilot program in partnership with Second Chance Recycling.
Mattresses and box springs are accepted for drop off at the Environmental Center for $35 per piece. For an additional $10 per pickup, Carver County residents can now have these items picked up directly from their home. Second Chance Recycling ensures collected mattresses are processed so that materials can be salvaged, and environmental impact minimized.
For more information visit The Environmental Center webpage and select “Mattresses & Box Springs” or visit the Second Chance Recycling to schedule a pick-up.
Recycling is no fairytale: plastic
Amidst renewed skepticism around recycling, it’s important to know that in the Twin Cities Metro Area, when you place a recyclable plastic container in your curbside cart, it gets recycled. When you recycle, you’re doing right by the environment and local economy at the same time.
Plastic recyclables can be transformed into a wide range of items, including new bottles, containers, clothing fibers, furniture, and even construction materials. The specific end products depend on the type of plastic and its quality after recycling. In our area, plastic food and beverage containers with a #1, 2 or 5 stamped on them should be placed in recycling bins. Still need help knowing what to recycle? Try Carver County’s recycling app – Betterbin.
stakeholder group: Jim, Jeff, John, Cathy, Steve, Catherine.
A big thank you to our Lake Bavaria stakeholder group for their insights, guidance, and energy in helping develop a lake management plan for Lake Bavaria in Chaska. This group has been meeting for the past 5 months identifying concerns and goals for the lake, strategies to protect and improve its ecosystem, and an overall vision for where the plan should lead. Over the summer, staff will write the plan and develop a timeline of action steps to carry out the goals.
International composting awareness week
Get involved in composting
Interested in beginning or expanding your role in composting?
Why lakes have layers, and why some are losing them
This spring, many of our lakes will undergo a natural phenomenon called lake turnover. Lake turnover is when all the water in the lake mixes top to bottom. The process renews the lake and provides vital oxygen for the aquatic life at the lake’s bottom. Oxygen at the bottom of the lake is often very low and the full lake mixing that occurs in spring and fall brings oxygen filled water from top to bottom.
Lakes have layers
Lake turnover occurs because lakes have layers. While swimming in one of our many Minnesota lakes in the summer, if you let your feet hang down, you may notice that as you get deeper, the water gets colder. This happens because our lakes have different layers of water, kind of like a layered cake. These layers are called stratification. Lakes stratify because different temperatures of water have different densities. Generally, the warmer the water, the lighter it is and the closer it is to the surface of the lake. Water is the heaviest at 39.2⁰F. Anything warmer or colder than 39.2⁰F will be lighter and sit on top. When water freezes and becomes ice at 32⁰F; it is less dense than water. That is why it floats on top.
The spring plastic collection period is open now until May 31st. Acceptable items include the following.
- Agriculture and grain bags
- Boat film
- Greenhouse film and covers
- Hockey rink liners
- Stretch wrap
Participants in the program pick up free recapture bags to collect their plastics and return them to the designated drop-off location. Local farmers and businesses have recycled over 100,000 pounds of agricultural, marine and greenhouse plastics that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill.
Program partners: Carver County Environmental Services and UMN Extension - Carver & Scott County
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