Capturing rain and creating beauty at Common Roots
A cistern sits on the back patio of Common Roots Cafe in Minneapolis, the painted mural completed this summer by artist Laura G. reflects the plants and flowers it helps water. During a typical 1-inch rainfall, the cistern can capture 3,000 gallons of the building’s stormwater runoff.
The cistern project was funded by a Hennepin County Good Steward Grant, which Common Roots Café applied for as part of their commitment to sustainability. Instead of letting rain runoff flow down the alley, Common Roots reuses the water for a drip irrigation system in their garden.
As Minnesota’s climate gets warmer and wetter, infrastructure like this cistern will be key to capturing water during intense rain events for future reuse, keeping it from overwhelming the water sewer system, and helping to prevent street flooding that the area has seen in recent years.
Learn more about other Good Steward Grant projects on the Hennepin County Good Steward grants story map.
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Apply for a Good Steward Grant
Applications for Good Steward Grants are being accepted through November 15, 2022. These grants typically support smaller, community-based or single applicant projects, such as constructing rain gardens, stabilizing stream banks, restoring native vegetation, installing vegetated filter strips, or implementing other best management projects. The typical funding amount is $5,000 to $15,000.
See the Good Steward Grant Guidelines (PDF) for more information. Application materials are posted on the Hennepin County Supplier Portal, and all applications must be submitted through the Supplier Portal.
Attend a Good Steward Grant workshop in October
Two optional online workshops are being held for potential applicants to learn more about the program, application requirements, and how to submit their application using the Supplier Portal. RSVP to get the meeting invite:
- Thursday, October 6 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
- Tuesday, October 11 from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
For those unable to attend, a recording of these workshops will be posted to the Natural Resource Grants website.
Hennepin County recently awarded 20 Healthy Tree Canopy grants totaling about $390,000. Grant projects will take place in seven cities, on four affordable housing properties, at two schools, and through six nonprofit organizations. More than 435 trees will be planted through the grant projects.
The grants will:
- Fund the collection of data through tree inventories, which is critical to increasing and diversifying the tree canopy and responding to emerald ash borer.
- Address the impacts of tree pests and pathogens by improving city forestry capacity, treating or removing ash trees and replanting trees. Grantees are required to plant at least one replacement tree for every ash tree removed.
- Educate residents on the benefits of trees and engage them in tree planting efforts.
- Improve livability and reduce disparities by planting trees in neighborhoods throughout the county experiencing disproportionate amounts of economic, environmental, and health inequities.
- Protect people and increase the county’s resilience to climate change – important goals in the county’s Climate Action Plan – by increasing the benefits that trees provide. These benefits include capturing carbon, reducing air pollution, taking up stormwater, and providing shade to counteract the urban heat island effect.
For more information, contact trees@hennepin.us.
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Funding and support available to establish conservation easements
Hennepin County is working to protect 6,000 acres of the best remaining natural areas and open spaces in the county. Partnering with landowners to permanently protect their land is an important part of reaching that goal.
Landowners can be compensated for permanently protecting their property with a conservation easement, which is a set of development restrictions that a landowner voluntarily places on their property to permanently protect its natural resources. Funding and technical assistance are also available to landowners for habitat improvement projects on protected properties.
Conservation easements ensure that landowners now, and in the future, can protect what they value about their land, such as the open space, views, rural character, wildlife habitat, mature forest, and more.
Hennepin County is gathering interest from landowners who want to explore the opportunity of establishing a conservation easement. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about the Hennepin County Habitat Conservation Program or want to apply for conservation easement funding, fill out the online interest form or contact Kristine Maurer directly at kristine.maurer@hennepin.us or 612-348-6570.
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After a hiatus due to COVID-19, Hennepin County is again offering facility tours at the Brooklyn Park Transfer Station. The drop-off facility provides an opportunity for residents to properly manage household hazardous waste, recyclables, organics, and problem materials such as computers, TVs and appliances. Tours describe how the facility works and highlight the importance of reducing, reusing, recycling and preventing pollution.
Tours are available for youth and adult groups. Participants must be 7 years of age or older, and group sizes can range from 5 to 28. Youth tours have been linked to state education standards in math, science, and social studies.
Complete the Brooklyn Park Transfer Station tour request calendar and form to request a tour for your group.
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The third round of the online Stop Food Waste Challenge wrapped up at the end of August. The 345 participants completed just over 2,000 actions that successfully reduced food waste, avoided carbon dioxide emissions, and advanced participants’ knowledge.
The top actions people selected were to eat before shopping, track their wasted food, and stick to their grocery list.
Food waste wins
Throughout the challenge, we saw people learning, trying new things, and getting creative to prevent wasted food. Many participants shared their "food waste wins." Here are some of our favorites:
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Had good conversations with their kids: “We talked about how throwing away an item from his lunch means more than just the tossed item - there is the water used to grow it, the gas in the vehicle to drive it to our store, etc… That lead to a nice conversation about food shelves and what food insecurity means. What a day!” -Crystal F.
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Tried out new resources: “I downloaded the app ‘Cooklist’ and was beyond impressed! It gives you a personalized shopping list that caters to your needs” -Emma M.
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Connected with neighbors: “After a potluck community dinner, there was fresh salad and other leftovers I thought I had to throw away. However, I came home and my new neighbors were moving in, so I offered the leftovers to them, and they were happy to have something already made and ready to eat! VOILA! No food waste!” -Julie R.
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Tried creative strategies: “I'm finding that my sticky note labeling method is working out really well to remind me of what's in drawers in the fridge…. The little brightly colored notes give me a little nudge every time I open the fridge, reminding me to use those foods before they spoil.” -Krina D.
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Chose “ugly” foods: “Today at church, I purposefully chose the split tomatoes (figuring they were the least desirable) from the garden offerings. I also picked the "ugly" double tomato. It was actually quite interesting looking.” -Kathy D.
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Realized all of the benefits: “As a mother, I was initially interested in controlling food waste as a way to save money. Saving money on my family's food made it possible for me to donate food to the local food shelf that was supported by my church. It wasn't until later that I learned how wasted food is also an environmental issue. So now I have several reasons for cutting my food waste.” -Anne S.
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What happens to hazardous waste brought to drop-off facilities?
Minnesota is a national leader when it comes to providing disposal and recycling services for residents to get rid of hazardous waste such as paint, gasoline, batteries, and more. But what happens to that waste after it’s dropped off at a hazardous waste collection facility or event? The Star Tribune recently answered this question in a Curious Minnesota story.
Some highlights:
- Latex paint is the most common material dropped off, and it’s recycled locally into new paint.
- Gasoline and solvents are turned into industrial fuel.
- Motor oil is filtered in Mankato and used at asphalt plants.
- Electronics are disassembled, and the various parts are sold to be recycled into new products.
- Rechargeable batteries are taken apart to recover the valuable metals.
- Mercury is an important material to bring in for proper disposal because of the threats it poses to human health and the environment.
Not sure how to dispose of something? Check our Green Disposal Guide, email environment@hennepin.us, or call 612-348-3777.
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Hennepin County’s deconstruction program provides green jobs that increase climate and personal resiliency
Hennepin County contracts with Better Futures Minnesota to deconstruct buildings, a process that involves dismantling a structure by hand to salvage materials for reuse and recycling.
The partnership provides multiple benefits: increasing climate resiliency by keeping usable materials out of landfills and reducing the need for new building materials and building personal resiliency by providing jobs and career training for convicted felons. This program was recently featured in a Hearst News story about the growth of climate careers and is now airing on Hearst stations nationwide.
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Hennepin County residents have prevented thousands of pounds of algae from growing in our lakes and streams by doing this one simple thing: adopting a storm drain!
Trash and decaying organic debris like fallen leaves are harmful to lakes, rivers, and streams. When leaves fall in your street, they wash into storm drains and then directly into the nearest lake or river, adding excess nutrients to these bodies of water.
As leaves decompose, the resulting nutrients fuel algae growth. The unsightly algae blooms can cover the surface of polluted lakes, sucking oxygen out of the water and choking fish and native plants. Keeping leaves and other pollution out of our storm drains helps keep our lakes and rivers clean and clear.
It only takes 15 minutes, twice a month, to adopt a storm drain. Here are a few quick tips to get you started.
- Adopt an available storm drain near you at mn.adopt-a-drain.org
- Gather the tools you'll need. These might include gloves, rake, trash grabber, dustpan, safety vest, bins for separating waste, yard and/or trash bag
- Collect and separate trash and recycling from the area around your adopted drain. To learn how to sort the litter you clean up, refer to the waste sort guide for litter cleanups (PDF)
- Rake or sweep up leaves and sticks and place in a compost pile or yard waste bag. Contact your city or hauler about options for curbside yard waste pickup, bring them to a yard waste drop-off site, or learn how to start composting.
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Report the debris you collect so we can track our collective impact.
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