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NEWSLETTER / JUNE 2022
 Wednesday (TOMORROW!), June 22 at 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. — MWMO Stormwater Park and Learning Center
Join us for an evening of community, canoeing and cookies! Share the River Nordeast is back. Stop by anytime between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. for a free introductory canoe ride on the Mississippi River, then grab a free cookie and enjoy a variety of fun and educational activities at our Stormwater Park and Learning Center.
This family-friendly event is great for kids and adults of all ages. (Please note that you must weigh at least 30 lbs. in order to fit the provided life jackets.) In addition to learning to paddle on the river, participants will also have opportunities to learn about the Mississippi River’s history, water quality, plants, animals and more.
 A formerly neglected slope along the Midtown Greenway that was overgrown with weeds has been transformed into pollinator habitat with help from an MWMO Action Grant.
Allina Health installed deep-rooted, pollinator-friendly plants along a 5,000-square-foot slope at the site of its new transportation hub at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in South Minneapolis. In addition to creating habitat, the plantings serve to stabilize the slope and help infiltrate stormwater runoff.
Pollinator experts from the University of St. Thomas plan to conduct surveys to measure the impact of the plantings on local pollinator populations. You can learn more and see before-and-after photos on our project page.
 Photo credit: Rich Ryan
LaTrisha Vetaw represents Minneapolis on the MMWO Board of Commissioners. She’s the subject of this month’s installment of our “Meet the Commissioners” series.
“Quality of life is different when people have access to water,” says Vetaw, a current Minneapolis City Council member and former Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board commissioner.
She knows firsthand the disparity in access to water between residents in North Minneapolis compared to those in other parts of the city. She represents the city’s fourth ward, which was historically cut off from the riverfront by industrial development and the construction of I-94.
Vetaw hopes to see that access restored through projects like the Upper Harbor Terminal Redevelopment and the 26th Avenue North Overlook. She also hopes to help bring communities of color into conversations about the environment.
Small world: In her private life, Vetaw serves as the director of health policy and advocacy at NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center, where an MWMO grant is currently helping to install some innovative green stormwater infrastructure.
Read her full profile on our blog.
 Here are five simple tips that will lead to a healthier yard this summer while helping to reduce runoff and protect water quality:
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Mow High — Adjust your lawn mower so that the blade cuts at three inches or higher. This results in healthier grass that can better resist weeds and drought.
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Mow Often — Try to mow your lawn often enough that you don’t need to cut more than one-third of the length of the grass blades each time.
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Mulch — Mulching your grass clippings has the same effect as adding fertilizer to your turfgrass lawn.
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Sweep Up — Remove and dispose of any grass clippings that land on hard surfaces. Otherwise, rain will carry them into stormdrains and out to the Mississippi River.
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Water Wisely — Lawns don’t need more than 1 inch of water per week, so don’t over-water. (Pro tip: you can look up your local weather history to check on past precipitation.)
If you want to know more about why these practices work, check out our lawn care page, which includes link to a series of videos on good lawn care practices.
If you don’t own a yard, you can always adopt a stormdrain or check out our list of everyday activities that help protect water quality.
 Looking for a job in environmental science? Do you enjoy fieldwork and creative problem-solving? Then join our team! We’ve got an opening for an environmental specialist at MWMO.
As part of our monitoring team, the environmental specialist provides technical assistance in water resource protection and planning, with special emphasis on the establishment, operation, and maintenance of a watershed-wide baseline water quality monitoring program.
Learn more and apply on our website. Applications are due by July 5.
 Whether or not you’re not looking for a job with our monitoring team (see above), you can ride along with them as they collect data and samples from the Mississippi River in our latest YouTube video.
The MWMO regularly collects water quality samples from the Mississippi River to help establish baseline water quality data. It’s one of several types of monitoring activities our team performs to help inform our project planning and the long-term management of the river.
Want to see more of our team in action? Check out our other monitoring-related videos.
Meet the Interns: Wyatt Schulman
Summer interns play an important role at the MWMO, helping perform the day-to-day work of water quality monitoring while learning on the job. This summer, the MWMO is excited to welcome Eva Hanson, Chloe Kahn, Josephine Khan, and Wyatt Schulman as interns. We’ll be profiling one of them each month here in our newsletter.
Intern Wyatt Schulman is spending his summer working on the MWMO’s monitoring team. He recently graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. in Environmental Science.
Wyatt says he is very much looking forward to gaining valuable experience in the field during his time at MWMO. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends, cooking/baking, and rock climbing.
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