News from Capitol Region Watershed District

October 2014

The new 40-acre Trout Brook Nature Sanctuary is the largest park of its kind in Saint Paul and is located on the west side of I35 between Maryland Avenue and Cayuga Street. The sanctuary officially opens in spring 2015.

Prior to development, the area was part of the Trout Brook stream channel, which used to flow from Lake McCarrons in Roseville through the new sanctuary location, to the Mississippi River near downtown Saint Paul. As the city was developed and a rail line constructed, Trout Brook was rerouted to underground storm drains, along with nearly all the city’s natural stream channels.

Trout Brook Nature Sanctuary is an especially important asset to residents because of its size, location and water quality improvement benefits. Saint Paul has very few areas of land remaining for large natural restoration projects and very few natural stream channels. The sanctuary is a wilderness oasis within view of downtown Saint Paul designed for both recreation and restoration, creating a rare opportunity for city residents to interact with nature. A section of Trout Brook Regional Trail runs through the sanctuary along the 3,200-foot restored stream

channel and connects to the Gateway Trail at Cayuga. The first pond at the north end was designed to remove pollution from the water at the head of the channel. From there water flows downstream through various natural features like wetlands, pools and bends that clean the water and provide habitat for aquatic wildlife.

Trout Brook Nature Sanctuary is the result of the hard work of community members and collaboration between City of Saint Paul, the Tri-Area Block Club and CRWD. Mark your calendars for spring 2015 – we’ll see you at Trout Brook!

Bringing water back to Saint Paul at Trout Brook Nature Sanctuaryby Lindsay VanPatten

Our mission is to protect, manage and improve the water resources of Capitol Region Watershed District.

Established in 1998, CRWD

covers 40 square miles and

includes portions of the cities

of Falcon Heights, Lauderdale,

Maplewood, Roseville and Saint

Paul. Located within Ramsey

County, it has a population of

225,000 people. The District

drains to the Mississippi River,

also its primary water resource.

Como Lake, Crosby Lake, Loeb

Lake and Lake McCarrons are

also located in the District.

Capitol Region Watershed District 1410 Energy Park Drive, Suite 4 • St. Paul, MN 55108 • 651-644-8888 • www.capitolregionwd.org

Board of Managers: Joe Collins, President Mary Texer, Vice President Seitu Jones, Secretary Mike Thienes, Treasurer

Shirley Reider, Board Manager

Mark Doneux, Administrator

CRWD Programs:PermittingEducation and OutreachWater Quality MonitoringGrantsCapital Improvement Projects

Trout Brook Regional Trail runs through the park along the restored stream channel.

Youth interns from Urban Roots tour Trout Brook Nature Sanctuary.

2 Capitol Region Watershed District October 2014

1410 Energy Park Drive, Suite 4

St. Paul, MN 55108

651-644-8888

651-644-8894 fax

www.capitolregionwd.org

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Nominate a Watershed Steward today!CRWD is accepting nominations for its 2014 Capitol Region Watershed Stewardship Awards. The awards honor individuals or organizations that exemplify “watershed stewardship” through activities, projects or policies that demonstrate their commitment to the CRWD mission to “protect, manage and improve water resources of Capitol Region Watershed District.”

Nominations for any of the following categories must be made by Friday, October 31, 2014.

For nomination details and forms visit our website, capitolregionwd.org or contact Lindsay, lindsay@capitolregionwd.org, 651.644.8888.

Como Curb CleanupThe 2014 Como Curb Cleanup begins October 11! Como neighborhood households and other property owners are invited to take part in this citizen-led effort to reduce phosphorus inputs to Como Lake. For details on how to participate go to the Como Active Citizen Network webpage (formerly Como Lake Neighbor Network) at ComoACN.org.

Watershed Citizen AwardWatershed Partner AwardYoung Watershed Steward AwardLifetime Stewardship Award

H2O Hero: Jenny EckmanTeacher, Roseville School District

Jenny is the Environmental Science teacher at Harambee Elementary School in Maplewood. She has developed a water quality curriculum for fourth and fifth grade students that includes field trips, rain barrel workshops and in-class problem solving and engineering activities. Jenny also initiated a landscape evaluation for the school to address runoff and install rain gardens through CRWD’s

Stewardship Grants program.

Thank you Jenny for helping protect our water resources!