Volunteer Opportunity: Trash Cleanup with Wakaŋ Tipi Awanyankapi
Date: Monday, May 13, 2024
Time: 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm, volunteers may participate anytime within the 1:00 – 5:00 pm window, you can stay for the entire time but it is not required
Cost: There is no cost associated with this volunteer opportunity.
Registration Limit: Registration will be capped at 95 participants. Please send an email to Info@DelaneyMeetingEvent.com if you are no longer able to attend, so someone may take your place.
Description:
Forum attendees are invited to volunteer with our local partner, Wakaŋ Tipi Awanyankapi. Wakaŋ Tipi is a Native-Led, East Side environmental stewardship nonprofit centered in Dakota values. You can learn more about their work here.
Volunteers will help clean up trash at Wakaŋ Tipi (also known as Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary), which directly relates to the restoration efforts that are currently occurring at the site. Trash clean ups are incredibly helpful to the ecosystems on the site, which include ponds, oak savannah, prairie, wetlands, and bluff woodlands.
Please note, bug spray, boots, pants, and long-sleeve clothing are highly recommended due to ticks. Trash bags and rubber gloves will be provided. Please review the volunteer code of conduct to further understand what is expected of volunteers throughout the cleanup.
Location and Transportation:
- Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary, 590 4th St E, St Paul, MN 55106
- Transport is not provided – participants will meet at the location listed above (about a five minute drive from the RiverCentre).
The Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant
Date: Monday, May 13, 2024
Time: 1:00 – 3:30 pm, this includes transit time to and from the RiverCentre
Cost: $10 per person
Registration Limit: 25 participants. Please send an email to Info@DelaneyMeetingEvent.com if you are no longer able to attend, so someone may take your place.
Description:
One of the ways that the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant is enhancing resiliency as a part of the Met Council Climate Plan is through enhanced its flood protection in response to increasing storm events. The plant was built on the banks of the Mississippi River in 1938 to harness gravity to move wastewater; however, the plant’s placement also puts the utility at risk of flooding. Hear how the Metropolitan Council carries out its clean water mission when its largest treatment plant is 15 feet below the river crest. Learn how efforts such as separating stormwater and sewer pipes, and reducing inflow and infiltration of clear water into sewers, minimizes flood risks, addresses public health, and contributes to regional adaptation efforts.
Attendees will see and experience:
- A flood wall and effluent pumps
- A tunnel system with piping and equipment that must be protected during floods, with groundwater pumps and special gates at access points
- The temporary road used during flood events and see photos of the road in use
- The flood high water mark
- Closed camera television (CCTV) monitoring of pipe-in-pipe stormwater separation at a maintenance hole
Location and Transportation:
- Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant, St. Paul, MN
- Transportation will be provided for participants. Participants will meet at the RiverCentre and will be transported to and from the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Westwood Hills Nature Center
Date: Monday, May 13, 2024
Time: 1:30 – 4:00 pm, this includes transit time to and from the RiverCentre
Cost: $10 per person
Registration Limit: 20 participants. Please send an email to Info@DelaneyMeetingEvent.com if you are no longer able to attend, so someone may take your place.
Description:
Westwood Hills Nature Center in the City of St Louis Park is the first commercial Net Zero Energy Certified project in the state of Minnesota. Located on 160-acres featuring marsh, woods, prairie, and a bog, the nature center provides habitat for multiple species and allows visitors to connect with nature through education programming, exhibits, walking paths, and the building itself. During the design process, climate change projections were used to analyze and project energy use and validate architectural and engineering details, to help the City feel confident the building would operate at net zero energy well into the future. Since the building opened to the public in 2020, Minnesota has experienced extreme heat, increased wildfire smoke, drought, and other climate change impacts at an accelerated pace beyond projections.
Participants will learn about the intersection of climate change mitigation and adaptation from project architects and engineers and hear from Nature Center Manager Mark Oestreich about how the building has been operating, acting as a teaching tool, and adapting to the changing climate.
For more information on Westwood Hills Nature Center, visit:
- https://www.stlouisparkmn.gov/government/departments-divisions/parks-rec/westwood-hills-nature-center
- https://living-future.org/case-studies/westwood-hills-nature-center/
Location and Transportation:
- Westwood Hills Nature Center, 8300 W Franklin Ave, St Louis Park, MN 55426
- Transportation will be provided for participants. Participants will meet at the RiverCentre and will be transported to and from the Nature Center.
Crosby Farm Regional Park
Date: Thursday, May 16, 2024
Time: 2:30 – 5:00 pm, this includes transit time to and from the RiverCentre
Cost: $10 per person
Registration Limit: 20 participants. Please send an email to Info@DelaneyMeetingEvent.com if you are no longer able to attend, so someone may take your place.
Description:
On this tour, participants will visit a long-term climate change adaptation experiment in the heart of St. Paul. This experiment, part of the international Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change network, is testing different adaptation strategies for managing a floodplain forest that has experienced dramatic canopy loss from emerald ash borer. Participants will visit study plots in an urban forested natural area and hear from scientists, managers, and volunteer managers about their experience with the project. Lessons learned and results from four years of data collection will also be shared. The plots are located about 1 mile from the parking lot on a paved trail. If participants wish to enter the plots, they must wear long pants and field-appropriate footwear (waterproof boots, tennis shoes, or anything you don’t mind getting muddy). Bring a water bottle, bug spray, sunscreen, and appropriate clothing for the weather.
Location and Transportation:
- Crosby Farm Regional Park
- Transportation will be provided for participants. Participants will meet at the RiverCentre and will be transported to and from Crosby Farm.