• Enjoying the Mississippi River

    Mississippi

    National River & Recreation Area Minnesota

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The MUCK and BUCK

Posted: September 26, 2011 | posted by: Tamberlain Jacobs!

Fall is on its way. September brings the end of summer and also symbolizes the final month of the Biotech program for the year. We had our highest count of volunteers this month: 150!!! For the entire summer our approximate total was 225 volunteers. That is AMAZING!! A lot of hard work was done! We are really stoked and ecstatic to have sooo many people willing to donate their time to help clean up our Coldwater Unit!

Week 1:

It was a short week with Labor day and all, but it was still filled to the brim with activities. We had two major volunteer groups help haul brush plus held a Hazard Tree training.

Macalester Read More About The MUCK and BUCK

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Caution: The HAZARDS of summer - coming to a close

Posted: September 13, 2011 | posted by: Tamberlain Jacobs!

August was both an awesome and impressive month. But it also had its sobering undertones and reflective moments.Most of our time was spent at our Coldwater Unit, trying to wrap things up for the summer. The invasive species for the month was European Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica). As the name implies, it was brought over fromfrom Europe in the 1800s, planted as a hedge shrub, then slowly began spreading and totally inundating our forest floors. For further information about this species please refer to the website: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/terrestrialplants/woody/

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Brush Hauls and Paddles

Posted: August 04, 2011 | posted by: Tamberlain Jacobs!

July was HOT, HOT, HOT!This summer is moving fast and furiously. Before we know it, fall will be sneaking up on us.This year's BioTech season has been both invigorating and exciting.

July was full of activities including treating Garlic Mustard and other invasive species, leading energetic volunteers in buckthorn removal/brush hauling events, checking our Emerald Ash borer traps, and escorting paddlers on both the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers.

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River Clean-ups and Western Fox Snakes

Posted: July 07, 2011 | posted by: Tamberlain Jacobs!

The month of June was very exciting! (It will be hard to do it justice with this blog post.) A lot of our time was spent at the Coldwater Unit, where we have seen a lot of interesting things. Photos will be posted as the summer progresses! Let's start with the first two week:

June 6th to June 18th, 2011:

The first week we spent a lot of time at our Coldwater Unit doing security checks, collecting water flow data, and helping prepare the site for the World Peace Day event.We also had a special day participating in the annual BioBlitz event held at the Katharine OrdwayNatural History Study Area.

While we were prepping the Coldwater Unit

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Bittercress Invasion and More!

Posted: June 30, 2011 | posted by: Tamberlain Jacobs!

For this post, please allow me to backtrack here a little. Our season started the 2nd week of May, and we have been very busy. BUT, I do not what you to MISS out on any of our activities!

May 9th to May 20th, 2011:

During our first 2 weeks, we focused on two invasive species, and provided boat support for the annual Eaglet survey.During this past winter and spring, we have had lots of rain and snow, so our mighty Mississippi has been very high. This gave us an interesting challenge in both setting up our Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) (Agrilus planipennis)monitoring traps and boating logistics to our nest sites.

In the past 4 years, we generally put up 14 purple EAB traps every year, but this summer we were only able to set

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Welcome to the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area!

Posted: June 23, 2011 | posted by: Tamberlain Jacobs!

This summer we were asked to create a blog just for you, to give you the inside scoop of what we are up to and to take you on a virtual tour of the river corridor through a different set of eyes...

I would like to take this opportunity introduce you to the Biological Science Technician Program at the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.Every year, two seasonal "bio-techs" are hired to help manage invasive species on park lands. The inception of this program began in 2003 to control woody Buckthorn on our nine National Park Service Islands in the metropolitan area. Since then, the position has been expanded to include management practices for other exotic species, working with partner agencies to help lead and educate visitors, conduct plant inventory lists, monitor

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Did You Know?

Coon Rapids Dam

Over 600 men worked around the clock using hand tools, horses and coal powered shovels to build the original Coon Rapids Dam in 1913.  The dam was rebuilt between 1995 and 1997.