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Newspaper Clipping - Newspaper Clipping Scan - Eagan wants lakes to be true blue - 5/9/1991 Star Tribune Metro/state n h.. Ile ay ew s May 9/1990 0 OW-1. Read then recycle Me e gum -,%hout five years ago, Eagan residents Eagan wants its lakes ,)ticed th true the water in the city's lakes was blue rning green. Their questions prompted By Gary Harvey worries that phosphorous from fertil- officials to begin a hard look at water Legislation that could make such ~y officials to take a hard look at water Staff Writer izers that homeowners spread on quality about five years ago. "People plans mandatory in the metropolitan lawns to make them green is going were asking (city officials) why their area , may come soon, said Gary aahty. The result was a com rehensive Derek Robillard likes to fish at Heine to grow green vegetation and algae in lakes were turning green," said Tom Oberts, a Metropolitan Council envi- p Lake, not far from his home in Ea- Heine Lake as well. Colbert, director of public works. ronmental planner. I Management plan that puts that gan. It's one reason he and classmate The result of the study, a comprehen- The legislation would require local community at the forefront of an issue "It's one of the blue ones," said Brandon Hedges decided to study the sive water quality management plan, officials to take the lead in efforts that other cities in the metro area may Derek, 14, an eighth-grader at Rose- quality of Eagan's lakes, ponds and puts Eagan out front on an issue that that would not only clean up lakes mount Middle School. wetlands for their science project this other metropolitan area cities may and wetlands in their cities but also f"lave to face in the next few ears. year. have to face within the next few mean cleaner water flowing into the y Ile's seen other Eagan lakes that are years. dirty or choked with algae, and he A similar concern prompted Eagan Water continued on page 9B Block clubs will help fight crime and blight ' i By Anthony Lonetree ' Staff Writer Community efforts to fight crime ~ and curb blight were enhanced in St. 4 I Paul Tuesday, as Mayor Jim Scheibel and Police Chief William McCutch-' eon announced steps to create and strengthen neighborhood block clubs. i r I Scheibe] said the city will hire two t' crime prevention coordinators to t' help organize block clubs, notify resi dents about crime trends and work € r .r.~ with citizens, landlords and tenants { to eliminate problem properties. 3 The program, dubbed the Neighbor- hood Crime Prevention Partnership, t~ each of the Police Department's calls for individual officers in I~ four , team offices to be assigned as liaisons > y M t , ark ° , i 11 to new and existin s r { a f` t g block C1UbS. za { ~I~ 6~ rte nt kr ~ 1,~ X70 , k ~tA, a ~:h~ ~ 1~;~~ ro f. f i~~ ~ ~ lii$ iy¢,' ~,~~~'y'➢~Rt~~{,~' ~4 44W. "We are helping them penetrate the .,d'7,j?, ;f bureaucracy," McCutcheon said. r~ The program is expected to draw on the success of East Side block club Fffnrt e„ifli c iP;ti~r i a,. k$a,+? i s ;r s'f ,..t.~i,j g1 FJlrr~ f.. rf fA + e;RkE his State of the City address to`'` to 't of"r, rr1 i e ,z r1 v r ► 7 isa InV01Ve C]11zenS In crime prevention efforts. Sara Cwayna, former crime prevention director in the Payne- Phalen area, will be one of two coor- ~*kk~~ ,'a, ~u~s+ Jtr h1 ~rf ~f4~ . 3 xr'T-' m- 'a: g w 9 7 ~ dinators. r , r Scheibel also has vowed to seek com- -tact ilhotus uy John of munity involvement in a program calling for citizen volunteers to sur- Irrigation sprinklers help maintain the moisture of the ten, but alone they cosnot reproduce the wetland's special chemical balance. ` vey houses in designated eight-block htin 7;- ~ y f for fen a Progress poses a threat to rare and old wetland By Gary Harvey the damage from human progress - t Staff Writer embodied in a needed expansion to ; - - a ~ - the Seneca waste water treatment Jeanette Leete stepped carefully, her plant a few hundred yards northeast eyes scanning the dead brown of last of the fen. t ' year's vegetation for one particular t " bright splash of living green. Nicols Meadow is one of only about 50 calcareous, or calcium-rich, fens It would be a small victory to spot in Minnesota. Experts know of only Above, the common valerian, the shoots of common valerian, an about 200 in the world. It is a which is one of the few plants endangered perennial herb found in remnant of the Minnesota that that thrive in the unique soil calcareous fens such as this one. It existed after the glaciers retreated environment of Nicols Meadow, also would be a sign-that the Nicols 10,000 years ago. one of only about 50 calcareous, Meadow Fen, a few precious acres or calcium-rich, fens in in the Minnesota River Valley in Calcareous fens differ from other "aa~rw Minnesota. Eagan, might yet survive human wetlands because their plants, some progress. of them found nowhere else, are uuuuaueu uy Me oxygen-pour wa,e, At left, Jeanette Leete, a f "There's some meadow rue," Leete that rises through calcium and ° hydrogeologist with the says. Then she points to scores of magnesium deposits to the surface, Minnesota Department of Natural snail shells that may lie for years creating a unique soil environment. y , Resources, checked on a pump without dissolving because of the Only plants such as the commons . h site for a reinjection well. Leete is alkaline soil. "You wouldn't find valerian, which can withstand such r ,~...v counting on the new water- this in a bog." conditions, can live there for long. reinjection system to increase underground water pressure to Leete, a hydrogeologist with the The Metropolitan Waste Control !l restart the springs, which are Minnesota Department of Natural Commission is expanding Seneca to essential to the survival of the Resources, is one of scores of people fen. 1 who have been fighting to mitigate Fen continued on page 513