Tend the rare prairie at Sand Coulee SNA @ Sand Coulee Scientific & Natural Area (SNA)

Jun 28 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Categories: Events Outreach Tags: FMR Friends of the Mississippi River Hastings Sand Coulee SNA sand coulee SNA

Make & Take Rain Barrel Workshop @ Dakota County Fairgrounds

Tickets

Aug 21 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm

It’s easy, make and take a rain barrel.

What’s one of the simplest, high-impact ways to save water and help protect our watershed? Using a rain barrel.

The workshop will begin with a presentation on how home lawn and garden practices impact our waters and how we can make a difference. Next, we’ll discuss the watershed-friendly benefits of rain barrels in more detail, then review how to build, incorporate, install and maintain them.

With guidance from Friends of the Mississippi River staff, participants will then build their very own rain barrel to take home following the workshop. Participants will receive the necessary parts ($35 per kit) and be guided through the process of converting used syrup barrels from Great Lakes Coca-Cola of Eagan, into a rain barrel to take home and install.

Lawns to Legumes Pollinator Talk April 12 with Scott SWCD

The Scott Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is excited to host speaker Dr. Elaine Evans to talk about what’s happening with Minnesota’s state bee: The rusty patched bumble bee.

The Scott SWCD has been awarded funding through the State’s Lawns to Legumes Program to restore critical habitat for the endangered rusty patched bumble bee. Scott SWCD staff will give an overview of funding opportunities while Dr. Elaine Evans from the University of Minnesota discusses why these bees are so important.

This free educational webinar will go over:

How to identify the rusty patched bumble bee and their role as a critical pollinator species
The life cycle and behaviors of the rusty patched bumble bee
What’s being done to protect them
How you can help expand their habitat and beautify your property with Lawns to Legumes grants

Dr. Elaine Evans holds a PhD in Entomology and works as an Associate Extension Professor at the University of Minnesota Bee Lab in the Department of Entomology. They handle questions related to bee conservation and are currently monitoring the population of the endangered rusty patched bumble bee.