KARE11 | Lawmakers asked to help with Pig’s Eye cleanup

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Full article @ KARE11

Supporters say the time is now to restore Pig’s Eye dumpsite, using money from the federal infrastructure bill and the state budget surplus.

ST PAUL, Minn. — When Tom Dimond walks through Pig’s Eye Regional Park, he sees nothing but opportunity, a chance to clean up a legacy landfill and deliver a functioning park to surrounding neighborhoods and the city at large.

It’s known as Pig’s Eye Regional Park, covering 1,300 acres southeast of downtown St. Paul, including Pig’s Eye Lake and adjacent land. But it’s never been fully developed because of the toxic chemicals that were dumped there for decades, between the 1920s and 1970s.

Star Tribune | St. Paul City Council asks state to help clean up Pig’s Eye Lake

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Article in the January 11, 2022 Star Tribune

The St. Paul City Council is asking the state for funds from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the state’s $7 billion budget surplus to help clean up years of pollution near the underutilized Pig’s Eye Lake.

St. Paul Audubon Society Treasurer Kiki Sonnen has visited Pig’s Eye Regional Park since the 1970s. The park is part of a major North America flyway for herons, who nest there and travel up to 30 miles around the region to feed before returning to Pig’s Eye.

Full Article

Bird-Friendly Buildings

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Research indicates that up to 1 billion birds may be killed per year in the U.S. alone due to window collisions. Birds hit buildings at all hours during the day and night. At night migrating birds can be distracted by bright lights in our cities. During the day the problem is reflection or other confusing aspects of glass.

The increased use of glass in our modern buildings, including large expanses of highly-glazed or ultra-clear glass, presents a serious hazard for birds. Most birds don’t perceive glass as an obstacle. Instead, they see the things they know and need, such as habitat and open sky, reflected in the glazed surface or on the other side of one or more panes of glass.

Join Audubon’s Bird-Friendly Communities team for an exciting two-part webinar series focused on the issue of bird-window collisions, solutions we can take to address this problem, and lessons learned from across the Audubon network.

Register below for each event

A Discussion with Researcher Dr. Daniel Klem
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
7–8:30 pm Eastern
REGISTER HERE

Solutions and Successes Across Audubon
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
7–8:30 pm Eastern
REGISTER HERE

Pig’s Eye Regional Park Report

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The following report was created by Jarita Chen, a Macalester College student, supported by the college’s Chuck Green Fellowship. She spent hours afield with Kiki Sonnen, Tom Dimond, Kathy Sidles and others while we documented the changing landscape of  Pig’s Eye Regional Park during the summer of 2021.

We witnessed an oil spill into the Creek after a train engine’s diesel fuel tank was punctured. We monitored the cleanup. We watched frogs and turtles and fish in the Creek. We saw numerous birds throughout the spring and summer. We tracked various governmental actions taking parkland from the public and turning it over to expansion of heavy industrial use.

All the while Ms. Chen was gathering from numerous sources information, maps, graphics, charts, diagrams, photos. She pulled all the information together into a remarkable document now available for public review. Ms. Chen worked under an environmental justice internship for the Lower Phalen Creek Project. Her professor is Kiristina Sailiata.

Thank you to all for Jarita Chen’s great contribution to environmental justice.

Read the full Pig’s Eye Park Report

Maplewood Survey re Development of Grasslands

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The City of Maplewood is asking the public to take a survey concerning the possible development of the 77-acre grassland adjacent to Battle Creek Regional Park and redevelopment of The Ponds At Battle Creek golf course.  Maplewood needs to hear from you that development of these properties is unacceptable.  Please take the survey, no later than February 14th, at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QKTXZV7.  You can select “None of the above” or “No Response” when appropriate.  

This is an issue that the Saint Paul Audubon Society has been following and we are advocating for the properties to be kept as grasslands because of the important bird habitat it provides. You can refresh your memory on this topic here. 

Please take SURVEY
Battle Creek Proposal Details

Thank you.
The Saint Paul Audubon Society