East Isles Leads Nation in Storm Drain Adoptions!
East Isles now has 82% of our storm drains adopted.
This is great progress, thank you everyone, as we started with just 16%. Our Green Team has been working with 8 neighborhoods with the support of a Hennepin Good Steward grant that was awarded to Green Guardians MN through Upstream MN.
Over the past 4 years of work in multiple neighborhoods we have made a difference:
15,805 gallons of trash picked up
94 cleanup events with 1,446 volunteers participating (including Safety Walks)
Picked up 223 syringes, 1 gun, many bikes, shopping carts, etc.
120 20-lb bags of traction grit given out as a winter salt alternative
Trash boom installed on Lake of the Isles to capture trash before it spreads all over the lake
That's a lot of numbers—here's another way to look at this. Four years ago, Henry LaBounta reported that he could fill a 5-gallon bucket with trash from the lakeshore between each of the park benches, which are only about 150 feet apart. Now you would have to walk around a large section of the lake to fill that bucket, the lake is much cleaner but still needs constant attention.
This is an important time to keep our storm drains clear. It prevents street flooding and helps to prevent green algae problem on the lake. When doing yard work or walking your dog, please take a few minutes to check your drains and keep them clear.
Many of the 9 neighborhoods doubled their storm drain adoptions:
East Isles: 16% > 82% (209)
East Bde Maka Ska: 18% > 80% (193)
Kenwood: 26% > 67% (131)
Cedar Isles-Dean: 23% > 49% (222)
Lowry Hill: 27% > 48% (408)
Lowry Hill East: 15% > 45% (391)
South Uptown: 24% > 41% (297)
Bryn Mawr: 18% > 39% (392)
West Maka Ska: 14% > 31% (122)
HandsOn Twin Cities - this is where we post our events, which will start again in the spring.
Adopt some Storm drains - it's free & very easy, help stop trash before it gets to our lakes!
Enter Storm Drain Name contest - name the drains you adopted, and later also vote on the funniest, best local reference, most green, etc.
Thank you to Ellen, Lona, Julia and all the great volunteers and neighbors who have helped care for our neighborhood and environment!