Environment

Sean Bloomfield and Colton Witte professed to go big or go home as they prepared to tackle a daunting 2,250-mile journey via canoe from Chaska to Hudson Bay.

Go big they did.

Do you like bugs? Birds? Fish? Mushrooms?

Wannabe biologists are encouraged to join professional scientists and researchers as they converge on Rapids Lake Education and Visitor Center in mid-June in a race to collect as many plant and animal species as possible in a 24-hour time period.

Carver County Parks will hold an Earth Day and Arbor Day celebration on Saturday April 26, from 10 a.m. to noon at Lake Minnewashta Regional Park, on Highway 41 between highways 5 and 7 in Chanhassen.

Carver County Parks has a morning dedicated to spending time restoring Lake Minnewashta Regional Park to a more natural state. This includes removing trash and dumped items, park beautification projects and an educational presentation a newly planted woodland restoration project.

A restaurant, an environmental education center for hunters, a field research office – those are just a few of the reuse options that could keep the historic Gehl-Mittelsted farmhouse from facing the wrecking ball.

“It has to be viable and sustainable,” said Steve Wilmot, architect with the firm doing a reuse study on the building.

In September 2007, the Three Rivers Park District Board of Commissioners awarded the construction contract for the Dakota Rail Regional Trail to Rachel Contracting, of Maple Grove.

The contractor began preliminary construction activities on the trail between the city of St. Bonifacius and County Road 110 in the city of Minnetrista in late 2007. (The trail travels through the northern portion of Carver County.)

Bridge rehabilitation work for the trail is expected to begin in late February. Trail construction is scheduled to start as soon as weather permits.

By Mollee Francisco 

The National Audubon Society and the American Bird Conservancy have identified 37 birds found in Minnesota as needing top-priority conservation attention to ensure their continued survival.

By Mollee Francisco 

The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum has begun offering free admission on Thursdays.