Dennis Anderson: Minnesota Buffer Law→

Star Tribune:

“While Republicans in the Legislature again take aim at the state’s new stream-and-ditch buffer law, John Mages rests easy.

Mages, a past president of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, farms 850 acres of good soil in Stearns County, planting corn and soybeans in spring and harvesting the crops in fall. To save topsoil and reduce overhead costs, he practices minimum tillage. And if the weather cooperates, his yields are superb: The past two years he’s averaged more than 200 bushels an acre of corn, without irrigating.

But one day last week, as Mages showed a visitor around his well-kept operation, the issue wasn’t crops but buffers. In all, he has about 30 acres of grasslands bordering waterways that either abut his croplands or run through them.”

Rae Ellen Bichell: We're All Dumber Due to Lead Pollution→

NPR:

“Exposure to lead as a child can affect an adult decades later, according to a study out Tuesday that suggests a link between early childhood lead exposure and a dip in a person’s later cognitive ability and socioeconomic status.

Lead in the United States can come from lots of sources: old, peeling paint; contaminated soil; or water that’s passed through lead pipes. Before policies were enacted to get rid of lead in gasoline, it could even come from particles in the fumes that leave car tailpipes.

And when lead gets into a human body, it can mess with brain development, decades of research has shown. “It’s toxic to many parts of the body, but in particular in can accumulate in the bloodstream and pass through the blood brain barrier to reach the brain,” says the study’s first author, Aaron Reuben, a graduate student in clinical psychology at Duke University...

Reuben says, children who experienced higher lead exposures “saw their intellectual abilities decline from their baseline starting point” as time wore on. He adds, “people who saw that decline also experienced downward social mobility.” The children who’d had high lead exposure — defined at the time as more than 10 micrograms per deciliter of blood — were more likely than the other kids to go on to have jobs that required slightly less education and brought in a little less income compared to their parents’ jobs.

In Reuben’s study, every 5 microgram increase in lead concentration in the blood at age 11 corresponded to a drop in IQ of 1.6 points at age 38 — primarily because of a drop in scores on perceptual reasoning and working memory. (Today the health standards for lead are stricter; 5 micrograms per deciliter is considered high exposure, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and no amount of lead is considered safe.)

The dips in IQ and in socioeconomic status were mild. But, Reuben says, “even small changes in IQ had some significant influence on the course that people’s lives took.””

You would have been a genius, instead you are mediocre. You can thank some greedy corporate executives who at the time railed against government regulations.

Jame Walsh: Working on Century-Old Storm Sewers →

Star Tribune:

““When we started this project, we saw a large section lit up and we thought: ‘Wow, this is a perfect opportunity to take some nice photographs and video of the tunnel and show the community what happens beneath the ground,’ ” said Anna Eleria, division manager with the watershed district. “A lot of our work happens underground or in structures that are not evident to the general public. This was a chance to show the importance.”

The video offers a glimpse into a 6-mile underground tunnel system that travels from Como Lake in St. Paul and Lake McCarrons in Roseville and eventually carries stormwater to the Mississippi River. It carries 3.9 billion gallons of rainwater and snow melt from neighborhoods in St. Paul, Roseville, Falcon Heights and Maplewood to the Mississippi River.”

Jed Kolko: Growth of Suburbs Exceeds Urban Areas→

FiveThirtyEight:

“The suburbanization of America marches on. Population growth in big cities slowed for the fifth-straight year in 2016,1 according to new census data, while population growth accelerated in the more sprawling counties that surround them.

The Census Bureau on Thursday released population estimates for every one of the more than 3,000 counties in the U.S. I grouped those counties into six categories: urban centers of large metropolitan areas; their densely populated suburbs; their lightly populated suburbs; midsize metros; smaller metro areas; and rural counties, which are outside metro areas entirely.2
The fastest growth was in those lower-density suburbs. Those counties grew by 1.3 percent in 2016, the fastest rate since 2008, when the housing bust put an end to rapid homebuilding in these areas.”

An inefficient development pattern keeps chugging along... until it doesn't make sense economically to individual homeowners.

Bill Lindeke: Five Reasons to Like St. Paul's Ford Site Plan→

streets.mn:

“There are about 150 acres of somewhat polluted land on a prime spot in the heart of the Twin Cities metro, right next to a bunch of existing or planned high-capacity transit corridors. And right now demand for smaller, affordable, mixed-use housing is huge — and projected to grow immensely as demographic changes continue. It’s a dream come true for urban planners, and it’s a tabula rasa chance for Saint Paul to build a neighborhood designed around the future.

The land is currently being cleaned up by the Ford company. So far, there have been years of work putting together ideas for the site. the hope is that, once these broad plans are adopted, a Ford will sell the site to a willing developer who will flesh out these guidelines into a detailed proposal.

Here are my five favorite things about the plans so far...”

Isaac Davison: A First -- A River is Given Legal Status→

New Zealand Herald:

Whanganui River

“Whanganui River now has the legal status of a person under a unique Treaty settlement passed into law today. The settlement means the river, the third-longest in the country, has all the rights, duties and liabilities that come with personhood.

Among other things, the river could now be represented in court proceedings, Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson said. “I know the initial inclination of some people will say it’s pretty strange to give a natural resource a legal personality. But it’s no stranger than family trusts, or companies or incorporated societies.””

Joanna Klein: Australia's Pink Lake→

New York Times:

“This is very much a real, natural phenomenon that occurs all over the planet. It’s what happens when the only thing living in a supersalty lake is a single-celled, salt-loving microbe that makes pigments called carotenoids.

“It’s the equivalent of having a desert, pink lake right in Central Park,” said Mark Norman, a conservation biologist for Parks Victoria, which manages the lake. “It’s quirky and fascinating, and I love it when natural systems do something that is so large scale that it just blows everybody away.”

The lake turned pink last week, and is expected to return to its normal color when the weather cools down and rains return for Australia’s winter, which starts in June.”

Andrew Small: What Cities Looked Like Before the EPA→

CityLab:

“This might be a good time to reflect on its legacy, especially in urban spaces. Though environmentalism conjures “America the Beautiful” images of purple mountains and unspoiled wilderness, much of the EPA’s heaviest lifting in rescuing this nation from its own filth happened in cities...”

Adam Sneed: Parks People Enjoy→

CityLab:

“What designers in Canberra, Australia, learned when they decided to spruce up an imposing concrete plaza to make it more attractive to locals. Their interventions weren’t huge, expensive, or particularly novel: Color is the most noticeable addition they made to Garema Place, by way of yarn-bombs, paint, and lighting. They also added vibrant, lightweight tables and chairs that people could move wherever they wanted, and installed a patch of grass to bring a little more nature into the mix…and voilà!

When the new features were added, the number of people stopping to hang out in the area shot up 247 percent, and it wasn’t just adults taking a seat as they passed by. More couples and friends lingered in the plaza, as did more seniors, families, and children. This was a key goal behind the project: Garema Place is known more for its weekend nightlife than for being welcoming to families. The researchers credit that change to the wide mix of interventions...””

Steven Maier: Study of a Lake Trout strain→

Great Lakes Echo:

“Elk Lake in Northwest Michigan is home to a strain of that fish that researchers believe can contribute uniquely to restoring it. Elk Lake trout have been self-sustaining and reproducing for years. That’s unusual in the Great Lakes Basin...

Researchers have collected data for over seven years from acoustic transmitters inserted into captured adult Elk Lake trout. That data and thermal profiling indicate that the strain likes colder water than trout from both the Great Lakes or the Finger Lakes in New York.”

Dave Orrick: Minnesota Lakehome Owner Demographics→

Pioneer Press:

“Minnesota lake home and cabin owners — that oh-so-MN demographic — are getting older. And not any richer. And their health care costs are rising.

Which might prove troublesome for the cherished natural resources — namely our lakes — that lakefront property owners are at the forefront of protecting.

Those are among the findings of a study released Friday by Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates, an environmental-advocacy group that often focuses on issues relevant to lake property owners associations.

The group called the findings a “disturbing trend” because of the uncertainty it could create over the future of both seasonal property ownership and environmental stewardship.”

Greg Seitz: Earth's Lakes→

MinnPost:

“Minnesota has about five percent of America’s lakewater right here, with a total volume of 66 cubic miles (not counting Lake Superior). That’s about twice as much as a typical state.

Our state’s most famous lake is surely Superior, the biggest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and, as it turns out, the largest volume of lakewater in the United States, and six percent of all the lake water in the world.

It’s so big that if you poured all the inland lakes in America into it, Superior wouldn’t even be half full. Its 2,900 cubic miles of water is more than in the other four Great Lakes combined, which contain another five percent of the world’s total lake water. They are truly great, and superior.”

James J. Krupa: Geronimo’s Pass and Jackrabbits→

Center for Humans and Nature:

“Five miles to the south, a three-strand barbed wire fence marked the United States-Mexico border. Somewhere out there, hidden in clumps of tobosa grass, a white-sided jackrabbit was hunkered down in a depression it had scraped into the hard earth for a scant bit of shade....I sat on my truck’s tailgate in the shade of the general store, waiting for the long shadows of the Peloncillo Mountains to the west to fill the valley, telling the rabbit it was time to forage.”

Adam Frank: Wildness→

NPR:

Chris Winsor/Getty Images

“For [Gary] Snyder, the answer is about inclusiveness:

”So we can say that New York City and Tokyo are ‘natural’ but not ‘wild.’ They do not deviate from the laws of nature, but they are habitat so exclusive in the matter of who and what they give shelter to, and so intolerant of other creatures, as to be truly odd. Wilderness is a place where the wild potential is fully expressed, a diversity of living and nonliving beings flourishing according to their own sorts of order.”

Thus, for Snyder, the wild is not about pristine landscapes. Instead, it’s about landscapes that are rich and diverse enough to be interesting for everybody, human and non-human alike. He writes: “When an ecosystem is fully functioning, all the members are present at the assembly. To speak of wilderness is to speak of wholeness.””

Gary Snyder noted that many folks are alienated from their place and that they "don't even know that they don't know the plants" of their environment. I've asked lakeshore residents and the only plants they know are the ones that the government has blacklisted (Eurasian milfoil, curly-leaf pondweed, etc.). I find it sad that folks only know the ones that the government has labeled 'bad/evil' and they don't appreciate the beauty of those plants and those that are indigenous to their area or lake.

Eleanor Klibanoff: Lead Ammo and Fishing Tackle Poisons→

NPR:

“On the day before President Trump’s inauguration, the outgoing Obama administration passed a last-minute directive, banning the use of lead ammunition and fishing sinkers on federal land.

Recently, the deteriorating health of a bald eagle showed the effects of lead poisoning. Obama’s regulation is intended to protect wildlife from exactly that. But hunters are hoping Trump will soon overturn it.”

In Minnesota, it is estimated that 100 to 200 loons die of ingesting lead-based fishing tackle.

Walker Angell: Bicycles Benefits→

Streets.mn

“Bicycles are arguably the most efficient form of transportation there is. Over 4 times faster than walking and they can carry heavier loads. Bicycling requires much less infrastructure, maintenance, and space than motor vehicles and are massively more affordable for individuals and communities.”

Steven Maier: Mudpuppies→

Great Lakes Echo:

“A joint research team from Southern Illinois University and Shedd Aquarium in Chicago has recently taken on the mystery of the elusive mudpuppy. Their study, published in the Journal of Great Lakes Research in December, provides some answers.

The mudpuppy is a fully-aquatic salamander thought to be on the decline–though the extent of that decline is unknown. The foot-long amphibians are classified a “threatened species” in the state of Illinois and considered a concern throughout the Great Lakes region.

The team was able to assess effective capture techniques for the first time. The discovery that trapping should take place in the winter is especially critical for future researchers.

They were also able to learn about the mudpuppy’s diet–which consisted of pretty much anything that would fit in their mouth...”

Samantha Oliver: What Two Frozen Lakes Taught Me→

Center for Limnology

A. Hinterthuer

“Today, I woke up at my favorite place on earth – Ten Mile Lake, in Hackensack, Minnesota. On the coldest day of the winter thus far, the frozen lake is so bright, so sparkly, it is almost hard to look at. And when you are from a place where 30 below is often the actual temperature (NOT the wind chill), you rely less on the calendar to define the seasons and more on observations of specific events that are tied to the climate.

Summer, to me, never began on the day with the most sunlight, but rather on the day the dock was installed (and ended, of course, when the dock was removed). Winter and spring were always announced by the day the lake froze and thawed.

Then I moved to the relatively tropical city of Madison, where the winter is shorter, but the lakes still provide a checkpoint in our urban phenology. But now my observations are set up as a study of contrasts: my asparagus came up two weeks sooner than my mom’s or simply subtract 10 degrees from Madison’s temperature to guess Hackensack’s temperature. On December 15th this year, I texted my mom: “Is Ten Mile frozen?” “Almost”, she responded. We have this conversation every year, but this year it felt different...”

David Brooks: Dignity and Sadness in the Working Class→

New York Times:

“Suburbia isn’t working. During the baby boom, the suburbs gave families safe places to raise their kids. But now we are in an era of an aging population, telecommuting workers and single-person households.

The culture and geography of suburbia are failing to nurture webs of mutual dependence.

We are animals who can’t flourish unless we can’t get along without one another. Yet one finds too many people thrust into lives of semi-independence.

These are not the victims of postindustrial blight I’m talking about; they are successful people who worked hard and built good lives but who are left nonetheless strangely isolated, in attenuated communities, and who are left radiating the residual sadness of the lonely heart.”

Suburbia may have made sense when families were larger, one parent stayed home, and energy was cheap. Now this form a development leaves kids in basements with video games and parents more isolated from their community.

Dave Orrick: Walleye Decline with Global Warming →

Pioneer Press:

“Natural walleye lakes could be a rarity in Wisconsin by mid-century, thanks to climate change, a new study warns. And the largemouth bass shall inherit the warmer waters — and flourish, the government-funded study further predicts.

By as soon as 2040, a mere 4 percent of Wisconsin lakes might be able to support naturally sustained walleye populations — a 60 percent reduction from today — while the number of lakes conducive to high-abundance largemouth bass populations could rise to 89 percent, up from 60 percent today, according to the study, co-authored by researchers from state and federal agencies...

The bass-walleye transformation isn’t new. For 30 years, researchers have watched traditional walleye lakes become bass-dominated lakes, often to the chagrin of anglers and cabin owners. The root cause is not known for certain, but it correlates with lakes getting warmer as summers have grown hotter and winters have become shorter and less severe, said Gretchen Hansen, the study’s lead author. The warming climate is a likely culprit because biologists have long established that in similar lakes, walleyes dominate in cooler waters and largemouth bass in warmer waters.”