Seasons The Greening of Maplewood
Winter 2014 Think Outside the Car By Shann Finwall, Environmental Planner
The government surveyors that traversed Maplewood in 1848 recorded several roads or wagon trails, most of which had formed along early Native American trails. Foot travel and wagon carts eventually gave way to trucks and cars, as Maplewood became one of St. Paul’s bedroom communities. Past development practices supported public spending for new roads that led to urban sprawl and a car-dependent culture. As a result, traffic volumes have increased and now exceed the intended street capacity in many parts of the Twin Cities. There are also environmental and health impacts of a car-dependent culture. Gasoline and diesel fuel vehicle emissions cause air pollution and respiratory health concerns, rates of accidental death and obesity rise, stormwater runoff from highways and roads pollute our waterways. What can we do to break free from our vehicle dependency? Think outside the car.
Biking, walking, and public transit are better for the environment, your health, and your wallet. The American Automobile Association estimated the average annual expense of owning and operating a car at $10,374 in 2013. Downsizing to one car can save a lot of money. Leaving your car at home just two days per week can reduce your greenhouse gas emissions by over 3,000 pounds per year. Maplewood’s transportation goals include providing residents with mobility options that encourage biking, walking, and staying active. All City road reconstruction projects now follow the Living Streets guidelines. These guidelines upgrade streets to better accommodate biking, walking, and transit users while incorporating green infrastructure such as trees and rain gardens on street edges. The City is also committed to constructing trail connections to ensure safe access. The Safe Routes to School program is helping provide a much-needed trail connection along County Road B, creating a safe walking and biking trail for students of Weaver Elementary and John Glenn Middle Schools (see page 3). Maplewood is also
working towards reducing the environmental impacts of our city fleet (see page 3). The Metropolitan Council and other regional transportation planners are finding new ways to encourage biking, walking, and public transit in the suburbs. Planning is underway for the Gateway Corridor, a bus rapid transit system along 12 miles of Highway 94, between St. Paul and Woodbury. In addition, the Bus Improvement Plan was just unveiled by the Metropolitan Council to guide future expansion of local and express bus service. Improvements will add service to existing routes, enhance connectivity, and introduce more reverse commute options. Thinking outside the car can be difficult in our car-dependent culture. Taking steps to reduce vehicle miles or reduce idling can be a good first step. To see how other residents are breaking free from vehicle dependency, refer to the articles on page 2.
Sustainable
Maplewood
Break Free From Vehicle Dependency
Craig Bikes to Work
Ed Walks the Gateway Trail
Kathleen Uses Park and Ride
Kids at the Nature Center Try Snowshoeing
Biking Maplewood
commuters and for recreational riders. To accomplish this, the plan ensures we have a strong system of east-west and north-south routes, and that we connect neighborhoods to the key trails. Since adopting the plan in 2010, Maplewood has worked hard to implement the plan and has constructed many new trail segments. Most of these have been done in conjunction with street reconstruction projects.
By Ginny Gaynor, Natural Resources Coordinator “People would be amazed at how far you can go on a bike trail in Maplewood!” exclaims Maplewood resident Craig Brannon. Craig would know. For the past ten years he has commuted 20 miles to work about three times each week – that’s 20 miles each way! Once the snow flies or the thermometer hits 12 degrees, he hangs up his bike for the year. As a long-term Maplewood Park Commissioner, Craig has helped shape Maplewood’s Trail Plan. “Compared to most cities, we’ve done a very good job,” he states. “Maplewood’s strength has been making connections to the state trails and constructing shorter recreational trails in our parks.” With two state trails intersecting in Maplewood’s Gladstone neighborhood – the Gateway (the busiest trail in the state) and the Bruce Vento – our City is a great place for biking. These popular trails link Maplewood to neighboring communities and are an important historic, recreational, and bike transportation corridor for the City. Maplewood’s 2030 Comprehensive Plan lays out the City’s trail plan. The goal is to make Maplewood a bike-friendly City for bike
If you’re not familiar with the trails in Maplewood, there are many resources to help. The trail map on the City website is a good place to start (www.ci.maplewood. mn.us/trails). To travel beyond City limits, check out trails on the GoRamsey website (https://goramsey.co.ramsey.mn.us). If you’re considering commuting to work, resources such as www.commuterconnection.org/bicycle or the bicycle icon on Google Maps can help you explore routes. Happy riding and don’t forget your helmet! Craig Dresses for Weather Conditions
Maplewood Bus Options
By Chris Swanson, Environmental Specialist A trip to the local bus stop to talk to riders quickly dispels the myth that you can’t get around the suburbs on a bus. Consider Roger and Kathleen. Roger, a Maplewood senior from the Gladstone area, drives a car but takes the bus when it is convenient. “The Kathleen after an Easy bus is a good way to get to St. Paul or Minneapolis,” he Bus Commute explains, “and it even works well for small errands like picking up groceries close to home.” The reduced fare for seniors during non-rush hour (75 cents) is another great incentive. Kathleen Healy, an Oakdale resident who works in Minneapolis, uses the new Park and Ride at Maplewood Mall because “it is very easy. It is covered parking so I don’t have to brush off my car during the winter!” Concerns that she wouldn’t be able to get home if there were a family emergency are allayed by Metro Transit’s Guaranteed Ride Home program, which provides a taxi for family emergencies (www.metrotransit.org/guaranteed-ride-home). The Metro Transit bus system is a viable method of transportation for many in Maplewood. Over one dozen bus routes traverse Maplewood, with Park and Ride stations at the Maplewood Mall and at County Road C and Highway 61. Most buses run at regular time intervals making it easy to get around Maplewood and to surrounding cities. With stops placed every few blocks, residents near a route only need to walk out their door to find the next available ride. To plan your trip, visit the Metro Transit trip planning website at www.metrotransit.org or call (612) 373-3333. If you have a health condition or a disability there are additional transportation resources available. Metro Mobility provides transportation to individuals who are not able to use the regular bus routes. For more information visit www.metromobility.org or call (651) 602-1111. Seasons 2
Walking the Gateway Trail
By Shann Finwall, Environmental Planner Over lunch I took a walk on the Gateway Trail. A man with a red hat was walking toward me, moving at a fast clip. I couldn’t help but ask him about his walking stick, which was polished and decorated with leather bands. The man Ed with His Walking Stick cheerily stopped and told me about the treasured walking stick, crafted by his neighbor from a California red cedar tree. Engraved on the side is the man’s name, Ed Hook. Ed moved to Maplewood this year from Washington State to be closer to his son. Since moving to Maplewood he walks five miles every day along the Gateway Trail. I told Ed that I like to walk over my lunch hour to clear my head. Ed said he walks to “keep healthy and busy and it’s a good way to get around.”
Sustainable Fleet Operations
By Shann Finwall, Environmental Planner Police squad cars, snow plows, dump trucks, inspection vehicles, lawn mowers – these vehicles and more are part of Maplewood’s fleet operations, needed to meet City service demands. Maplewood’s 2013 Comprehensive Plan outlines sustainability goals including reducing environmental impacts of City operations. Sustainable operations eliminate waste, lower long-term maintenance and operating costs, and reduce impacts to the environment. It also translates into good economic sense. In 2010, the City completed a fleet audit to evaluate where efficiencies could be made. The audit recommended short and long-term strategies that will result in energy and cost savings, cleaner air, and lower CO2 emissions. One strategy involved improvements to the City’s fuel management system. Maplewood has a central fueling station for its vehicles. The City purchases fuel through a petroleum cooperative allowing us to get the best pricing available. Since the fleet audit, the City updated its fuel management software to better trace fuel consumption. The City uses this data to improve vehicle maintenance, routing, and driving behavior.
Safe Routes to School
Early this year the police department installed fleet telemetry units in all marked police cars. These units provide global positioning system (GPS) information that will help the City develop policies that maximize driver safety and improve overall monitoring of the police fleet. The system also provides a police operations benefit by ensuring that patrol resources are deployed where needed. The police department is regularly monitoring system data, including squad car idling. Since implementation, squad car idling has reduced significantly, which lowers both fuel costs and CO2 emissions.
diseases, and reduced feelings of depression and anxiety.
By Steve Love, Assistant City Engineer As winter progresses and the snow begins to pile, children on some routes to school are forced to share the road’s shoulder with snow banks. This will soon change for a couple of Maplewood schools. The City of Maplewood, John Glenn Middle School, and Weaver Elementary School have been selected to be part of the 2014 Safe Routes to School (SRTS) grant program. The SRTS grant program is administered by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and funded by the Federal Government to help build safe routes to schools and promote the benefits of walking and biking to school. Studies have found that children who get regular physical activity have a reduced risk of developing obesity and chronic
The Winter Walk to School
Scott Schultz, Utility/Fleet/ Parks Superintendent, states that with each older vehicle replaced or removed from the fleet the City lowers its CO 2 emissions. Since the 2010 Maplewood’s Gem Car fleet audit the City has downsized its fleet by three vehicles, purchased an electric Gem Car work vehicle, and converted three pieces of public works equipment (two bobcats and one mower) with EPA Tier 4 emissions compliant equipment.
Teachers report that students who walk or bike to school arrive at school alert and ready to learn. In 2009, travel to school by private family vehicle for students in grades K through 12 accounted for 10 to 14 percent of all automobile trips made during the morning peak travel. More people walking and biking to school will help reduce vehicle congestion and improve air quality. What does this mean for Maplewood? With the SRTS grant the City will be constructing an 8-foot wide, off-road trail for pedestrians and bicyclists along County Road B, from Birmingham Street to Van Dyke Street. The project will be constructed in 2015 and will include the replacement of traffic signals and the construction of missing sidewalk segments at the intersection of White Bear Avenue and County Road B.
Student Walking on County Road B to John Glenn
Rendition of Completed County Road B Safe Routes to School
Seasons 3
Before the Automobile: The Snowshoe Imagine waking up to three feet of snow outside your Ojibwe lodge a couple thousand years ago. Your means of transportation is your own two legs. You’re tired of wading through deep snow, but you must be able to survive this winter. As a hare bounds off into the brush, its large furred paws keep it up on top of the snow, floating its weight over the snow’s surface. An idea takes shape: you bend and tie a willow sapling together to make a large circle three times the size of your foot. You weave smaller saplings throughout, tie it to your foot with a strap of hide, and you have your first “racquette” as the early French explorers called this invention, which we call the snowshoe.
Trial and error experiments ensue: solid wood or webbing? oak, ash, or maple? In the Great Lakes region, white ash is the best for the frame. It is solid and durable, yet easily split along the grain, and easily bent when steamed. Raw, untanned beaver hide strips dry tightly after being soaked and softened for webbing.
By Ann Hutchinson, Lead Naturalist
(Alaskan style) are better for open country. Ojibwe snowshoes, with a long curved front tip, are made for slicing through the snow. Fast forward to the present, aluminum frames and decks of polypropylene or another synthetic are the materials of choice, the shape is typically a modified bearpaw, and sharp metal crampons help keep traction underfoot. Come to the Nature Center and strap on a pair of traditional Ojibwe style snowshoes, or go modern with aluminum ($5 rental). Your choice made, now pad softly away into the silent woods, spy on wildlife, inhale the crisp air, and revel in the frozen beauty.
Shape, width, and length vary depending on whether you live on the open plains or in the woods. Round snowshoes (bearpaw style) fare better in deep snow and brushy areas, while long and tapered
Ojibwe Style Snowshoes
Maplewood Nature Center Showshoe Programs: • Winter Open House: Snowshoes & Tracks - all ages Saturday, January 17, 10 am - 3 pm, $5 rental, drop-in • Snowshoe Hike: ages 4+, children accompanied by adult Saturday, February 21, 10 am - noon, $5/person To register: call the Nature Center at (651) 249-2170.
Snowshoe Hare
Aluminum Snowshoes
People of All Ages Can Snowshoe
Get Around Town Crossword Puzzle
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Across 2. vehicle that fits up to 50 people 6. sharing a car ride 7. ___-rail 8. traffic light color: “go.” 12. walking/biking is good for your ____ 14. getting around on foot Down 1. this bus has a bike- ____ 3. kid’s vehicle: one foot pushes 4. a path to walk or ride bikes 5. two-wheeled pedal power 9. walking instead of driving saves ____ 10. ____-shoes are for outdoor winter fun 13. another word for “cab” Printed on 50% post-consumer recycled paper
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Illustrations by Gus K. Age 8
Answers: 1. rack 2. bus 3. scooter 4. trail 5. bike 6. carpooling 7. light 8. green 9. energy 10. snow 12. health 13. taxi 14. walking
By Oakley Biesanz, Naturalist
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Seasons 4