Sustainable
Maplewood
Maplewood Seasons The Greening of Maplewood
Summer 2009
Wetlands Add Value To Our Community
remaining wetlands continue to function as environmental and community assets. The best way to do this is to protect wetlands from impacts that surrounding land uses can By Shann Finwall, Environmental Planner cause. The city’s wetland ordinance does One of my best memories from childhood this by requiring buffers around wetlands. was my connection with nature. I grew up A wetland buffer is the land surrounding a in Maplewood on a large lot that had mature wetland. The science reviewed by the trees, a wetland, and plenty commission showed The wetland ordinance can serve as of open space behind my that a minimum 50-foot an educational tool to help us improve house. These natural buffer is needed to surroundings created great our properties and adopt practices that adequately filter childhood adventures - one help protect and preserve this valuable pollutants and deter summer I helped a backyard natural resource. human disturbance. nesting mallard raise her young! This experience made me appreciate wetlands The growing environmental threat to as being part of the natural system that made wetlands is not the giant industrial polluters my community a great place to live. What of old, but from the way we all live. This I didn’t appreciate or understand as a child includes stormwater that runs off our roofs was the environmental value of wetlands. and driveways and finds its way into storm The Maplewood Environmental and Natural Resources Commission was charged with reviewing the city’s existing wetland protection ordinance to ensure the city’s
The wetland ordinance can also serve as an educational tool to help us improve our properties and adopt practices that help protect and preserve this valuable natural resource. These improvements can be as simple as installing a rain barrel at the end of your rain gutters, planting a rain garden in your yard, or more complicated like re-establishing a wetland buffer with native plants. Wetlands add value to our community. Protecting the wetlands falls on all of us. To learn how you can help protect wetlands and to view the proposed wetland ordinance amendment, visit the city’s website at www. ci.maplewood.mn.us/wetlands.
drains and eventually into our wetlands. Water does not stop at property lines, so what you do on your property may have an impact on nearby water bodies, whether you live next to the water body or not.
Nature Center & Watershed District Wetland programs Peer into the Pond Sat., June 13, 1:00 - 2:30 PM Tamarack Swamp Nature Hike Thurs., July 16, 6:30 - 8:30 PM Lake Phalen Wildflower Walk Wed., July 22, 6:30 - 8:30 PM www.ci.maplewood.mn.us/nc or 651.249.2171
Value Of Wetland Buffers
Trap Sediments & Pollutants
Control Flooding
Recharge Groundwater
Provide Wildlife Habitat & Open Areas