03-31-2016 Agenda and Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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 MCES Sewer Interceptor Project: Metropolitan Council Environmental Services is planning to improve a large diameter sewer pipe at the northwest corner of Quincy and Hillview. MCES is finalizing construction plans and have been reviewed by engineering division, comments returned to MCES. MCES still planning on a 2015 project. Some trees have been tagged in order to be transplanted in other City Parks. Project still scheduled to start later this spring. This project is underway and the contractor is working at the east end (near the I-35W Service Road) excavating for installing their liner. They will be working on the meter station at the intersection of Quincy and Hillview later this spring and the planned completion date is August 31, 2016. MCES’s contractor started their work at the intersection of Quincy and Hillview. Initial steps included tree removal within the construction limits. They anticipate excavation beginning in the very near future. This will be a very large excavation and staff is working with MCES to insure the safety of residents. The trail will be closed in the west end of the park so that users don’t come to a dead end at the construction area. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Don, Thanks for granting us permission to collect plants and seeds of the invasive weed, garlic mustard, from Silverview Park. We will be using the plants and seeds collected at Silverview Park to support our colony of weevils for our garlic mustard biocontrol project. We are currently testing two biocontrol weevils in a quarantine facility at the St. Paul campus at the University of Minnesota. One of the weevils bores into the roots and crown of garlic mustard and causes considerable plant damage. The other weevil feeds on developing seeds. Both weevils are native to Europe and not present in North America and that is why we must conduct our research in a quarantine facility Garlic mustard is in the Brassicaceae plant family (mustard family). For our garlic mustard biocontrol project, we are testing whether other species in mustard family can support the development of the biocontrol weevils. Before we can release a biocontrol weevil into the field, we must ensure that the insects only attack the host plant (garlic mustard). We have been working on this project for over 15 years to ensure that these weevils have enough host-specificity to be used as biocontrol agents against garlic mustard. Before a weed biological control agent can be released in North America, it must go through a strenuous Federal review process and be reviewed by representative of Federal agencies, such as the US. Fish and Wildlife Service and USDA-APHIS. Once again, thanks for allowing us to collect at Silverview Park. Please let me know if I can provide any additional information. The link below should connect to a Forest Service publication that provides more information about our program, along with pictures of the biocontrol weevils. http://www.invasive.org/publications/GMBiocontrol.pdf Sincerely, Jeanie Katovich