2002 October Newsletter - Laserfiche WebLink

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GRAND OPENING HISTORICAL PRESERVATION Continued from Page 1 Continued From Page I The Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) was very involved in the design of City government, schools, original the City Hall landscaping plan and provided $48,000 worth of funding for the settlers, and Good Neighbor Days. project. Another$50,000 was provided by a grant from the Metropolitan Council. They envision eventually publishing RCWD is a government agency charged with handling all water resource issues in all of their information into a book the 200 square mile area including Hennepin, Anoka, Ramsey, and Washington that would be available to Hugo resi- Counties, RCWD is committed to promoting new storm water management alter- dents. They also hope to establish a natives that allow as much of the runoff water as possible to soak back into the soil central archive at City Hall. on site, rather than draining through pipes and eventually into a lake or creek. The Committee has already been RCWD District Administrator Steve Hobbs explains that the Hugo City Hall rain contacted by many City residents gardens are really just a set of depressions in the ground in which native plants with eager to share their stories, as well as long roots are planted into an appropriate type of soil, allowing the water to per- their photographs, documents, and colate through the soil and through the roots. He adds that the rain gardens accom- other memorabilia, and they encour- plish three desirable goals: decreasing pollutants (the bacteria in the soil breaks age anyone with historical informa- them down), decreasing flooding, and helping to recharge groundwater. Hobbs tion about Hugo to contact the also notes, "An additional feature of this system is that it creates a habitat for Committee. New members are migrating birds and native species and helps to restore some of the native vegeta- always welcome. Committee meet- tion, such as prairie plants, that we've lost here in Minnesota." ings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in the Rice Hobbs states that the rain gardens have already worked very well, "especially con- Lake Park Building. sidering the incredibly wet summer we've had," and indicates that RCWD will continue to monitor the Hugo City Hall site. He praised Hugo City officials for For more information about sharing being open-minded and willing to work with RCWD on such an innovative pro- your story or joining the Hugo ject and calls it a "shining example" of what can be done. Naber also speaks favor- Historical Committee, contact Kitty ably about the City Hall site, noting that the City "incorporated the rain gardens Cheesebrow at 651-429-6560, or by into an artistically designed site that exemplifies how alternative storm water man- e-mail at kitty@visi.com. agement practices can complement a site's landscaping plan." REMEMBER TO RECYCLE. Each year we recycle about 70 percent of the aluminum cans we use, resulting in nearly 120 million cans being recycled every REMEMBER minute nationwide. A recycled aluminum can returns to store TO VOTE shelves as a new can within 60 to 90 days. NOVEMBER 5 a In Hugo, items for recycling are collected curbside as part of your weekly trash Ward 1: Hugo Fire Hall collection. A recycling container is available from your garbage hauler or by calling City Hall at 651-762-6300. Those items which can be recycled (South Entrance) include newspapers, aluminum beverage cans, tin cans, glass jars and bottles, Ward 2: Hugo City Hall corrugated cardboard, glossy magazines, junk mail, boxboard (such as cereal Ward 3: Rice Lake Park Bldg. boxes), #1 and#2 plastic bottles, and car and tractor batteries. 2