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Congratulations to the finalists
of the 2006 Environmental Initiative Awards
Environmental Education
Energy
Private Sector Innovation
Public Sector Innovation
Land Use
Partnership of the Year
Environmental EducatioN:
Nominated by Jan Voit, Heron Lake Watershed District
The Heron Lake Watershed District’s WATER project
stands for Watershed Assistance Through Education and
Resources. The watershed district uses a variety of
method to educate citizens on water-quality issues and
to encourage best management practices such as filter
strips along watercourses, use of field windbreaks,
waterways, terraces, and farming practices that increase
protection of exposed soils.
Nominated by Kylene Olson, Chippewa River Watershed
Project
The Bringing Stream Bio-monitoring to the Classroom
project brings together nine high schools in a network
to monitor the rivers and streams in the 1.3-million-acre
Chippewa River watershed, which appears on the Minnesota
impaired water list.
Nominated by Christine Holland, River Keepers
The Red River Water Festival allows youth to get an
early exposure to the importance of water by participating
in hands-on learning, exposing them to water-quality
experts and emphasizing individuals’ roles in
maintaining and improving the Red River watershed. Nearly
1,600 youth attended the 2005 festival over a four-day
period, making it the second-largest festival in the
tri-state area.
Energy:
Nominated by Holly Hinman, Neighborhood Energy Connection
HOURCAR is the Twin Cities’ first car-sharing
program, launched in June of 2005 by the Neighborhood
Energy Consortium. HOURCAR is an economical, environmentally
sound alternative to car ownership. HOURCAR members
have access to a fleet of hybrid gas-electric vehicles
on an hourly basis, allowing members to use cars when
they need them and to rely more on transit, biking,
and walking for their daily transportation needs.
Nominated by Marvin Rothfusz, PREACT-McLeod and Kari
Rudd, The Minnesota Project
The Clean Energy Resource Teams projects consist of
six regional teams around Minnesota. Each has tailored
a plan for a clean energy future that will make the
most of their region’s renewable resources and
other technologies. They explore problems associated
with conventional energies and their uses, and identify
alternative and preferred forms of energy, which will
help sustain a clean and affordable future for Minnesota
and its regions.
Nominated by Mark Rathbun, Great River Energy
The Trimont Area Wind Farm was launched by a coalition
of 43 local landowners in Jackson and Martin counties.
It is a 100-megawatt wind energy project consisting
of 67 General Electric wind turbines situated on approximately
8,900 acres of farmland. The facility will produce emission-free
electricity for at least 20 years.
Private
Sector innovation:
Nominated by Brenda Mathison, Best Buy Co. Inc.
The Best Buy Consumer Electronics Recycling program
was initiated in 2001 to address the growing problem
of electronics in the waste stream. Best Buy was the
first electronics retailer to offer a nation-wide electronics
recycling program, preventing millions of pounds of
potentially hazardous materials from landfills and extending
the useful life of products through reuse programs.
Nominated by Andy Haus, Minnesota Waste Wise
The Minnesota Mercury Recovery Program addresses the
issue of pollution from mercury switches in cars. Although
auto manufacturers phased out the use of mercury switches,
some older vehicles have mercury switches to activate
hood and trunk lights. The Minnesota Mercury Recovery
program provides salvage yards with a simple and convenient
way to recycle switches removed from end-of-life vehicles.
Nominated by Tara Roffler, Target Corporation
In striving to meet its “zero waste” goal,
Target initiated a cardboard recycling program. Cardboard
recycling is Target’s largest program by weight,
comprising of 65 percent of its total waste management
efforts. In 2004, Target’s 1,313 stores and 22
distribution centers collected nearly 800 million pounds
of corrugated boxes for recycling and saved 4.8 million
trees. Target has since launched two new initiatives,
a Six Sigma study and a Reverse Logistics program, to
maximize its cardboard-recycling efforts.
Public
Sector innovation:
Nominated by Amanda Goebel, Washington County Public Health
& Environment
The city of Woodbury’s plans to install several
new high-capacity wells called into
question the long-term sustainability of groundwater resources
in the area. A
collaboration of interested parties developed a computer
groundwater model to
determine whether the withdrawal of large quantities of
groundwater would affect nearby
domestic wells and water bodies. The model predicted that
the water supply was plentiful
enough to sustain additional growth in the area for at
least the next 10 years, and that
pumping of the proposed wells should not have a significant
effect on groundwater
inflows into nearby Valley Creek.
Nominated by Fred Doran, P.E., R. W. Beck Inc.
In response to inquiries from residents and tourists about
used oil disposal, Crow Wing County partnered with East
Side Oil Company (ESOC) of St. Cloud, Minnesota to install
nine used oil drop-off locations. The collection sites
serve to prevent pollution and provide an alternative
used oil fuel source for heat and asphalt production.
Nominated by Catherine Zimmer, Minnesota Technical Assistance
Program
The Healthcare Environmental Improvement project is a
partnership to improve environmental compliance and pollution
prevention in the healthcare sector. As a result of the
project, 28 Twin Cities metropolitan hospitals have achieved
substantial compliance, 75 tons of pharmaceuticals and
30 tons of laboratory wastes are now being appropriately
managed, and more than 1,000 pounds of mercury waste has
been eliminated.
Land
Use:
Nominated by Linda Meschke, Blue Earth River Basin Initiative
The Blue Earth River Basin Initiative’s Third Crop
Initiative promotes diversified cropping systems that
can provide ecological services to the public, economic
return to the farm family and community benefits through
local agricultural processing. The project is based on
the idea that a third crop rotation (after corn and soybeans)
can provide much needed diversity, help build soil health,
reduce pests and disease, and reduce pollution impacts
from agricultural non-point sources.
Nominated by Daniel Huff, Friends of the Mississippi River
The Low Impact Development project models three development
designs and provides apples-to-apples comparison between
a traditionally designed development, a hybrid development
and a low impact development (design that protects water
and other natural resources while accommodating growth).
The project compared construction costs, 30-year maintenance
costs, water quality impacts, economic yield and quality
of life issues. The low impact design performed better
on all evaluated parameters.
Growth Pressures on Sensitive Natural Resources in DNR's
Central Region
Nominated by Sharon Pfeifer, Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources
Growth Pressures on Sensitive Natural Resources in DNR’s
Central Region is a GIS-based regional assessment conducted
to examine socioeconomic changes and potential natural
resource impacts and provide recommendations to address
trade-offs between future growth and conservation.
PARTNERSHIP
OF THE YEAR:
Nominated by Marvin Rothfusz, PREACT-McLeod and Kari Rudd,
The Minnesota Project
The Clean Energy Resource Teams projects consist of six
regional teams around Minnesota. Each has tailored a plan
for a clean energy future that will make the most of their
region’s renewable resources and other technologies.
They explore problems associated with conventional energies
and their uses, and identify alternative and preferred
forms of energy, which will help sustain a clean and affordable
future for Minnesota and its regions.
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