COUNTRY
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2019
Serving Marine on St. Croix, Scandia, May Township
VOL. 35 NO. 52 www.countrymessenger.com $.75
NEW ORDINANCE FOR SOLAR: Scandia City Council. PAGE 2
Marine earns Tree City recognition BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@COUNTRYMESSENGER.COM
Marine on St. Croix received Tree City USA recognition this spring from the Arbor Day Foundation. To earn the recognition, a municipality must create a treecare policy, maintain an annual budget for community forestry and establish a tree board or committee. In addition, the community must honor Arbor Day each year. Tree Cities benefit from improved visual appeal, increased property values, reduced home cooling costs, cleaner air and more wildlife, according to the Arbor Day Foundation. “Tree City USA communities see the impact an urban forest has in a community first hand,” Dan Lambe, president of the Arbor Day Foundation, said in a press release. “Additionally, recognition brings residents together and creates a sense of community pride, whether it’s through volunteer engagement or public education.” This year, Marine residents will celebrate Arbor Day celebration by planting a gravel bed with young trees. The exact date is to be determined. Plans are also in the works to acknowledge the Tree City recognition at a sing along with Dan Chouinard April 26, Arbor Day.
Marine’s urban forest In Marine, work is underway on an urban forest plan, a project spearheaded by Marine
Katie Hutton will lead Hay Lake School Museum CONTRIBUTED WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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Annika Seitz shovels soil during an Arbor Day celebration at River Grove in 2018. Honoring Arbor Day is one of several requirements for municipalities hoping to become Tree Cities. The Arbor Day Foundation named Marine on St. Croix a Tree City this spring.
resident John Goodfellow. “An urban forest can loosely be described as including trees growing in close association with people, and typically include trees that occur in managed landscapes,” Goodfellow said. “Urban trees have a well-documented positive impact on water quality, are effective in moderating storm water flows, and generally increase the quality of life within communities in the St. Croix Valley.”
Timing is right for the initiative. Goodfellow is completing training as a St. Croix Watershed Steward, a program funded by an EPA grant awarded to the St. Croix River Association and St. Croix Valley Foundation. The project requires a capstone project, and developing an urban forest plan fits the bill. The forestry project also helped Marine achieve recognition in the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program.
Goodfellow noted that the City of Marine is updating its comprehensive plan, creating an opportunity to include consideration of the community’s urban forest in the larger planning process. Once adopted, the plan will guide future management and stewardship of Marine’s urban forest. One factor pressing Goodfellow forward is the threat of an invasive insect.
The Washington County Historical Society last week announced it has hired Katie Hutton as the site manager of the Hay Lake School and Johannes Erickson Log House museums in Scandia. Hutton, a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota with a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology, was an intern with the Historical Society in 2018 and was a part of the 150th Anniversary team for the Johannes Erickson log house last summer. “Katie has vast knowledge of social media and has classroom experience,” said Brent Peterson, executive director of the Washington County Historical Society. “She also has worked as a team member in previous employment which is necessary in working at a historic site as the Hay Lake School Museum!” Hutton will begin in mid April, preparing the historic sites to open for the season on Saturday, May 4. The museums are open Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. The annual Hay Lake Beer Tasting Fundraiser will be held Saturday, June 15, from 4 to 7 p.m. The museums are located at 14020 195th Street North. For more information on the Hay Lake School and Johannes Erickson Log House museums you can call 651-433-4014 or visit www.wchsmn.org. Founded in 1934, the Washington County Historical Society is a donor-supported, nonprofit organization with more than 750 individual, family, and business members. WCHS is supported by individual gifts, memberships and earned income and foundation grants.
SEE RECOGNITION, PAGE 2
Thought you heard a bomb in Scandia? You did; no threat to public BY SUZANNE LINDGREN EDITOR@COUNTRYMESSENGER.COM
Scandia residents who heard and felt a concussive boom one evening in late March likely wondered what it was. The noise itself went unreported, according to Sargent
Mike Benson of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. But when recycling collectors found a bin with detonated explosives on Mayberry Trail March 28, they called the sheriff’s office. Officers shut down Mayberry Trail as they worked to identify the device, aided by the St. Paul bomb squad and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
NEWS 651-433-3845 editor@countrymessenger.com
The investigation is ongoing and details are not public, but Benson reported that law enforcement has identified the individuals who detonated the device, which was homemade. “There was no one targeted,” he said. “They were trying to see what would happen if they built an explosive device and set it off. There’s no threat to the general public.”
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Katie Hutton rings a bell outside the Hay Lake School Museum in Scandia. Hutton is the new site manager at the site, also home to the Johannes Erickson Log House Museum.
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