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Green Team helps bring environmental awareness BY ERIK SUCHY STAFF WRITER
A new group in Vadnais Heights is ready to bring environmental awareness around town. The Vadnais Heights Green Team is a newly formed volunteer organization seeking to create, promote and support local climate action. The group also plans to create different programs to make the community more environmentally sustainable. “What we want is to create more resilience for the environment,” said volunteer Judy Lissick. “Our programs are to help us and those
around us deal with the changing climate.” The Green Team was formed when the Vadnais Heights City Council joined the Gold Leaf Challenge program last fall. The challenge, part of the GreenStep Cities program, focuses on ways for communities to take local climate action. Through its involvement in the challenge, the council achieved two goals required as part of its participation. The first initiative was to create a community restoration/engagement project called Adopt-A-Drain. The second initiative was none other than
the formation of the Green Team itself. “Our approach is you don’t need to be an expert or have a strong background to join,” said volunteer Ellen Gurrola. “Anyone willing to help us push for greener initiatives is welcome to participate.” The Green Team has identified three top priority areas for 2024: landscaping, energy reduction and community engagement. For landscaping, volunteers have emphasized reducing the amount of turf grass throughout city
CONTRIBUTED
The Vadnais Heights Green Team was formed last year when the city council joined the Gold Leaf Challenge program.
SEE GREEN TEAM, PAGE 13
Local vet meets urgent need
Historical Society project seeks to educate public on
Native American heritage
BY SHANNON GRANHOLM MANAGING EDITOR
Ojibwe land before European settlement took over. Battala said that history like this, which she believes is forgotten nowadays, deserves a better understanding. “There’s not much knowledge about what used to be here in the
Local veterinarian Dr. Liz Sitter is hoping she can fill a need in the north metro. The Marine on St. Croix resident recently opened Aurora Urgent Veterinary Clinic in White Bear Lake, which is likely the first standalone pet urgent care in the Twin Cities. “There’s a high demand. It is hard to get into your regular vet, and a lot of times you have to wait for weeks, and the emergency clinics are at capacity,” Sitter explained. “I saw a big need in the market for urgent care. It’s kind of a newer thing.” Before the pandemic, general practices could generally carve out time for both regular visits in addition to urgent care, but now there are so many pets in the market that they are having a tough time accommodating them all. Some emergency clinics in the Twin Cities also provide urgent care, but as far as Sitter knows, she is the first vet to open a stand-alone urgent care. Sitter, who is originally from New Jersey, went to vet school in Oklahoma. She moved to Minnesota about 11 years ago to be close to her sister. She has been in general practice for 10 years; she formerly worked at Stillwater Veterinary Clinic and Century Animal Clinic in Maplewood. It was that need she saw while working in general practice that prompted her to open Aurora Urgent Care. “After the pandemic, I just saw we were turning so many people away every day,
SEE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, PAGE 14
SEE AURORA CLINIC, PAGE 22
CONTRIBUTED
John Hunter, co-founder of Twin Cities Native Lacrosse, presented a program on the history of the sport of lacrosse as part of the Native American Education Initiative Project. The project features a mix of in-person and Zoom presentations on Native American culture. BY ERIK SUCHY STAFF WRITER
The White Bear Lake Historical Society officially launched its Native American Education Initiative Project last Fall. The project, which runs through the end of May, seeks to educate
residents unfamiliar with the city’s history of indigenous populations. Project Coordinator Elsa Battala took note of the White Bear Lake community’s origins, which date back to the early 19th century. At that time, the area comprised both Dakota and
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