we hope you will be able to join CURE for for the 2015 Simon Lake BioBlitz!
JUNE RIVERVOICE
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Upcoming Events

When: Noon on Friday, July 10, to noon on Saturday, July 11.
Where: Sheepberry Fen near Glenwood, MN

When: Saturday, July 11, 1 PM to 3 PM
Where: Upper Sioux Agency State Park

When: July 13 to 17. Early registration ends on July 1st
Where: Granite Falls, MN

 

Are you interested in learning what plants and animals are living in one of the most threatened ecosystems in the country, and how we can work together to help them thrive? We are looking for you!

 

Join naturalists and other volunteers for a fun, intense 24-hour biological "scavenger hunt" during the 2015 Simon Lake BioBlitz, which runs from noon on Friday, July 10, until noon on Saturday, July 11. The event will be held at Sheep Berry Fen near Glenwood, MN. Individuals, along with youth, church and service groups, as well as science classes, are all invited to participate. Come for as long as you can, for one day or both. There will be guided survey sessions throughout the BioBlitz, an evening program and supper, and camping at Glacial Lakes State Park. Other camping and hotel accommodations are available in the area.

 

To register online, click here.

 

This event is co-sponsored by CURE, the Land Stewardship Project, and the Chippewa River Watershed Project.  For more information, contact Peg Furshong at [email protected] or by calling 320-269-2984.


Water Program


Many have been watching the controversy unfolding around the Clean Water Rule. This straightforward rule-making process intended to clarify and streamline clean water protections was immediately blown out of proportion by special interests. Now, after taking into consideration the more than one million comments it received, the EPA has finalized a Clean Water Rule and it's even better than the draft rule released last year.

 

Nevertheless, special interest groups are still bent on disrupting the process. They have turned to lawmakers in Congress, encouraging the passage of legislation that would make this entire rule-making procedure moot. An example of such legislation is S. 1140, which passed the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on June 10th.

 

As this legislation moves through Congress, it's important that Minnesota's Senators don't go down in history as voting for dirty water. However, Senator Amy Klobuchar's track record is not clean: in March of this year, she voted for Sen. Barasso's nonbinding amendment that would have stymied the Clean Water Rule procedure. While she has more recently said that she supports the rule-making process, she is also still under the impression that she needs to "continue pushing the EPA to ensure that any future guidance strikes a balance between protecting Minnesota's waters and being workable for rural communities."

 

Sen. Klobuchar needs to know that clean water is not at odds with rural communities! We, like everyone else, depend on clean water, and in some cases, our livelihoods are built on reliable access to clean water. The Center for Rural Affairs has put together this great sign-on letter from a rural perspective; sign it today to let Amy know that YOU are rural and YOU support clean water!

Energy Program
Minnesota is about to get a lot more clean energy from a new ground breaking solar project. The Aurora Solar Project, developed by Geronimo Energy, is a 100 megawatt (MW) project, which will be located at 21 different sites across the state. For those who don't know, 100 MW is a lot of energy. The solar generated electricity produced by this project will be enough energy to power 20,000 homes and will grow the state's total solar energy output by eight times current production. Not only is the size of this project impressive, the project is also affordable. In a highly competitive bidding process and without subsidies, the Aurora Solar Project beat out all natural gas proposals on cost. This is a big deal for clean solar energy, which has often been criticized for being too costly when compared to fossil fuels. When you combine the affordability of a project like this one with the fact that no pollution will come from it, moving off dirty coal seems like a no brainer.


Blog post by Kristian Nyberg, Energy Program Coordinator, and Ariel Herrod, Water Program Coordinator.
Events and Adventures

Every year, CURE's River History Weekend brings members and friends together to connect with Minnesota's great outdoors. This year, CURE collaborated with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and other organizations to promote the Minnesota River Public Paddle. The goal for the event was to round up enough people to paddle all 318 miles of the Minnesota River in a single day. Although we did not succeed in covering all 318 miles, over 100 people safely paddled 280 miles and 211 unique river miles.


Blog post by Sarina Otaibi and photos by Sarina Otaibi, Peg Furshong, and Kristian Nyberg. 

Climate Program
Job opportunity within our network: YEA! MN Program Coordinator, Climate Generation. Deadline: Wednesday, July 1, 2015

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