Eastside St. Paul Citizens for the Earth

04/25/2026

03/23/2026

Let milkw**d grow 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

You didn’t plant milkw**d.
It planted itself — because it was supposed to be there.

For thousands of years, it grew in field edges, fence lines, road margins, and pasture corners. Not gardens. Not flower beds. The places people now call “messy.”

Then lawns arrived. And the plant that evolved to live between wild and human spaces became the first thing we removed.

So the monarchs didn’t disappear all at once.
They started skipping stops.

Migration isn’t one long flight.
It’s a chain of short ones. Each generation travels part of the route and hands it to the next. When even a few links are missing, the chain breaks quietly — a little further north every year.

Milkw**d is one of those links.

When you pull it, nothing dramatic happens.
You still see butterflies that summer.
But the generation after that never forms.

That’s why people think monarch decline is mysterious. It isn’t sudden — it’s cumulative.

The plant looks like a w**d because it grows where ecosystems repair themselves: disturbed soil, edges, ditches, construction margins. It is not invading your yard.

It is rebuilding habitat faster than humans can plant it.

You don’t need to turn your lawn into a prairie.
You only need to stop treating this one plant as an enemy.

Leave a small patch.
Even a corner.
Even just one.

For a migration that crosses a continent, survival often depends on a space the size of a doormat.

**d

03/23/2026

Create natural habitat pockets anywhere you live or work or play and the wildlife will come 🐿️🦉🦆🦋

You see the embarrassing w**dy strip along your property line. An ecologist sees the most biodiverse ten feet on your entire block.

That zone between your mowed lawn and the fence where the mower doesn't quite reach — scraggly, uneven, the one you keep meaning to clean up.

Don't.

That strip is an edge habitat. The boundary between two different environments. In ecology, edges are where the action is. More species live in edge zones than in either habitat on its own.

Here's what's happening in that ten-foot strip right now.

At ground level the taller grass and w**ds create a humidity zone that mowed turf can't maintain. Ground-nesting bees that need moist soil for tunneling are concentrated here. Garter snakes that emerged from hibernation this week are hunting slugs along this edge because slugs follow the moisture gradient. A toad is sheltering under the matted grass at the base.

At knee height last year's dead goldenrod and aster stems are full of overwintering insect larvae — the same larvae that mason bees and parasitoid wasps use as food for their own young. The stems that look dead are nurseries.

At waist height whatever seeded in last fall is about to produce the earliest flowers on your property. These bloom weeks before anything in your garden because they established root systems last year. The first bees of spring are already visiting them.

At the fence line Song Sparrows and Carolina Wrens nest in this transition zone. The tangled mix of dead stems, live growth, and fence structure creates exactly the dense cover they need. A nesting bird is more likely to build in your messy property edge than in your landscaped garden bed.

🌿 How to keep the edge working:

- Leave it alone through spring — the nesting birds, overwintering larvae, and ground-nesting bees are all active right now and any disturbance disrupts the cycle at its most critical point
- If you need to tidy it for appearance, mow or cut once in late fall after everything has gone dormant and the nesting season is over. Leave the cut material on the ground as mulch
- Add one or two native plants to the strip if you want to improve it without losing the habitat — goldenrod, aster, or native grass plugs fill in naturally and make the edge look intentional instead of neglected
- A strip that looks messy to you is structured habitat to everything living in it — the variety of heights, densities, and materials is what creates the value

The manicured lawn on either side supports almost nothing. The neglected strip is running a food chain from soil to songbirds.

The messiest ten feet on your property is the most alive 🌿

03/23/2026

🐦🕊️🦋🐝 🩷

Don’t tell me you love the birds and then spray your yard for “pests”. 🪦 ☠️ 🐦

03/15/2026

Updates on today’s blizzard! ❄️❄️❄️

08/11/2025

🎈🎈🎈

Balloons harm wildlife—don’t let them float away; it’s a matter of life or death

06/04/2025

Help keep our waterways clean 💧💧💧
Adopt-a-drain today! 🙌🏻

After all that rain, your neighborhood storm drain could use a little love!💧 Clogged drains can lead to flooding and pollution in our waterways — but a small action can make a big difference.
✅ Take a moment to check the drain near your home. Clear away leaves, trash, and other debris to help water flow freely and protect your neighborhood.

🌎 Want to make it official? Adopt a drain at mn.adopt-a-drain.org and be part of the solution. It’s a simple step that keeps your community safer and our environment cleaner.

06/01/2025

ST. PAUL - “The city of St. Paul announced Wednesday the renaming of Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary and Indian Mounds Regional Park. Name changes will reflect their Dakota names and will recognize their significance as sacred sites to Indigenous tribes.

Together, the parks will be called Imniżaska, which means “white cliffs.” Separately, the sites will be Waḳaƞ Ṭípi, meaning “dwelling place of the sacred” and Wicaḣapi, meaning “cemetery.”

The names come from the recommendation of four tribal historic preservation offices, including Prairie Island Indian Community, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, Lower Sioux Indian Community and Upper Sioux Community. The preservation offices work to preserve tribal nations’ historic property and cultural traditions.

Within the sanctuary is a cave that many call Carver’s Cave. To Dakota people, it’s a sacred site known as Waḳaƞ Ṭípi and has existed for thousands of years.

“We have to have a city that is responsive and responsible to our tribal communities and to communities across this community,” said St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter. He spoke alongside Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who says the state has been on a journey to ensure tribal-state relations.

“When municipalities also do this work, it is critical, it is key and how we should continue to work together in partnership,” Flanagan said. “It acknowledges that Dakota and Native people have always been here, are still here and will remain here into the future. Indigenous people are a significant part of the story of St. Paul and the story of Mni Sóta Makoce as well.”

St. Paul entered into an agreement with Native-led nonprofit, Wakaŋ Tipi Awaŋyaŋkapi, formerly known as Lower Phalen Creek Project, to co-manage the sanctuary in October 2024. Wakaŋ Tipi Awaŋyaŋkapi helped to facilitate conversations regarding the name change.”

The city of St. Paul announced Wednesday the renaming of Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary and Indian Mounds Regional Park to Waḳaƞ Ṭípi, meaning “dwelling place of the sacred” and Wicaḣapi, meaning “cemetery.”

06/01/2025

You can help injured birds! 🐦‍⬛ Here’s how ❤️‍🩹

🕊️ A small act of kindness can mean the difference between life and death — but only if we do it right.

If you ever find a bird that’s hurt or can’t stand, your first instinct might be to lay it flat in a box and offer a little food or water. But what feels kind can actually make things worse. Sometimes… deadly worse.

Take a deep breath. And remember this:

📦 Never lay an injured bird on its side.
Birds breathe through air sacs along their bodies. If they’re placed flat, those sacs get compressed. The bird can’t breathe — and panic or respiratory failure can follow.

Instead, make a soft doughnut out of a towel, and gently nestle the bird upright in the center. Just like in the photo — cozy, safe, supported.

💧 Do NOT give food or water.
A weak or unconscious bird can easily aspirate, meaning water enters the lungs instead of the stomach. The result? Suffocation. It happens more often than you think — even with the best of intentions.

🌙 Once the bird is upright and safe, keep it somewhere quiet and dark. Let calm replace chaos. Then, call a licensed wildlife rehabilitator as soon as possible. They know what to do — and they’ll take it from there.

A bird’s life is fragile.
Your hands can help — gently, wisely, and with love.

Thank you for being the kind of human who stops, cares, and learns. 🫶