A certificate from the Governor and the Commissioner of the DNR

The mail brought a smile to my face today; it contained a certificate recognizing our efforts to help clean the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers, as participants in Minnesota's Adopt-a-River program. It was signed by Governor Tim Pawlenty, and Mark Holsten, the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. (Click on the image to the left to enlarge.) A letter enclosed with the document expressed the appreciation of Adopt-a-River Coordinator Paul Nordell, as well as Eva Johnson from Minnesota Conservation Corps/AmeriCorps.

As fun as it is to receive a little recognition for our project, Julie and I also know we're just a very small part of what's going on here in the state of Minnesota, with regard to river restoration. According to the Adopt-a-River page at the DNR website, over 2,500 cleanups were completed by over 73,000 volunteers in 64 Minnesota counties between 1989 and 2007. During those efforts, nearly 5 million pounds of rubbish was removed from 8,500 miles of Minnesota's public waters, utilizing 250,000 hours of effort.

In other words, our efforts represent but a drop... in a very large river of advocacy throughout the state of Minnesota. Our thanks to Paul Nordell, who has been eager to offer ideas and advice since we first were involved in a major river cleanp-up back in 1994. And thanks, too, for engineering the citation, Paul. We'll add it to a nice archive of memories!

© 2009 Mike D. Anderson, Crystal, MN.