[Mnbird] We need your help Tuesday to save the Vermillion River

[Dan Callahan]

Hi all,

 

I spotted bald eagles spotted soaring on eastern edge of Murphy Hanrehan in
Burnsville yesterday, probably after fishing on Black Dog Lake. And the
Vermillion River is in danger and needs birders help.

 

I'm Dan Callahan, a MRVAC member in Dakota County, and longtime subscribers
will remember the fight we won to prevent a road being bulldozed through the
center of Murphy Hanrehan Regional Park several years ago. We need birders
to flock again.

 

The Vermillion River in Scott and Dakota County is in an important greenway
for birds, from Elko New Market through Lakeville, Farmington, and the
townships until Hastings, where the river joins the Mississippi.

 

The VRWJPO agency in charge of the Vermillion wants to replace Class 2A
state water pollution protections that have been in place for years, with
their own special standard that lowers protections and cleanup standards.

 

If clean water isn't reason enough to act on this, lower cleanup targets
could mean less demand for upland restoration, that benefits birds as well
as water quality.  

 

The public hearing is this Tuesday, January 26, at 7 p.m. at  the Dakota
County Extension and Conservation Center, 4100 220th St. W, Farmington. This
is the only public hearing  on the Vermillion River Watershed Joint Powers
Organization (VRWJPO) draft watershed management plan.

 

You could also send an 11 word email (or more if you wish) to
mark.zabel at co.dakota.mn.us <mailto:mark.zabel at co.dakota.mn.us>  with the
subject line: Watershed Plan Comments

 

The VRWJPO should stop lobbying to replace Class 2A protections on the
Vermillion River.  

 

Your Name

Your Address

 

Here's the background:

The watershed plan is a good in most areas, except this odd one. They are
using our important natural resource restoration dollars, collected by a tax
levy on citizens and businesses in the watershed, for political lobbying to
reduce cleanup standards.  It is contrary to the VRWJPO's mission statement
and the Watershed Plan Goals. This is wrong and must stop.  

 

Here's the link to the watershed plan:
http://vermillionriverwatershed.org/attachments/195_DRAFT%20Watershed%20Plan
%202016%20Public%20Review%20Red%209_24_15.pdf

 

Please help. You can contact me at may.fly at comcast.net
<mailto:may.fly at comcast.net> , or call me: 651-238-2111, and I can send you
more background information that specifically calls out the language in the
plan. Thanks for reading all this!

 

 



---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.lists.mnbird.net/pipermail/mnbird_lists.mnbird.net/attachments/20160124/5c4d28c7/attachment.htm>