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New project underway to stop invasive carp in Minnesota’s waterways thanks to $12M investment
To help stop the spread of invasive carp, a deterrent system will be installed on the Mississippi River at Lock and Dam 5 near Winona.
ST PAUL, Minnesota — New work is underway to stop the spread of invasive carp in Minnesota’s waterways.
“There’s so much at stake for Minnesota. The quality of life that we enjoy here in Minnesota is so much linked to water, and sports, and getting out,” said Rep. Leon Lillie, DFL-North St. Paul.
During the 2024 session, the legislature passed a $12 million investment to create an invasive carp deterrent system on the Mississippi River at Lock and Dam 5 near Winona.
The Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council had unanimously recommended the money from the Outdoor Heritage Fund to design and construct a deterrent.
“We are seeing the devastation that can happen when invasive carp spread unchecked and we’ve learned from downstream and other states what works to stop them from coming upstream in Minnesota,” said Sen. Foung Hawj, DFL-St. Paul.
Tuesday morning, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Stop Carp Coalition, lawmakers and a group of conservation organizations gathered at Harriet Island Regional Park for a press conference on the project.
Invasive carp (silver, bighead and grass) outcompete native fish for food and space, leading to declines in ecosystem diversity and water quality. Silver carp also pose a physical threat to boaters as they are known for leaping out of the water.
Christine Goepfert, co-chair of the Stop Carp Coalition and Midwest campaign director for the National Parks Conservation Association, said about Lock and Dam 5, “A lot of us were just down at that location a few weeks ago and invasive carp were jumping just below that location.”
Kelly Pennington, the MN DNR invasive species unit supervisor, said while they do not believe invasive carp are not reproducing yet in Minnesota, “We don’t know for sure how much time we have before that reproduction happens.”
Colleen O’Connor Toberman, coalition co-chair and land use & planning director for Friends of the Mississippi River said, “We also know that we don’t have time to wait. Over the past 18 months, there have been several large carp catches in the Mississippi River not far below Lock and Dam 5, including over 400 fish last November.”
Stopping the spread will take a layered approach.
“Deterrents use sound lights or other stimuli to discourage invasive carp from swimming past. There are only two other sound-based invasive carp deterrents that have been installed at locks in the U.S. and we’ve learned from those experimental installations that they do not completely stop invasive carp from swimming through. Data indicate that they reduce invasive carp passage by about half,” Pennington said.
However, the Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center “determined that a sweeping sound played in locks, when combined with an air curtain, should stop 99% of invasive carps from passing through while minimizing effects on native fishes.”
The project is taking a layered approach to the issue that also will include a trapping system to capture and remove invasive carp and advocating for more research to protect the state’s waterways.
Pennington said they have already started scoping the project, saying “This will include determining the deterrent type, the sighting, permitting needs and other factors that will need to be assessed prior to design and construction.”
The DNR is partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
While the deterrent system needs to be installed by the end of June 30, 2029, Pennington said they will be working as quickly as possible.
Gary Peterson and his friends are collecting donations to help people in their community.
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — A St. Louis Park pumpkin display is raising money for their local food shelf.
Gary Peterson started carving and painting three pumpkins over a decade ago. It’s now grown to over 100.
“I’ve heard people say they’ve come from Hutchinson,” he said.
Peterson along with two of his neighbors have spent the last 14 years growing their display, turning it into a neighborhood event.
“It’s been incredible, I just can’t believe how much this has expanded,” he said. “We did it just because we like to and then people were asking to give us money to cover the cost.”
The trio refused to take people’s money, but then one of them had an idea.
“My neighbor, Steve Leensvaart, just mentioned how about we just do it for the STEP program and the STEP program is our local food shelf in St. Louis Park,” he said.
So, they started to collect donations to help families in need. They’ve raised hundreds of dollars and donated hundreds of pounds of food over the last few years, carving for a cause.
“It is more gratifying every year,” Peterson said.
He estimated they have over 100 unique pumpkins in their yard. They’ve created the displays and come up with new family-friendly concepts for people to enjoy. Peterson said about 30 of their neighbors carved their own pumpkins to be put on display, and it’s been a big hit.
“It’s great. In the last couple of years, it’s turned into more of a neighborhood event,” said Sarah Durch.
“We love this Halloween display, we come every year to see it. We love that the whole community gets involved to craft and carve the pumpkins,” said Jami Gordon-Smith.
“The shading and the details are unbelievable,” said Elizabeth Hanson.
Hanson hopes to take her 2-year-old son trick or treating for the first time but is worried the cold temperatures might keep them indoors.
“We’re going trick or treating hopefully,” she said. “He’s going to be a firefighter, but we’re probably going to have sweatshirts maybe like two pairs of sweatpants underneath. We’re going to be bundled up.”
Gordon-Smith said her family will be out Halloween night no matter the weather.
“Halloween only comes once a year, so you really have to take advantage and enjoy the evening no matter what the weather brings,” she said. “Guess it’s not totally unheard of in Minnesota to have a cold Halloween, but we are going to try and modify and do a lot of layers underneath our costumes and then we might add some hats and maybe some warmer socks.”
Durch also isn’t surprised they’re in for another chilly night.
“Well, what would Halloween be without Minnesota cold? I feel like every time you plan a costume you have to plan for how you can make this work if it’s snowing,” she said.
Peterson said they will have a bonfire and some hot chocolate and cider on Halloween to keep trick-or-treaters warm while they look at their pumpkins.
Click here to learn where you can see the pumpkins and how you can donate.
Jeremy Jourdain was 17 when he was last seen on Halloween 2016.
BEMIDJI, Minn. — The search for Jeremy Jourdain, who was last seen on Halloween in 2016, continues now eight years later.
Jourdain was last seen at a family member’s house in Bemidji, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior Indian Affairs. He left the residence near the 500 block of Wood Avenue after midnight and while people followed him, no one was able to find him.
Jourdain was 17 at the time.
Officials said he was wearing a blue and grey sweatshirt, and blue jeans when last seen. He is Native American and is described as 6 foot 5 and 175 pounds.
If you have any information on his whereabouts, you can contact the Bemidji Police Department at (218) 333-9111. Tips can also be sent to 1-833-560-2065, or you can email ojs_mmu@bia.gov.
The organizations say many Asian Americans are planning to vote despite lack of candidate outreach.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Most people have been contacted in some way shape or form by a campaign in the last few weeks. And if the polls are right and the race for president is a dead heat, every vote will matter.
That’s why this is a head scratcher:
According to a September 2024 voter survey by Asian American Pacific Islander Data, 27% of Asian-American voters said they hadn’t been contacted by either political party trying to get their vote. Last spring, earlier in the voting season, it was even more – 42%.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are the fastest growing racial or ethnic group nationwide.
Their voter participation levels are growing too, with 60% of eligible Asian-American voters turning out in 2020. And AAPI Data reports as many as 90% of Asian Americans they surveyed said they plan to vote this cycle.
“Candidates are not reaching out to Asian Americans, which is a huge mistake,” said ThaoMee Xiong, executive and networking director of the Coalition of Asian American Leaders.
She says even though there are more than 200,000 eligible Asian voters in Minnesota, the Asian vote is under-appreciated.
“Neither the Democratic or Republican parties have been reaching out in huge numbers,” Xiong said. “They’re sending general mailers to everyone but … they need it in their native language.”
That’s why CAAL is partnering with two more organizations to keep voter turnout high and reach anyone candidates or advocates missed.
Xor Xiong is from Asian American Organizing Project, which focuses on engaging metro-area teens and young adults.
“Many of our communities are still facing barriers to go to vote,” he said. “There’s been more times than I like to admit in terms of when I was having a conversation over the phones of voters being surprised that they can take time off to go and vote, or they can bring the kids to the polling locations, or they can even bring someone to translate for them.”
“In Ramsey County, because of the large Hmong American population there, the polls in Ramsey County are federally required to provide interpreters and translated materials,” ThaoMee added.
Their nonpartisan campaign, Get Out the Vote for Asian Minnesotans, aims to get people registered and well-informed.
“Throughout Covid, there was a lot of anti-hate around the AAPI community and we are still feeling the impact of that to this day,” said Amanda Xiong, a community organizer with a group known as CAPI USA. “Even if folks are afraid to go to the polls, due to that, we try our best to then educate them around absentee ballots, voting early.”
“And so yes, there is a huge increase in terms of voter turnout, but then why is it still 70% feel as though they don’t belong?”
In 2021, the FBI reported a 168% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes.
In Brooklyn Park and Brooklyn Center, the groups knocked on at least 700 doors in one session alone while keeping safety top of mind.
“We make sure that there’s a car following all the door knockers,” ThaoMee said. “We put everyone on text chain … and we are putting a lot of precautionary measures in place for the day of voting.”
After the election, the CAAL plans to conduct surveys and send the results to county election officials. They’ve done this before and say it led to policy changes this year at the legislature including measures to ensure people have easier access to interpreters.
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