City Buzz is the semi-annual newsletter of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area Urban Long-Term Ecological Research Program (MSP LTER), produced to inform interested partners and community members of our work.
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From the Directors
Happy December!
Last month’s snow put a decisive end to a busy fieldwork season that saw our team of more than 100 faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, postdocs, and other personnel engage in outreach alongside their data collection. Researchers participated in interviews with journalists, organized gatherings to discuss their work with partners and the wider community, and continued to host Rambles with our Artists-in-Residence. Our 2025 Overview Talks cover some of this ongoing research and collaboration. This past summer also marked our third year teaming up with the Bell Museum on Solution Studio—a makerspace that gives patrons the opportunity to step into urban ecological research through hands-on activities inspired by MSP LTER projects. Our researchers also contributed to the Bell's current Curious Allies Exhibit (on display until January 4, 2026) that highlights symbiotic relationships in nature while beautifully showcasing the intersection of art and science.
It has been a year of looking inward, as well. Co-Director Emilie Snell-Rood published an article highlighting the importance of scientific discovery and support for basic research. We acquired a grant to hire Indigenous rights consultant An Garagiola to train our personnel in Indigenous data sovereignty and other facets of respectful, reciprocal, and transparent research partnerships. In addition to responding to the University of Minnesota’s Indigenous Research Policy, we hope this training series will strengthen MSP LTER’s future and ongoing collaborations with our research partners.
This issue of City Buzz highlights how our researchers are putting some of the tenets of reciprocal research partnerships into practice. In this issue’s “Partner Spotlight” piece, we feature the Stewardship Mapping and Assessment (STEW-MAP) Project at the USDA Forest Service through Dr. Natalia C. Piland’s interview with spatial ecologist Dr. Michelle L. Johnson. The two former USDA Forest Service scientists share their experience working on STEW-MAP across the country and with the MSP LTER specifically. PhD candidate and Urban Forests researcher, Sally Donovan, discusses how she organized informal gatherings of nonprofits, local governments, and others to share research findings on a STEW-MAP survey of the Twin Cities to “create a space for stewards to learn from one another and identify potential collaborators…to care for the urban forest.” Finally, PhD student Leta Landucci uses a restoration project at the St. Paul Jameson-Front site to reflect on the power of responsive research partnerships among local government, nonprofits, and programs like the MSP LTER.
In 2026, we look forward to hosting another Summer Symposium for our personnel and partners in the spring, as well as offering other opportunities for connection. Thank you for being a part of our community!
- Sarah Hobbie, Co-Director & Lead Principal Investigator, and Emilie Snell-Rood, Co-Director
Featured Stories
In the latest from our blog, PhD candidate Sally Donovan and PhD student Leta Landucci reflect on their experiences with community-engaged research as part of the MSP LTER. Sally writes about leading the STEW-MAP (Stewardship Mapping and Assessment) Project at the MSP LTER and across the Twin Cities, taking us through the process of implementing a survey to local environmental organizations, using the results to map the complex network of tree stewards across the metropolitan area, and then sharing the results with participants. While STEW-MAP's impact extends across the Twin Cities and beyond, Leta instead centers her writing on a single location in St. Paul—a community-led restoration project on a former Superfund site. She uses interviews and observations to reflect on the importance of responsive, community-led research.
Surveys and Soirees: Documenting Tree Stewardship Across the Twin Cities
By Sally Donovan, PhD Candidate in the University of Minnesota Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior and the MSP LTER Urban Forests Team
A Recipe for Restoration: How Biochar Plaster Could Help Transform a Former Superfund Site into a Neighborhood Pollinator Prairie
By Leta Landucci, PhD Student in the University of Minnesota Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior and the MSP LTER Urban Contaminants Team
Partner Spotlight
The Value of Mapping Stewardship Work Across the World
An interview with Dr. Michelle L. Johnson, spatial ecologist at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, by Dr. Natalia C. Piland, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Environment, Community, & Equity at American University
MSP LTER research partner Dr. Natalia C. Piland interviews spatial ecologist Dr. Michelle L. Johnson for this issue's "Partner Spotlight." Both former USDA Forest Service scientists, they use the interview to introduce the STEW-MAP (Stewardship Mapping and Assessment) Project started by social scientists at the Forest Service's Northern Research station to pinpoint where known stewardship groups are improving their surroundings. The project began by developing a methodology that tackles that very question of Who takes care of this place? by mapping the groups and their social relationships. The interview provides insights into the ins and outs of community-engaged research, from the local to the global.
News & Updates
2025 Summer Symposium & Overview Talks
We typically hold an annual Summer Symposium to which we invite our partners and supporters. This year, things looked a bit different because the National Science Foundation, our primary funder, notified us that our Renewal proposal would be due earlier than originally planned. Given this change, we focused our Summer Symposium internally, on proposal preparation. Nevertheless, we are pleased to share with you 2025 Overview Talk videos from our research teams, which we recorded via Zoom to keep you informed of our activities. If you have any issues accessing these, please email Meredith at [email protected]. Please note: We recorded most of these talks during a team meeting in May amidst an unexpected tornado warning. This affected some of the recording quality and the tenor of the presentations.
New Publications & Products
Over the past year, our site has published new articles and reports and archived new datasets. These include studies on the connection between lead pollution and pollinator health in the Twin Cities, using remote sensing to assess forest biodiversity, and the impact of chloride in local surface waters. You can find the library of our published written publications and our datasets on our website. While all published datasets are publicly available, some publications are behind a paywall for several months before becoming available to all. If you have trouble accessing a product, email Meredith Keller at [email protected].
Summer 2025 REU Posters & StoryMaps
Over the summer, the MSP LTER Urban Pollinator Team welcomed undergraduates Sophie Diliberti (Macalester College) and Kaeley Meyer (Dordt University) as part of the Sustainable Land and Water Resources (SLAWR) / MSP LTER Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) "Team Big River" 2025 cohort. The Pollinator Team mentored Sophie on a project around residents' perceptions of pollinators, and Kaeley contributed to ongoing field work assessing the connection between certain vegetation and pollinator abundance.
Contaminants Team Soil Survey
The MSP LTER and University of Minnesota Department of Soil, Water, and Climate are engaging in a collaborative project with the USDA-NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) to generate an updated soil map of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. Researchers Nic Jelinski and Nora Pearson are looking for homes and businesses to volunteer to have their soil sampled. Interested parties should complete this form.
Dr. Bonnie Keeler Named Director of the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center
Humphrey School faculty and MSP LTER Researcher, Bonnie Keeler, will become the new Director of the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center (WRC) in January 2026. Bonnie currently is an Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs, where she shares the Charles M. Denny Endowed Chair in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy, and is co-director of the Center for Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy. While Bonnie will lead the WRC in a full-time capacity, she also will hold a faculty appointment in the Department of Forest Resources, which will serve as her tenure home.
Bonnie has been with the MSP LTER from the beginning—as a Co-PI, member of the Leadership Team, and Co-Lead of the Wealth & Nature Research Team. In that time, she has contributed to several MSP LTER publications, mentored graduate students in site research, and supported community engagement efforts. Bonnie will be stepping back from some LTER research but will remain connected through our surface waters work. Congratulations, Bonnie!
Some Notable Achievements Among Our Researchers, Spring-Fall 2025
Bee Lawn Team researcher Eric Watkins was among those awarded the University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies' Robert C. Johns Research Partnership Award. The award honored their collaborative multi-phase study to develop turfgrass seed mixtures that promote the health of roadsides.
In August, PhD student Kowsar Mohamed (MSP LTER Community Engagement Assessment Team) was appointed to the University of Minnesota Board of Regents as the Student-at-Large representative.
Members of the MSP LTER Surface Waters Research Team, Poornima Natarajan, Benjamin Janke, and Jacques Finlay, published a report laying out a stormwater pond assessment tool designed for natural resource managers.
The Bell Museum's Hugh Gabriel interviewed Learning Landscape gardener Alex Wegrzyn about his experience managing that biodiverse urban ecosystem and shared research site sampled by the MSP LTER.
Melissa Kenney (University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment and SLAWR/MSP LTER REU Program) will act as co-director to the new National Office for the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Regional Resilience Innovation Incubator (R2I2) program, housed at the University of Minnesota.
MSP LTER Research & Researchers in the News, Spring-Fall 2025
An MPR article featured research by Postdoctoral Researcher Lindsey Kemmerling, Co-Director Emilie Snell-Rood, and other members of the MSP LTER Contaminants Team. You can also find this research covered in a University of Minnesota Research Brief and article in the Isanti-Chisago County Star.
An MSP LTER publication (Adrienne Keller et al. 2024) was featured in a Minnesota Star Tribune article exploring the Twin Cities fall tree canopy.
The Minnesota Daily covered the Bell Museum's 2025 Solution Studio exhibit in an article highlighting the MSP LTER's partnership with the Bell.
University of Minnesota Natural Capital Project Director and MSP LTER Affiliate Researcher Nfamara Dampha was interviewed for a Sahan Journal article on using nature-based solutions to manage flooding along the Mississippi River.
In November, a Minnesota Star Tribune article highlighted MSP LTER research led by Postdoctoral Fellow Rebecca Walker and the Wealth & Nature Team regarding the history of racial covenants and Minneapolis city planning.
Paige Boyle (MSP LTER Postdoctoral Researcher) authored an article on the Pollinator Team's ongoing research across residential lawns and golf courses.
MSP LTER Artist-in-Residence Kim Boustead was featured in the WI Sea Grant "Introduced" Podcast, where she discussed her artwork that incorporates invasive species.
About Us
The Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area (MSP) Long-Term Ecological Research Program (LTER) brings together over 100 researchers, students, artists, and community organizers from the University of Minnesota, University of St. Thomas, USDA Forest Service, and other local institutions to study how urban stressors affect the ecological structure and functioning of urban nature, including pollinators, urban forests, urban watersheds, and lakes and streams. Guided by the practice of community-engaged research, the MSP LTER partners with dozens of community and agency/government partners throughout the Twin Cities Metro Area to conduct its work.
Who: 100+ researchers, educators, artists, and community organizers from the University of Minnesota, University of St. Thomas, USDA Forest Service, and other local institutions.
What: Long-term research on ecological relationships between humans and nature in cities.
How: A six-year, $7.1 million, renewable grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish a new site as part of the US LTER Network. The grant began in March 2021 and primarily supports postdocs, students, and staff in research, education, and engagement efforts.
Where: Seven-County Twin Cities Metropolitan Area in the State of Minnesota, or Mni Sota Makoce in Dakota. What we now call the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area are the traditional, historical, and contemporary lands of the Dakota People.
To learn more, visit our website at mspurbanlter.umn.edu, or contact Sarah Hobbie (Lead PI & Co-Director) at [email protected], Emilie Snell-Rood (Co-Director) at [email protected], or Meredith Keller (Program Manager) at [email protected].