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 Director
Happy spring and summer! I hope you are all coping with the heat and air quality issues. Many of the MSP researchers have settled into a rhythm of conducting summer field research—in parks, yards, lakes, and ponds—after an energizing Summer Symposium, held at the end of May at the University of Minnesota Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory. We were excited to share our activities and findings with over 80 community partners, MSP researchers, and educators at our Symposium this year. This gathering reminded me of how incredibly grateful I am for the support we receive from our partners, including exchanging ideas, accessing research sites, and sharing data. I encourage all our partners to continue to help us understand how we can best support your efforts and priorities.
One highlight of the Summer Symposium was that MSP personnel received a sneak-peak of the Bell Museum’s Solution Studio, a new summertime makerspace focused on creativity and problem-solving, and inspired by MSP research. The Solution Studio is now open to the public (details under “Featured Event”), so head on over to the Bell Museum and check it out!
Like our annual Symposium, this issue of City Buzz brings together our community partners and researchers to reflect on their work across the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. Specifically, the authors reflect on the integration of science and art in urban ecology—and the way each provides an important lens through which to explore the meaning of place.
- Sarah Hobbie, Director and Lead Principal Investigator
Featured Event
Bell Museum’s Solution Studio | Running June 16 - September 10, 2023 | Open Tuesday - Sunday, 10am - 4pm
From the Bell Museum: The Solution Studio at the Bell Museum is an opportunity to let your creativity run wild as you work to solve challenges inspired by cutting-edge research. We provide the materials and tools, and you bring the big ideas and a willingness to explore, create, experiment, and share! This year, the Bell Museum is drawing inspiration from the work of researchers associated with the MSP LTER. Activities allow museum-goers to explore the ecological impacts of urban contaminants, functioning of urban watersheds, and advocacy in environmental policies and practice. Stop by, explore, and connect with us!
Featured Stories
Communicating Ecological Resilience Efforts Through Art & Science – At Crosby Farm Regional Park
Interviews with Leslie Brandt, Supervisory Climate Adaptation Specialist at the USDA Forest Service, and Willard Malebear, Jr., local Indigenous artist
Learn how a Twin Cities forest became the meeting point for climate science and Indigenous art in this pair of interviews. Leslie Brandt, a climate adaptation specialist with the USDA Forest Service and MSP LTER Urban Forests Team, takes us inside the Adaptative Silviculture for Climate Change (ASCC) study at Crosby Farm Regional Park. Then, Indigenous artist Willard Malebear, Jr. shares how he brought the project's silviculture treatments to life through original artwork—now on display as informational signage at the research site.
Urban Eco-Narratives
About Us
MSP is an urban LTER program in the Twin Cities studying how urban stressors—such as climate change, pollutants, invasive species, habitat fragmentation—affect the ecological structure and functioning of urban nature, including pollinators, forests, watersheds, and lakes and streams. We also study how diverse residents interact with and experience the benefits and burdens of urban nature. Ultimately, we aim to better understand urban nature and related policies and practices, to improve environmental outcomes for all residents.
Who: 100+ researchers, educators, and community organizers from the University of Minnesota, University of St. Thomas, US Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, and Water Bar.
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 (Director) at [email protected], or Meredith Keller (Program Manager) at [email protected].