Published on 2025-03-27 by Lindsey Kemmerling
By Lindsey Kemmerling, Postdoctoral Researcher with the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences and the MSP LTER Urban Contaminants Team
Working with Urban Roots
Urban Roots is a nonprofit organization on the East Side of St. Paul focused on urban farming, conservation, and youth education. With vegetable rows and restoration sites in the middle of the city, their neighborhood greenspaces provide accessible food and native habitat while cultivating youth leadership skills and building community connections.
I started as a postdoctoral researcher with the MSP LTER in 2022. That year I was introduced to David Woods, Urban Roots Conservation Program Director, with my advisor Emilie Snell-Rood, who also serves as MSP LTER Co-Director and Urban Contaminants Team Co-Lead. David was seeking collaborations at the University of MN around heavy metals and urban agriculture. Since then, we have partnered with Urban Roots—including with many of their youth interns—and have grown our research partnership from a study site to a place of co-produced research. We have worked together to obtain research grants and add ecological research opportunities to their youth internship programs.
Collaborative and Locally Relevant Research
The mission and work of Urban Roots aligns directly with the work of the MSP LTER Urban Contaminants Team. As MSP LTER researchers, we are exploring how and where common urban contaminants (such as microplastics and heavy metals) bioaccumulate in ecosystems, investigating how species are affected by those contaminants, and testing methods of remediation. We conduct this research in areas where Twin Cities residents could be directly impacted by contaminants and might care to know this information, such as parks and urban farms. As practitioners, educators, and youth interns, Urban Roots’ team works to restore habitats and grow food within the city, with a deep care for the land and an interest in the remediation of possible pollutants.
Urban Roots runs multiple urban farms and community gardens, and stewards multiple parks scattered throughout East St. Paul. We started working at their sites in 2022 to test levels of urban contaminants and share our research methods and findings. Since then, we have developed research questions together and received grants to implement collaborative projects at their sites. My first time meeting David Woods and Urban Roots interns was at Rivoli Bluffs—an Urban Roots site in East St. Paul where they conduct both conservation efforts and urban farming. Chip Small (faculty at University of St. Thomas and MSP LTER Urban Surface Waters Team Co-Lead) recently created this video about the history of Rivoli Bluffs and it features some of our current work happening there.
Our most recent project is testing the efficacy of biochar for remediating microplastics from soils. Biochar is made from slowly burning—or pyrolyzing—wood and organic materials to produce charcoal through a low-carbon emissions process. The Urban Roots conservation crew removes buckthorn (a nonnative species which is degrading local forests) from greenspaces in St. Paul. This harvested buckthorn can then be burned into biochar and added to soils with two potential benefits: (1) enriching soil water- and nutrient-holding capacity that can increase agricultural productivity, and (2) immobilizing heavy metals and microplastics in the soil. We are testing this process in an experiment at an Urban Roots farm and we worked with interns on associated projects during the second year of our Science Deep Dive program.
Including St. Paul Youth in Collaborative Research through the “Science Deep Dive” Internship Program
The Science Deep Dive program pairs MSP LTER researchers with Urban Roots youth interns, introducing them to hands-on research experiences that “dive deep” into the ecology of the Twin Cities and helping them identify pathways to pursue careers in science. We aim to address disparities in science education in East St. Paul, which Urban Roots has actively counteracted for decades through their incredible, engaging youth programs.
This program began in the summer of 2023 when five research mentors and nine Urban Roots interns worked together to develop research questions, conduct field and lab work, and explore ongoing ecological research at the University of MN. Last year, some Science Deep Dive interns presented their research at the University’s Earth Student Research Symposium (an abstract of their research project can be found under the 2024 dropdown menu). We hope that students leave this program with a better understanding of their professional interests and the confidence to move into higher-level science positions, including at the University of MN, where they now have established relationships.
Science Deep Dive marked its second year this past summer.
How Collaborative, Locally Relevant Research Has Shaped Me
In my work, I am driven by the global need to conserve biodiversity, restore relationships with ecosystems, and engage with local communities. By working with local organizations like Urban Roots, I have been able to incorporate each of these challenges into my work with the MSP LTER, even if it is a very small piece of the puzzle. Collaborative research at the local scale has tangible, immediate value to those who use these spaces. We still write research papers and spend a lot of time connecting with academic audiences. But working with organizations in the Twin Cities has broadened my understanding of the potential for research to enact change, and has brought a brighter meaning to my work.
More Information & Acknowledgements
Read more about Urban Roots in the Spring 2025 City Buzz “Partner Spotlight.” You can learn more about some of our research on urban contaminants through this video created by the University of MN’s College of Biological Sciences.
We thank the University of MN’s Institute on the Environment for funding our new biochar experiment and the second year of the Science Deep Dive, and the University’s College of Biological Sciences for supporting the first year of the Science Deep Dive program.
Another version of this story can be found on Urban Roots’ website, posted to commemorate its 55th anniversary.
If you’re interested in connecting on any of these research topics, please email Lindsey at [email protected]!
About Lindsey Kemmerling
Lindsey Kemmerling is a postdoctoral researcher in Emilie Snell-Rood's Lab in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at the University of MN. She researches biodiversity conservation and ecological restoration, with a focus on insects.