Transcripts

SPEAKER: Tomorrow is being declared Minnesota River Cleanup Day in the state of Minnesota. The Minnesota River, which runs through Southern Minnesota and meets the Mississippi at Fort Snelling, is often described as one of the most polluted rivers in the region. Joining us now is Minnesota's Lieutenant Governor, Joanne Benson, who's leading the state cleanup effort. Good morning.

JOANNE BENSON: Good morning.

SPEAKER: What's on tamp for tomorrow? What's involved in River Cleanup Day?

JOANNE BENSON: Well, a number of citizens and sportsmen and government and nonprofit groups are gathering together to go out to the river and work on cleaning it up. But the press conference that we're having shortly or later this afternoon is really talking not only about what we're going to do about an Annual Cleanup Day, which is sort of a one-time thing, but also to look a little bit at what we have done to date and the successes that we've had and progress that has been made, and then what we're going to be doing in the future.

And one of the things we'll be talking about is to say a big thank you to the farmers and the Department of Agriculture in Minnesota for the work that they've done so far. We've already seen, according to University of Minnesota study, that the changes that the farmers have made in their cropland management along the river have already shown a 25% reduction in the sediment of the river. And I lived along that river and know that sediment has always been a great problem along that area.

And the lower tillage practices, the best management practices that they're using now have already really done a great deal towards the cleanup. And besides the activities of the farmers, the Department of Natural Resources, one of the things that they have done is that they've been doing some planning for trail development and other recreational opportunities.

One of the things we know that along that river is if people get to the river and see the potential and the potential for good, clean river, and the recreational opportunities that could be provided by that kind of river, they would, I think-- then the citizens would be more anxious to help with the cleanup attempts as well. And then we also have some work on that whole Minnesota River valley. We've already named that the Minnesota River valley as a scenic byway.

So we have 300 miles going from Browns Valley at the South Dakota border to just North of Henderson. And I was born in Henderson Township, so I'm happy to know that this area of the Minnesota River is getting some attention. And also, the Fish and Wildlife Service through partners for Wildlife Program, they have done a lot of things with restoring wetlands and the grasslands along that area. They've contributed over $1 million on projects restoring those wetlands. That makes a significant difference as well as you would know.

SPEAKER: Right. We've heard a lot about cleaning up the Minnesota River for the last several years. It sounds like some progress is being made. Any idea, any guesstimate as to when the river will actually be usable again in a meaningful way?

JOANNE BENSON: Well, I'm encouraged by this amount of progress in one year. I mean, it was a very hot summer day when Governor Carlson and I, along with the county commissioners, signed this Joint Powers Agreement. And I met with the commissioners about a month ago, I believe, when they had their first annual conference talking about where they are and where they need to be and all of that sort of thing. I think one of the most significant things is if you can imagine the county commissioners all along that river finally getting together and working jointly and cooperatively on one initiative, that in itself was a major breakthrough.

And what they're really pleased about is that it has truly become a partnership with state departments and with local governments, saying we're not going to pass any hard-handed or heavy-handed laws. We're not going to come down with lots of new regulations and all that sort of thing. We're going to ask you, the local governments, how do you see it? What do we have to do next? And we're going to do it in a local and from the bottom up sort of way. And they were very pleased by that. And actually, the amount of cooperation has been amazing.

So I'm very encouraged. And as I told them at that conference, I said, I want-- the governor said it. He wants it swimmable and fishable in 10 years. Well, I said, you have to hurry up. I want to make sure I can still swim and fish before you get done. So they all assured me they were going to do that.

SPEAKER: Thanks a lot for joining us.

JOANNE BENSON: You're welcome.

SPEAKER: Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Joanne Benson. Tomorrow is Minnesota River Cleanup Day in the state of Minnesota, noting the continuing efforts to try to clean up one of the more polluted rivers in our region.