Midway to Mississippi
Clean up leaf litter on the curb to protect the Mississippi River from pollution!
Hamline Midway Coalition has teamed up with Capitol Region Watershed for the Midway To Mississippi environmental initiative.
Midway to the Mississippi is a simple yet effective initiative aimed at preventing nutrient pollution in local waters. When leaves build up on curbsides and clog storm drains, they release nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, that when in excess amounts, are harmful to the biodiversity and health of the Mississippi River.
We are asking participants to clear leaves from the curb of their property, record how many times they have done so, and the length of the curb (in feet) they have cleaned. Clear, Report, Protect! This simple activity helps to reduce nutrient pollution and keeps our waterways clean!
During autumn, our focus is leaves! All those fall leaves that accumulate in our street are Each household focuses just on the stretch of curb that borders their own private property (alleys too, if you have one).
Midway to Mississippi runs from the beginning of fall, October 1st 2024 to the end of November 2024.
How to participate in Midway to Mississippi
- October 1st, begin monitoring the curbs that border your property.
- Once a week (or as needed) if you notice leaf litter has accumulated along the curb, sweep it up.
- You can simply push it up onto your boulevard. This at least gets it out of the street where stormwater runoff will flow. You can then deal with the leaves when you’re ready to manage your yard leaves.
- Or you can gather them up and move them immediately to a pile in your backyard, to breakdown into compost over the winter.
- Or you can bundle them up and take them to the nearest county yard waste site.
- Or you can bag them in a compostable bag and ask your waste hauler to pick them up (for a fee).
- November 30th, if you’d like your pollution source removal to be counted in our community-wide, aggregated measurement of Pounds of Phosphorous Prevented, you can report a.) how many feet of curbage you took care of and b.) how often you cleaned your curbage. We have a form below and will also email reporting info to you if you’ve registered to participate.
A reporting form will be added to the website and emailed to participants who signed up in late November.