Taking a Minnesota minute

A dog making snow angels, tree climbing, white pine restoration, Red River clean up, native vegetation restoration along the Mississippi River, restoring of lake trout in Lake Superior, eagles, worms, barred owls, and birding along the Minnesota River Valley are among the Minnesota Minutes submitted to the Bell Museum’s video contest. The Minnesota Minute is sponsored by the Bell Museum to show ordinary citizens helping to improve Minnesota’s natural environment.

Weekly drawings of $100 in cash cards is offered with a Sony palmcorder randomly chosen from all contestants at the end of contest. The contest runs through to the end of the Minnesota State Fair. For rules, scroll down to the bottom of the screen at www.minnesotaminute.org

“Red River clean up” shows 63 volunteers associated with Southwest Minnesota State College science department, who collected 15,800 pounds of trash including two stolen purses within one and a half hours. This river is one of the top ten most polluted rivers in the United States. This video had lots of facts, inspiration, and local “elbow grease.”

Rajala from Big Fork, Minnesota plants 200,000 white pines each year. He submitted a video on white pine restoration. According to Rajala, we have only one percent of our state’s original white pine. He speaks passionately of the “canopy and girth” of these beautiful trees.

Silly fun is the point of “Dog making snow angels.”

Minnesota Minute is part of the sesquicentennial celebration. The Bell Museum contest, which runs through the State Fair, calls for videos under five minutes about the preservation and restoration of Minnesota’s natural places. See more Minnesota Minutes at the Bell Museum blog.

Jeanette Fordyce lives and writes in the Twin Cities.