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Caponi Art Park, Minnesota.
Wood duck houses, Wisconsin
Art and Nature in Minnesota
The mission of the Caponi Art Park is to make art accessible to all. On its grounds, people come together with art and nature to restore, nurture and maintain the basic unity of the human spirit.
Located on 60-acres of rolling wooded hills, brick and dirt paths are linear drawings, retraced by each person who walks on them. Rock walls and shaped earth host sculptures throughout the grounds. In making the art park, Anthony Caponi, sculptor, retired professor and chair of the Art Department of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, created serious works to demonstrate that art and the environment can be one.
Minnesota Energy Resources contributes to the Caponi Art Park in Eagan, Minnesota. The park is open for tours by schools and other groups. It presents free activities and performances featuring the region's top artists in an outdoor environment.
Homes for Wood Ducks in North Central Wisconsin
Each spring, Wisconsin Public Service distributes hundreds of wood duck houses throughout North Central Wisconsin. Environmentally focused participants donate $10 to Ducks Unlimited, and in exchange received a wood duck house and can sign up a child for the Ducks Unlimited's Greenwing program at no charge.
Wisconsin Public Service partners with Ducks Unlimited and McNaughton Correctional Facility, which produces the wood duck houses. The program provides homes for wood ducks and keeps kids involved with the great outdoors.
Fighting Invasive Species in Upper Michigan
Upper Peninsula Power Company (UPPCO) helps prevent the spread of garlic mustard on its hydroelectric lands. Garlic mustard (Alliria petiolata), an invasive plant species, was discovered in the area in 2005. Since then, UPPCO, the Nature Conservancy, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan University and local volunteers have worked together to control the plant. The goal is to remove seedlings near roads and utility corridors. Vehicles using these roads and corridors could transfer garlic mustard to other areas.
Garlic mustard was introduced by settlers in the late 1860s. It was first discovered in Long Island, New York, and has spread as far south as Virginia and as far west as Kansas. It's called "invasive" because it can out-compete native plants for light, moisture, nutrients, soil and space. When it shades out native plants, wildlife that depends on the native plants is forced to leave the area to locate a new food source.