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Photos by MARIA ELENA BACA - rnbaca@startribune_com Native plants thrive in Gustafson"s shoreline garden near a sculpture site recently received for her birthday_ � Safer water can start in back yard -f GARDEN FROM AA1 The model the district uses to estimate lake contamination has Locke Lake, at the southern end of Rice Creek, at U5 micro- grams of phosphorous per liter of lake wa- ter, compared to Turtle Lake, not part of the Rice Creek chain, - ; which is estimated at I _ 21 micrograms per li- ter, according to Matt Kocian, take and t stream specialist for �i s= the district_ Ile en- := < tire Rice Creek wa- tershed drains in- to Locke Lake, while the `hurtle Lake wa- Dawn Gustafson tershed is only a fear square miles, he said. Excess nutrients in the water lead to a domino effect of harm to lake ecolo- gy. Phosphorous leads to algae blooms, which can lead to temperature changes in the water and block sunlight to native aquatic plants. And the bacterial depletion of oxygen that comes when algae die can kill fish .and insects, he said. Pape's outreach program, Blue Thumb Planting for Clean Water, helps homeown- ers and gardeners, through its website and Prairie Smoke is just hushing its bloommi g season. live workshops, to choose and place native plants to falter rainwater and prevent ero- sion. Blue Thumb will partially fund some projects. This year, the district had $22,500 each for projects in Anoka, Ramsey and Washington counties. Future funding will depend on residents' demand_ Since its inception four years ago, Blue Thumb has garnered 46 public, private and nonprofit partners. Since February, it has sponsored at least 45 workshops, educat- ing thousands of people about preserving clean water through mindful gardening. Visits to the website, wwwbluethumb.org, have doubled since this time last year. "This program has just taken off like a BLUE THUMB PLANTING FOR CLEAN NATER For more information, go to www.bluethu-mb.org. Grants are ad- ministered by county conservation districts. other watershed districts may offer dean -water gardening grants. For help finding a district, go to www-cleanwaten- n.org or www. mnwatershed_org_ prairie fare," nape said_ "it's wonderful that people are seeing the value in it." Pape looked across Gustafson's garden_ "If everyone did this we would have such better water quality," she said_ During last summer's drought, Cus- tafson's garden bloomed while the lawn died. Although her planning, planting and maintenance four seasons ago were intense, she said now the established ar- eas need tittle upkeep. She only has to do a .spring cut-back and weed out seedlings from a nearby tree. "It would be truly no maintenance if I didn't keep adding to it," she said, laughing. Maria Elena Baca - 612-573-4409 an` to S ably By Ni. smeU In dete the Cord- look ordlook land fuse the 1 face, of tl er, t wan the aggf It id cor( sior rag( all tho: rue( con f its WW Voll 26 ily tali 201 E: A A A Il M th(- rni 24 er! lic