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Page 3 - Winter 2010-2011 IMPORTANT INFORMATION WINTER—THE BEST TIME TO PRUNE! PROTECT YOUR PIPES Winter is the best time to prune your trees for the following reasons: Extreme winter temperatures threaten to freeze water services and me-  ters. Avoid the disaster of frozen pipes this winter by ensuring your water The absence of leaves make crossing branches and weak spots easily meter stays free of obstruction and is in a heated environ- seen. ment until the end of March. If your home has or is being  The risk of spreading disease via pruning cuts is minimized. Insects foreclosed, please winterize or leave the heat on in the that carry oak wilt from infected trees to fresh pruning home. Call the Public Works Department at 651-429-4750 cuts during the spring and summer are not present for more information. during winter.  Equipment can be moved closer to trees on frozen PUBLIC HEARING NOTICES ground when lawn damage is not a great concern. All City legal notices are published in the Citizen Newspa-  Growth is increased since the energy is stored in roots and branches per. and is channeled to fewer growth points the following spring. BUNKER HILLS COMPOST SITE WHERE IS “AWAY” ANYWAY? The Bunker Hills compost site will be open for two weekends in January to re- We often hear and say, “Just throw it away.” But where is away? ceive Christmas trees and evergreen garland (not heavily bound with wire), as Typically, trash ends up in landfills or incinerators. But when you well as other types of yard and tree waste. Examples of acceptable yard and tree are ice fishing, let’s make sure “away” doesn’t mean throwing trash waste include leaves, grass clippings, garden waste, weeds, brush, logs, and on the frozen lake. stumps. Every year there is a tremendous problem with ice fishing enthusiasts throw- January 2011 Winter Hours ing their trash on the frozen lake. As the lake thaws “away” becomes the Saturday, January 9 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. bottom of the lake. Not only is the trash unsightly, it does not do the lakes’ Sunday, January 10 Noon - 4:30 p.m. ecosystems any favors. Saturday, January 16 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. During the course of a day on the ice, a certain amount of trash accumulates: Sunday, January 17 Noon - 4:30 p.m. wrappers, cans, plastics and other trash. Please bring a bag and take these items home with you and recycle what you can so you have less to send to Where: Bunker Hills Compost Site, 13285 Hanson Blvd NW, Coon Rapids, MN the landfill. 55448 (located one mile north of Main Street). CENTERVILLE GARAGE SALE DAYS Residents are asked to remove all wire from evergreen boughs and garland Centerville Garage Sale Days have changed and are scheduled before bringing them to the compost site. Christmas trees should be free of for June 10 & 11 , 2011. tinsel, and any ornaments, wire, and stands. There is a $1.50 charge per Christ- mas tree. Mark your calendars and be sure to take time off of work to par- ticipate in this annual event. What a GREAT way to recycle your children’s YARD AND TREE WASTE outgrown clothing and toys, unused knick-knacks or furniture and more. In addition to Christmas trees, yard and tree waste will also be accepted for the two weekends in January listed above. There is a fee of $4 per vehicle for de- RECYCLE YOUR HOLIDAY LIGHTS bagged yard waste up to four cubic yards. An additional 50 cents per yard will be When removing holiday decorations, you may come across tangled strings of charged in excess of four cubic yards. There is a variable fee for tree waste disposal, depending on the size and amount of the material. Residents are asked holiday lights (and extension cords) that no longer work. You can now recycle to keep yard waste separate from tree waste. those lights through the Recycling Association of Minnesota's Recycle Your Holidays™ program. The program offers nu- Note: The Bunker Hills and Rice Creek Chain of Lakes compost sites will re-open merous collection sites throughout the Twin on April 1, 2011, weather permitting. For more information visit www.co.anoka.mn.us/v2_dept/iwm/SpecialTopic-ChristmasTrees.aspx Cities, including Andover Recycling Center, SHOP LOCAL/THINK LOCAL You have a choice where to spend your money ~ Please take a minute to think about the tremendous power of your consumer dollar. When you shop local, three times the revenue remains in your community. Small business owners are people who live locally and are more invested in our future. If you have a favorite store, restaurant or service provider, please think about continuing to support them to the best of your ability. LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW! WHY DON”T WE PUSH THE SNOW FROM THE STREETS INTO THE LOW LAKES? Since some lakes are so low right now, why don’t we just push the snow from the streets into the lakes? Although this sounds like a logical route to take to fill up low lakes, this is not a good solution because snow from our streets contains pol- lutants like salt, sediments and phosphorus that we try to keep out of our lakes. A person might ponder further and ask why don’t we put “clean” snow into the lakes? Since snowflakes form on particulates of dust, snow, by nature, isn’t clean. (This is the same reason children are discouraged from eating snow.) Does this mean then that we should try to keep snow from falling into the lakes? No. Snowfall falling directly onto a lake isn’t a pollution concern. However, adding massive quantities of snow containing harmful pollutants would pose a health risk to the lake. Even if we were able to find “clean” snow, the amount needed to significantly impact water levels would be astronomical. This is because snow is much less dense than water; 1 inch of water is equivalent to 10 inches of snow. In a recent KSTP article http://kstp.com/news/stories/s1884663.shtml) (, DNR Hydrologist Dale Holmuth estimated that 50,000 – 60,000 dump truck loads of snow would be needed to add 1 foot to White Bear Lake’s water level.