18  Nic and Nora Check-in 07MAY2024

Date: Wednesday, May 7, 2024

18.1 Attendees

• Nic Jelinski
• Nora Pearson

18.2 Project Planning and Logistics

18.2.1 Site Selection and Sampling Strategy

• Focus on sampling in South St. Paul parks initially
• Prioritize getting permits for Ramsey County, 3 Rivers parks, and St. Paul parks
• Aim for 3 sampling points per soil map unit in larger areas
• Use judgment to sample representative landscape positions, not just unique spots
• Consider accessibility and underground utilities when selecting sampling locations

18.2.1.1 Action Items:

• Create draft map of specific sampling points in South St. Paul parks to send to city engineer
• Follow up on permits for 3 Rivers parks and Roseville
• Schedule sampling days for South St. Paul sites

18.2.2 Residential Sampling

Current residential sites scheduled: - Tia’s house (Thursday) - Sarah’s house (next week) - Ava’s house (pending landlord permission)

Potential additional sites: - Kelly Duzan’s house - Kat’s house

18.2.2.1 Action Items:

• Get landlord permission for sampling at Ava’s house
• Contact Kelly Duzan and Kat to schedule residential sampling
• Look for more “snowball” residential sampling opportunities

18.2.2.2 Action Items:

• Gather required sampling equipment before field days

18.2.3 Team Scheduling

• Nora and student worker (Cato) available for sampling most days in May
• Katrina and other students have limited availability due to field studies course

18.2.3.1 Action Items:

• Coordinate schedules to ensure sufficient staffing for sampling days

18.2.4 South St. Paul Sampling Strategy

Nic and Nora discussed the sampling strategy for South St. Paul parks in detail:

Kaposia Landing Park: - Entire park is one soil map unit (1027) - Aim for 3 sampling points - Avoid baseball fields and facilities due to likely underground utilities - Stay away from dog park area - Focus on green spaces between playground areas and trails - Check property map to confirm park boundaries, especially near railroad easement

Wildflower Leevee Park: - Small area, may only get 1-2 samples - Parking is across railroad tracks, requires walking to site

Simon’s Ravine: - Multiple soil map units within park - Sample each map unit if possible - Larger units (e.g. 896F) can have multiple samples - Use judgment for smaller map units - may only need one sample - Be aware of lighted trail - may have underground utilities - Will likely require multiple days of sampling to cover adequately

General strategy: - Use soil map units as a starting point, but also use visual assessment on site - Aim for representative landscape positions - Avoid sampling unique micro-sites that wouldn’t be reflected at mapping scale (1:4 acre minimum) - Be cautious around obvious human-altered areas (e.g. graded wetlands)

Nic emphasized balancing thoroughness with practicality.

18.2.5 Residential Sampling Opportunities

The team discussed current and potential residential sampling sites:

1. Confirmed sites:
   • Tia’s house (scheduled for Thursday)
   • Sarah’s house (scheduled for next week)
2. Pending sites:
   • Ava’s house (needs landlord permission)
   • Kelly Duzan’s house (offered, needs scheduling)
   • Kat’s house (offered, needs scheduling)
3. Potential leads:
   • Nic mentioned contacting an artist in Northeast Minneapolis near Shoreham Yards who has expressed interest in soil projects

Nora noted the importance of building up these “snowball” sampling opportunities to increase residential coverage.

18.3 Next Steps and Priorities

1. Begin sampling in South St. Paul parks
2. Follow up on outstanding permit requests (3 Rivers, Roseville)
3. Schedule more residential sampling appointments