The Audubon is working toward bird and forest restoration, including planting trees on the upper Mississippi river to restore bird habitat.
Transcript
Opening: This is Minnesota’s Legacy: A look at the organizations and people who have benefitted from Minnesota’s unique Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment.
BRITT AAMODT: There’s a highway overhead. The Mississippi Flyway, used by 60 percent of North America’s birds: Wood Ducks, Cerulean Warblers, Louisiana Waterthrush, so many more. They follow it on their annual migrations. And why that particular path? Because beneath the flyway, channeling its way through the earth, is the Mississippi River.
JEFF BUTLER: On their annual migration, the birds need fuel. They need food.
AAMODT: Jeff Butler is a restoration ecologist with the Audubon Upper Mississippi River Program. Its mission is to protect birds and their habitats along the river, Minnesota south through Missouri.
JEFF BUTLER: The birds, when they are going north, their migration is timed with leaf out on the trees and flowers blooming on the trees. And what happens when that comes out is the insects wake up. They are coming out to pollinate the flowers.
AAMODT: And the birds feast on those insects. But the trees along this portion of the river are getting older and not producing enough baby trees to replace themselves.
BUTLER: So we are working on forest reproduction.
AAMODT: With help from the Minnesota Arts and Cultura Heritage Fund, Butler and his organization are working to naturally regenerate the forest. So that a hundred years from now, North America’s birds will still be able to find a perch and a quick meal along the Mississippi Flyway.
Closing: Minnesota’s Legacy is a production of AMPERS, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, more at ampers dot org.