Ground Level Blog

Stearns County commissioners decided not to approve a moratorium on wind energy projects in their central Minnesota county.
The four communities participating in the Initiative Foundation’s Healthy Communities Partnership are starting their community visioning sessions Tuesday evening.
Baldwin’s land: the foresters’ soil solution
While restoration efforts within the Anoka Sand Plain have been dominated by restoring prairie oak savanna in recent years, foresters are arguing that most of the area is more suited for young forests than prairie. Baldwin sits squarely in the middle of the debate.
The folks at Baldwin-based Prairie Restoration advise planting deep-rooted prairie grasses and flowers in the township. But foresters disagree, saying this land is home to forest instead.
A proposal for a wind generation project north of Paynesville brings the energy debate to Stearns County farm fields once again.
A report by consultant Chuck Marohn ranks Minnesota cities by how vulnerable they will be if state and federal aid continues to decline. Most in the top 50 are small towns scattered around rural Minnesota.
Could a parade put Baldwin on the map?
Baldwin township isn’t too small to have its own festival in the future. Take a peak at tiny Whalan, Mn’s Stand Still Parade for inspiration.
Efforts to save the Todd County courthouse in Long Prairie have see-sawed back and forth for years. Now the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota has placed it on a list of endangered architectural treasures.
Interest in virtual farming is outpacing interest in real farming.
A new art center in Pine City, MN, is more for the lessons and classes residents take than it is to promote the artists in the area.