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The pirate ship and SpongeBob SquarePants Legos that Minnesotans donated over the winter won't make it into the 3-D model of the Whitewater River watershed this weekend, but they were still very much appreciated.

"We were able to trade them for the more basic yellow bricks and green bricks that are going to be part of the model," said Allison Bender, a Minnesota GreenCorps member and educator at Whitewater State Park who is coordinating the project.

On Sunday, Bender, some Lego experts from the Twin Cities, researchers from Winona State University and community members — including kids — 

Bender said the adult Lego experts have helped her put together 

 that will allow volunteer builders to construct the model in smaller sections. The experts will also check to make sure each section has been completed correctly, she said.  


"A lot of it will be yellow. Yellow stands for crop land, and we have a lot of that in our watershed," Bender said. There will also be green for forest, brown for scrub land and prairie, grey for towns and roads, and the Whitewater River will be blue.


The model involves some 26,000 Lego bricks — 

 that will fit into 17 larger ones that make up the size of a large dinner table. Bender said Dylan Blumentritt, a Winona State University professor helping with the project, will hit a gong on Sunday every time one of the larger sections is completed.

"We're hoping to finish the whole thing on Sunday," she said.

After that, the model will visit libraries, county fairs and farmers markets to help people learn about watersheds.


"We're hoping to bring it out and just kind of engage people in conversations about water and how that has connections with the topography, and how our actions and our use of the land impact the water," she said.


• Location: Winona State University, Science Laboratory Center 178

Environmental News

Water

Elizabeth Dunbar

Author

A successful Lego donation drive over the winter is allowing an educator at Whitewater State Park to coordinate the effort, which aims to raise awareness about land use and water quality.

Lego effort under way to model Whitewater watershed

Lego 'master builders' to make model of Whitewater watershed in Winona

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