In our last post we reminded you that only YOU can stop the plan to pave the Minnesota River Trail between the Bloomington Ferry Bridge and the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge by reaching out to those that represent you in state government to let them you know your position. This is a verbatim letter that one of our supporters sent to their representative. I am sharing it here with their permission. Superbly written, respectful and heartfelt letters like this is what it will take to defeat this proposed paving. Lots and lots of letters like this. ALL the letters like this. Please send yours TODAY. "Representative Wagenius: Thank you for your great efforts fighting for our values at the Capital. I know this is a tough job in today's world, and we are lucky to have you doing it. I am writing to you now about the proposed paved trail in the Minnesota River Bottoms. I am not a big user of this trail or this area. I live in North Minneapolis and it is quite a trek to that side of town. However, years ago I biked, biked and ran in the River Bottoms area, and I am really concerned about the proposal to put a paved bike path down there. I liken this issue to the Boundary Waters; there are certain places where universal access is outweighed by environmental concerns and by the desire to have natural areas where people can experience the natural world untamed. This is one of those places. The River Bottoms is a place where nature rules. Each year the landscape is re-shaped by the ever-changing path of the River. One year there is a path, the next year there is a rivulet or a sandbar. The River Bottoms are unpredictable and wild. And the River Bottoms sit right in the midst of our harsh, sterile urban and paved landscape. That is the beauty of it. The River Bottoms offers a juxtaposition of nature and city. It is this type of juxtaposition that inspires and rejuvenates and that offers the opportunity for a small child to marvel at the wonders of the natural world - to discover something new, something not interpreted by today's industrial world. In a world where nature deficit disorder is a real and growing pathology, do we really want to pave in a special place like this? As you know, my Grandfather was a big proponent of paved trails. They offer wonderful experiences to thousands of people. But the paved trails that he advocated for were in corridors previously occupied by railroad grades. In other words, in areas that were already "conquered" by human beings. When I even suggested widening a ski trail he became concerned with the degradation of natural spaces. I understand that there are significant concerns here about the long-term maintenance of a trail in this area. That makes sense to me. How can we really expect to make an asphalt trail work in a place that regularly floods, where the landscape changes every year? I can hear my grandfather's common sense analysis of an issue like this even as I sit here now: "People think they are smarter than the natural world, but nature is strong and will eventually take back what man tries to take from it . . ." But this is, in my mind, a secondary issue. Of course we should not put asphalt trails in areas that are not sustainable. But the real issue is the conquest of the natural world. We need to leave a few areas in our great Metropolis that are unmitigated by machines and petroleum products. If we are to expect future generations to enjoy places like the Boundary Waters, we need urban areas that leave us with some sense of wilderness so that there is some bridge between our urban jungles and the wild areas that we all care so much about. I would be happy to meet with you on this topic. Again, I do not directly have a horse in this fight. But I think we all need to be thinking about how to preserve the few "wild" spaces that we have left in our urban core. Thanks again for your good work. John" #SAVETHERIVERBOTTOMS http://www.gis.leg.mn/iMaps/districts/