 Lakeland Currents, your public affairs program for North Central Minnesota, produced by Lakeland Public Television with host Bethany Wesley. Production funding for Lakeland Currents is made possible by Bemidji Regional Airport, serving the region with daily flights to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, for information available at memidjiairport.org. Closed captioning for Lakeland Currents is sponsored by Niswa Tax Service, tax preparation for businesses and individuals. Welcome back to Lakeland Currents. I'm Bethany Wesley. In June 2010, the state of Minnesota introduced a voluntary program to encourage cities to work toward and achieve their sustainability goals. The Minnesota Green Steps Cities Program utilizes best practices that focus on cost savings and energy use reductions while also encouraging civic innovation. Several cities within the Lakeland Public Television coverage area have since signed on to become Minnesota Green Steps Cities. Take, for example, Pine River, which joined in 2010, Bemidji and Grand Rapids, which both joined in 2012, and Brainerd, which joined in 2013. The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe became the state's first American Indian nation to join the program in 2014. Tonight, to talk us through what the Green Steps Program is and how it is being used throughout northern Minnesota, I welcome to the program Anna Carlson, the assistant sustainability director at Bemidji State University, and Brandy Toft, environmental deputy director for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. Welcome. Thank you. I believe while we were getting ready for the show, we found out that there's 119 Minnesota cities and nations that have since signed on to become part of the program. So as we get started, Anna, maybe you could just kind of introduce us to the program. What is it? How do you kind of introduce what it is to people who are unfamiliar? Sure. So Green Steps Cities provides a wonderful framework, I would say, for cities and tribal nations, communities that are interested in advancing their environmental stewardship, really thinking about how to become more resilient as communities, and it outlines these 29 best practices in a number of different areas. Who administers it? The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency administers the program. It really began out of a statewide conversation about what communities are in need of, like, looking forward into their planning. In 2007, the Clean Energy Resource teams held listening sessions all over the state, sort of hear from communities what sort of challenges they were facing and what was maybe needed, and what emerged was this idea of what are other communities doing, how can we learn from what some of those best practices are and how can we network around it. So what emerged was the Green Steps Cities framework. Fair to say that obviously if there's 119 cities, it's not required. This is a voluntary thing that someone would, a city or community, would take an interest and join them. Absolutely. We kind of call it a challenge assistance and recognition program, and it's a voluntary program that communities can take on to advance their work. Okay. So as we get started and kind of dig into what it is, let's give you guys a chance to kind of talk about what your role is within your own community or city. So Anna, how did you first get involved with Green Steps? Good question. So I actually first got involved with Green Steps Cities as a community member, just an interested volunteer for the City of Imidji's Sustainability Committee. And members of our committee had brought forward this program as an idea to kind of coordinate our work in the community. And then I became more involved with the program when I became the Northwest Clean Energy Resource Team's coordinator. So more directly involved at that point with Imidji as well as other communities around the region and got to work with Brandi and Leech Lake in their experience with their program as well. Brandi, tell us a little bit about what the Green Steps program is in Leech Lake and what your role is with it. Well, we're just kind of facilitating it for Leech Lake. And it's like she said, it's a recognition program and that's kind of what we've come out of this with is the recognition that we're leaders and we want to show everyone else that we're leading this charge for tribal Green Nations, but that also in the area, like cities, come join us because we're doing this. You know, other nations come join us. Okay. Yeah. All right. Great. So we know that Leech Lake was first. Correct. That joined, or for tribal nations. For tribal nations. Yes, and then Red Lake followed and now I believe also Fond du Lac has since joined on. Correct. And so in 2017. Have they kind of turned to you throughout that process? We've all talked. We all talked together and we very much communicate with one another in a very tribal network kind of way. Like, hey, this is a great idea. This is how it worked for me. This is how I dealt with this issue and so we work together in promoting this with each other and we just had another meeting with all the tribes in the state of Minnesota and this was brought forward as one of the topics of interest and that was presented to them. So we may see more. Okay. Interesting. Great. I want to dig into the actual program itself. So we've talked about there's 29 best practices and those are broken into individual categories. So we have buildings and lights, lighting, land use, transportation, environmental management, and then economic and community development. And then within there there's also a number of practices, correct? Actions. And then you open that up and it's a whole document, right? I mean when I opened it up it was like a 34 page Excel, very detailed document. Yes. Where do you get started? Is it overwhelming at first when you look at it and kind of you want to make these improvements but knowing how to get started? It very much is. It's very overwhelming and you look at that document and you look at it and go, where do I start and how do I understand this? Because every single thing is just a best practice or a best idea and how does it formulate for you? And going from a city aspect to a tribal aspect is a bit different because our land base is different, our government structure is different, our whole configuration. We have 17 different communities versus one community. How do we factor that into it? And so it's looking at it and it's essentially starting at number one and going, I think we did that. We'll have to talk with Green Steps about that. And then like, yes, we've definitely done that. And then just working your way down it to see where you lay. And that's what back in 2010 when we first looked at this document through a grant with Indian Health Service, they brought it to us and said, hey, this sounds like a really cool thing. And I'm like, okay, I'll do it. But it's a gauging tool. We use it as a gauging tool to see where we were at because we've been doing all these things. We've been doing a lot of these best practices without knowing it. And this kind of put it together in a culmination of, okay, Leech Lake, this is where we're at. We're doing pretty good. And I think we need some recognition for this that we have been doing this silently behind the curtain. Now we can say, cool, this is where we're at. And then the Green Team really took that and went forward with some of those further to go along further. What is the Green Team and do they help kind of set the priorities then in terms of what you want to accomplish when you look at the program? Partially. The Green Team is made up of different aspects and different organizations and divisions within the structure of Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. So you may have the purchasing and the environmental and child welfare and the TIPO office may be involved in it. Now just people who have green or sustainability cares and has come to quite a few of the meetings and just joining us and talking about different options or aspects. So the Green Team is that, but they weren't the only ones. The Environmental Department with the Leech Lake Band and also our Green Corps program where we have Green Corps members come and serve with the tribe to assist us in our green endeavors or sustainability endeavors. Move forward and kind of all work together in promoting this recognition. Okay. And then Anna from a city's perspective then, is it kind of up to the individual communities how they want to figure out who directs it or who kind of helps set priorities from a city's perspective? Absolutely. It's going to be different in each community that you go into and that's I think the beauty of the program is it creates this framework that then communities can decide how they would like to use it than what's going to be most appropriate for where they're at. I think Amidji did a similar beginning process where they looked at it in terms of like, okay, what are we doing now? And how can we recognize all those efforts across multiple departments? As you mentioned, buildings and lighting, transportation, economic development, these don't reside in one office or one space. So it was a great way to bring people together under this common umbrella and say all this work that we're doing across our departments are actually, you know, you look at it in terms of this whole effort as a community which I think is a great benefit to the program. But for us, it kind of resided in this kind of committee orientation and that advises the city but other communities will have it as a city staff position that's more baked into sort of the administration of the city itself. So it's really adaptable to each community's needs. Did you find throughout the process because you're talking about all these different components and, you know, you've got buildings and you've got environmental, that you're reaching out and you're really opening up those lines of communication and perhaps that's helping to generate some of the work and ideas moving forward? Definitely so. I'm just thinking out, I mean, I talk to our forester a lot but maybe a city or another tribal nation won it. I had to call up my forester and say I need to have an hour of your time because we need to go through these questions and see how they fit into this best practice or are we doing something similar? So it's creating that line of communication where that might not exist or that the purchasing department is already doing something before another reason and then we come in and say, hey, are you doing this? Oh, yeah, but it's for this. But there's a secondary benefit to that practice they're already doing and we can log that in and then they feel a little better about it and they're like, oh, we're doing some cool stuff. Well, of course you are. You know, we just need to acknowledge it within our own right. Interesting. So I want to take it back because you said that you kind of started using it as a gauging tool in 2010 but you didn't really officially join up until I think it was 2014. Correct. So what happened in that space that led Leech Lake to really decide, you know what, we want to take this to the next level? Well, it was one to understand what we were doing and find out where we fit in and I don't mean it in pigeonhole-less but to understand where we were at on this step level and what that meant. So that took some acknowledgement and some recognition within our own right to say, okay, where are we at? But then also a lot of conversations with Green Step Cities. Remember, I say cities. There was no tribal nation part of it and I'm like, you know, these don't fit us and here's the reasons why. The Green Step Cities folks down there at PCI are great. They really, really were like, how do we make this work for tribes? They were excited. They thought this was a good fit. They wanted to find a way to make it work. Exactly, exactly. And they were very amenable to saying, provide us with the information and how to make this work better. And so what took a lot of time was us going through this information, all these best practices and crossing out the ones that aren't going to work for tribes because there's just some that aren't going to work due to scale or government structure or whatever it may be. But there's some of them that were, oh, if we tweak this just a little bit, this could be a good practice for tribes. And so we worked with them and some college students from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Tribal College and worked with them to really focus on that and come up with some of those changes. With that came the pilot project. They still call it a pilot project, but it's going to be unpiloted and a firm project of tribal Green Nations coming up here very soon. That started that pilot project to get that started so there could be more tribal Green Nations and it makes a program that fits us. From the city's perspective, what have you seen that cities have learned while going through this process? What are some of the lessons that cities and communities are taking back that they've seen works because of this program? One of the things that I see as a huge benefit to cities is this created network of people that are going through it together. So one of the things that we've done and I think a number of cities have done have sort of gauged, okay, what's emerging as important issues for our community and we're going to dive into that best practice. And then when you do, there's this amazing resource at the website of Minnesota Green Step Cities that you go into that best practice and it says who's doing it. And you can click on this link and see all the other communities that are approaching that best practice. You go into each of those cities and you see the information for the specific people that are working on those actions. And so it just creates this wonderful network of resources, peer to peer, how are you doing this? What are your challenges? What are your successes? And then the opportunity to be that leader, like as Brandi said, like, you know how a community is doing this really well? We're going to put our information into this database that people can come and ask how we're doing things well. So it's kind of that both sides of that coin, it sounds like there is a lot of work involved in the reporting and in the managing. How much of it at the beginning is just recording what you're doing now versus a new idea? Good question. In the beginning, you're all in and you don't think about how many hours you're putting into it and I had two interns working on this with me. But we had the added benefit or unbenefit I guess of tweaking everything and changing it. So mine is going to be skewed. We spent a couple hours every week just dedicated to the shutting the door, turning off the phones and working on this. But now once we're into it and we're progressing on it, it's as the best practices, there's timing in all of them. And so it's when the timing's right that you work on them. And it may be a few minutes here, a few minutes there, but it's not all the time fully engaged process. It's when the timing's right to work on something. And I'd absolutely mirror that with our experience. I think at first it takes a lot of time to get up to speed and familiar with the program and not be intimidated by the large spreadsheet. But then when you create these teams of people that all have this common understanding of it, it becomes a little less intimidating and upfront it is more cataloging what you do. At least we chose to do that again. It's going to be different with each community. But it's a great that gauging tool as Brandy said. And then it creates this pathway that becomes less cumbersome, I think, and more just of a guide. And kind of just kind of, yeah, a path. You know, you don't have to stay on the path. But there is a path to go to to provide some guidance if there needs to be that guidance there. Or you can deviate from the path a little bit and then come back to it. That's the best thing about these 29 best practices is underneath them, you do not have to do all five or 10 that's underneath it. Those are just suggestions. And you may only have to do one of those or two of those to meet that best practice. There may be a requirement like number one, you must do a purchasing policy. And one other one. But there's 10 other ones to choose from. So that releases some of that burden of time and limited expense but time. You had mentioned earlier that there is an intern. Are interns provided specifically through the Green Steps program? Are there opportunities to get like a Green Steps intern? Or where are these interns coming from, Anna? Early on, I think both of our communities took advantage of the Minnesota Green Core program. And that is a partnership between the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and AmeriCorps. So it's similar. It's not exactly Green Steps. It's not through the Green Core. It's making that difference a little bit. So it's a different program. But hosting those Green Core members really advanced our ability to kind of dig in and really focus into these programs. Now there is becoming more additional support through the Green Steps managerial process, I'd say, to offer internship opportunities. I supervised a number of interns in Northwest Minnesota last summer, two summers ago, that kind of went into Northwest communities and offered assistance to say, what are you experiencing as a Green Steps city and a Green Step tribal nation? How can we assist you in that process? So there's increasing opportunities to have interns both through the program and outside, like the Green Core program, which is an excellent program. Fair to say, though, that the interns have become quite useful to have, to help with the work. Definitely. I don't have the time to sit there and research some of these things. And my Green Core right now, I left him back in the office and said, research a few more of these things right here. And he's like, okay, yay! Are there funding opportunities? Are there grants that are made available when you become a Green Steps city? Does it open up potential funding to fund some projects that you might want to undertake to accomplish some of the practices? I would say indirectly. Yeah, I agree with that indirectly. Yeah, I think becoming a part of the program kind of shows this commitment that two funders that fund these types of programs kind of attracts them to your community more so, but there's not a direct funding source that comes along with that. And to add to that, yes, there is that indirect that you can draw some in, but also when you apply, you can show that you have done this process, and even though if there wasn't this process, it still is that gauging tool to let you know where you're at and what you've accomplished and what your goals are, you know, that you can infer from this, and that that can help you write a good proposal. Oh, I see, it gives you that quantifiable data. Yes, okay. But also that quantifiable saying I've gathered all this information from all these other different departments or networks, and it's in this nice neat little bo-ish kind of present that I can just go here. This is something that we can put forward into our funding proposal. It makes a stronger proposal. Okay. I want to talk about the recognition. We've touched on it a little bit, but that's obviously a key part of the program, right, is that as you've advanced, you get recognized. So there's these different steps. I believe, are there five total? There's five, okay. And step one is basically you're going to join, right? As soon as you join, you become, you're on step one. Step two is after you've implemented a certain number of four, six, right? Is it four, six, or eight, depending on the size and all that. And then step three and then step four. So you build on your successes, correct? Correct. And so Bemidji right now, I believe, is it a step three? It's a step three city right now. Yep. And I, it's one of these conversations about what you want to do with the program. We have internal conversations right now about, okay, what is our goal? Do we want to get to that step forward? Do we want to dig deeper into the best practices that we're already doing? But what I've seen and I think I see across numerous communities is that growing pride across departments, city officials, community members, as you kind of progress up these steps to say, hey, look at what we're doing. This is really cool. And wanting to know more about what we are doing and asking those challenging questions, well, how can we be better? And how can we get to step four? So that's a really nice design of the program, kind of encouraging that, those next steps and increasing that. And I believe, I wrote down Leech Lake. You have 57 actions. You're at step two, correct? We're at step two, but we are this close to step three. This close. And one of the things that's holding us back is a purchasing policy. And it's just that factor of, whenever you have policy in the word, it always adds time to getting something implemented. So we're working on that. And they're simple things. 30% post-consumer paper and other appliances and a few other little things. But it's a good thing. I'd love to have green cleaning supplies. Okay. Because I can't stand pints all. You know, so there's just different things that we can do that will be greening up the whole aspect. So we want to take our time in doing that correctly. But we're this close. Once we have that, we're already doing a climate risk adaptation plan that's already in process. And once we hit that, we're going to be jumping from step two to step four. Because we're already doing some of the matrix for measuring our different best practices we're already doing. That's already being done. So we're just going to jump. Challenge Bemidji to go to step four. Do you think that might be one of the ways that the program continues to grow is as other cities see these cities and communities getting recognition that they're like, we want that too? Absolutely. I think that would be really cool. It's a great challenge, that first part. What are you doing? How are you doing it? Yeah. How did you get around that obstacle? Absolutely. Is it fair to say, Brandi, that you've been one of that first contact point from other tribal nations that have wanted to kind of try out the program that they reach out to you and say, is it worth it? Is it difficult? I think so in some way. I mean, we talk all the time. So it comes up in conversation. It's not something they call me up and say, hey, you know, this green tribal nations thing. You know, it comes up in conversation. And that's because we have a tight network already between the tribes. We talk all the time about different aspects and needs. And this is one of those things. Interesting. I want to maybe highlight some of the specific work that has been done. So can you tell us about one of the projects or something that has been accomplished? Not necessarily through this, but you actually applied to it. One of them that comes straight from that is the land use ordinance. And it's a land use ordinance that cities or counties or whoever have. But the band made theirs too. But it's very robust. And so it covers a lot of those things. And when we started looking at it, and we had to bring in the land use coordinator, you know, to talk about it, because we're not going to interpret their ordinance. And in looking at the best practices, we found we filled almost all the suggestions for best practices with that ordinance. So something like that, I mean, it definitely saw that coming through. And other little things like, you know, we're getting on a guest program, and that's going to fit into this. You know, a guaranteed energy savings program where we're going to retrofit 22 buildings, you know, and bring them up and save 40% on energy use every year. That's the stuff that goes into this is Tribal Green Nations. Anna, you're telling me about some of the projects that you've heard about, not maybe Bemidji specific, but maybe just in the northern section here. Have you heard about projects that are really like, oh, that's really interesting, the way that that city has taken that? I guess I'm most familiar with the Bemidji community. And we also went through a guaranteed energy savings program recently that fits in directly with this program. Retrofitting buildings, saving the city, a lot of money on energy costs, and making everything more efficient. But also, our bike culture here in Bemidji has only just kind of exponentially grown with all the amazing bike advocates in our community. And that kind of fits into some of those transportation best practices. How is your community making bike-friendly communities, and how do we engage the community on those types of best practices. So those are kind of the things with, like, our Loop to Lake Festival fits right in with, like, getting people around, talking about biking, active, healthy communities is a big part of this as well. So it really spans the land use, the energy, active living, local foods, renewable energy. And it spans all of those types of efforts. When you look in the future, 10, 20, 30 years from now, and you look back, how helpful do you think it will be for whoever is managing these programs to have all this documentation they can refer to to see how far they've come? I hope it's not helpful, because it's going to be common practice everywhere. You know, honestly, I hope it's something like that. That this is just the new norm, and that it's just what is there and how we work with it. If there is this complication of information there, I hope that is just that institutional knowledge that they can use and move forward with. That's a good point. Yeah, I think that's a good point. And then I want to, as we close this out in the next couple of minutes here, a bigger picture is how important is it even beyond a city perspective or community perspective to be talking about sustainability efforts, even to just regular community members. They're hearing your recognitions. They're hearing about the program. How important is it to keep that conversation going? So important. So important. One of my favorite things I've been a part of in the past few years is submitting articles in The Pioneer about highlighting different businesses, individuals, people that are going through and making really incredible steps towards creating a sustainable Bemidji and a resilient community and a healthy community. Keep that conversation going. Highlight what's being done and celebrate all of those things. So I take it back a level and take it back to the people, the individual. If the individual sees that the government, whatever it may be, city, county, state, tribal, is actually taking action to do something about sustainability. And sustainability is huge. It can have how many connotations to it. But in the positive way of they're doing an effort there, that individual then feels so the little thing I'm doing at my household makes a difference too. And that's where we build upon all of this. Because without the people behind these projects and behind the governments to do these projects, we don't have them. And it only makes it stronger to go back to the community and work with them and empower them to do more in their individual lives. Well listen, I want to thank you guys for coming and talking to us about the program, talking to us about how it expanded to the tribal nations beyond. If you are interested at home in learning more about Green Steps, you can certainly visit the website here on the bottom of your screen. Thank you for tuning in. Join me next time.