NEW ULM -- They have not achieved Gov. Arne Carlson's goal of making the Minnesota River "swimmable and fishable'' in only 10 years' time, but they have done something nearly as remarkable.
Longtime adversaries are working together to achieve the goals set in 1992 by the now-former governor.
"It's very significant,'' said Dr. Richard Currie Smith of Minneapolis, an ecological anthropologist, as he participated in the Minnesota River Summit on Wednesday and Thursday in New Ulm.
The event brought together more than 200 people representing the 37 counties in the watershed of the state's namesake river.
The diverse nature of the coalition was more than evident at the summit, which was hosted by the Minnesota Water Resource Center and the informal group Minnesota River Watershed Alliance.
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The summit joined environmental and outdoors groups such as Clean Up our River Environment of Montevideo and the Mankato Paddling Club with representatives of the Minnesota Farm Bureau and Minnesota Corn Growers Association.
Also participating were members of watershed groups, state and federal government agencies, county commissioners, non-governmental organizations, private companies and educators.
Among those applauding the diverse nature of the group was Dallas Ross of the Upper Sioux Community. He told participants that his first encounter with the Minnesota River cleanup effort years ago was an "us versus them'' confrontation.
"It's actually kind of refreshing to see this kind of setting where everybody is discussing something together,'' Ross told the participants.
Smith has given presentations at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., on the ability to forge a diverse coalition to work toward cleaning up the Minnesota River. Pointing to the muscle it represented, he encouraged the participants to be wary of accepting incremental change and instead, make the "major leap'' needed to reach their goals.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency reports that there are "encouraging signs'' that pollutant levels are being reduced in the 335-mile-long waterway. Yet major reaches of the river continue to carry excessive levels of sediments, phosphorus and nitrogen, and animal and human wastes, the agency reports.
The effort to bring together diverse groups to clean up the river has been ongoing and intentional, according to Patrick Moore, director of Clean Up our River Environment and a conference organizer. He said organizers are hoping to achieve a "tipping point'' when all the groups communicate and work toward common goals of a cleaner river, no matter their differences.
"Small change will make something big happen,'' he said.
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Moore said the conference concluded with the various groups setting their own goals, and affirming a commitment to work together. "We found that we shared a lot more in common than we thought we did,'' said Moore.
