BRUCE VENTO  NATURE SANCTUARY
                                                                                           EPA 560-F-08-316
                                                                                              November 2008
                                                                  St. Paul, Minnesota
                                                                        Cleanup Grant
              Former Railroad Maintenance Facility Cleaned Up and
                            Transformed Into Nature Sanctuary
    ADDRESS:
    PROPERTY SIZE:
    FORMER USE:
    CURRENT USES:
265 Commercial Street, St. Paul, MN 55 106
27 Acres
Railroad maintenance facility and bulk petroleum storage
Nature sanctuary along the Mississippi River
    EPA GRANT RECIPIENT:
    The City of St. Paul received a
    $200,000 Brownfields Petroleum
    Cleanup grant and a $200,000
    Brownfields Hazardous
    Substance Cleanup grant in 2003.
          PROJECT PARTNERS:
          More than 25 partners including the Trust
          for Public Land, Minnesota Department of
          Natural Resources, U.S. National Park Service,
          Mdewakanton Sioux Community, and the City
          of Saint Paul Environmental Services Division
For additional data and geographic information for this and other
Brownfields Grants, please visit EPA's:
Envirofacts - www.epa.gov/enviro/html/bms/bms_query.html
Enviromapper - www.epa.gov/enviro/bf
    PROJECT BACKGROUND:
    The targeted property had once been used as a railroad maintenance facility that included coach yard
    buildings, a carpet and paint shop, oil house and power house structures, a coach unwheeling shop, and coal
    storage areas. The property later became the site of a bulk petroleum storage facility and a manufactured gas
    plant. The land was left degraded and vacant from the 1950s until 1997, when activists from the East Side
    neighborhood joined with the Lowertown community to reclaim this area in the hopes of creating a nature
    sanctuary. The City of St. Paul received  EPA grants to assist with cleanup of petroleum and other hazardous
    substances on the property.

    KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
    •  Cleaned up heavy metals and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons
       (PAHs).

    •  Created a greenspace area with new trails and bicycle paths.

    •  Leveraged more than $5 million and partnered with over 25
       organizations in order to purchase the property.

    OUTCOME:

    Having completed cleanup in December 2004 with the assistance
    of neighborhood groups, the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary now
    provides essential greenspace for residents of the City of St. Paul.
    A portion of the property was  restored as a natural habitat, while another was redeveloped for recreational
    use. The sanctuary opened to the public in May 2005. Prior to EPA's involvement, project partners raised more
    than $5 million for acquisition of the property, which has reestablished the floodplain forest and wetlands and
    provides a new home for migratory birds and other wildlife.
                                                   Volunteers help reestablish native vegetation at
                                                       the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary.
     FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit the EPA Brownfields Web site at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields or call EPA Region 5 at (312) 886-3058

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