Eating Sustainably
One of the largest thing that affects the environment is what we eat! Eating a plant-based diet rather than an omnivorous diet can decrease your carbon footprint significantly! (Animal agriculture is the #1 contributer to fossil fuel emissions!!) Cutting out animal products from your diet doesn't only protect our environment. It is also beneficial to your health; protecting you from heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
Eating Local is also another awesome way to eat sustainably! We are lucky enough to have a number of sources for eating local including the Menomonie Market Food Co-op, the farmers market, and local CSA farms.
Shopping Sustainably
Purchase (or make) cloth, reusable grocery and produce bags. You can buy reusable grocery bags at several stores in town:
Shop at second hand stores like Goodwill or Savers
Cut out animal products from your shopping list
Stay away from plastic
Transit
What are the best ways to get around in Menomonie? Why drive when you can bike/walk?! Carpooling is another awesome option!
The City of Menomonie has a transportation plan to help improve all sorts of transportation.
Bicycling
Trail system logoIf you haven’t been riding your bike in and around Menomonie, you don’t know what you are missing. Take a look at some of the old and new biking friendly infrastructure and events that are supported by the City of Menomonie and several volunteer groups and businesses.
Let’s start with the Red Cedar State Trail at the westerly entrance to the City of Menomonie. The Red Cedar State Trail is a 14.5-mile rail to trail that follows the Red Cedar River and takes users past prairies, marshland bottoms, forests and farmlands, including sandstone bluffs and other unique rock formations. The trail connects to the Chippewa River State Trail in the Dunnville Bottoms Wildlife Area near the confluence of the Red Cedar and Chippewa rivers. The trail continues allowing a bicyclist to access the swimming spot, as well as the city of Eau Claire. The Red Cedar State Trail Visitors Center is located on S.T.H.29 on the west side of Menomonie.
If you want to ride in the City, you won’t be disappointed. To date, the City of Menomonie has constructed over 16 miles of off-street bicycle and pedestrian trails through the City. Notable infrastructure improvements include a new bicycle/pedestrian bridge across the Red Cedar River just south of the I-94 bridges and the new bicycle/pedestrian bridge across I-94 that replaces a deteriorated railroad bridge that the City acquired. The City has also mapped out a 22-mile Loggers Loop around the City and an 8.3 mile bicycle trail (mostly on a bike path) around Lake Menomin (Lake Menomin Loop).
Bike Stations are located around town with several stations also located on the UW-Stout campus, by the Student Center, Clock tower (Bowman Hall), and in front of the Commons.
The Menomonie Area Mountain Bike Association (MAMBA) created and maintains mountain bike trails and a pump track in Menomin park. There are no fees to use the trails or the park.
Since 2015, Volunteers have organized the Sadistic Century. An event that features the hills and valleys surrounding Menomonie. The event provides over 30 climbs and an 8,819 foot elevation gain, this ride is both challenging and beautiful. Event distances include a full century (100 miles), a metric century (100 kilometers), a half metric century, and mountain bike time trials.
The St. Valentine’s Day Hustle is another local bike event that is open to anyone 21+ years old. Celebrating it’s 10th year in 2018, it is an alley cat style race that consists of a set of stops, and each rider must plan their own route to get to all the stops (in any order).
The City of Menomonie received a Bicycle Friendly Community-Bronze level from The League of American Bicyclists. This is a prestigious national award that acknowledges the community’s efforts to make bicycling a transportation and recreation option for all people.
UW-Stout received the Bicycle Friendly University-Bronze award from The League of American Bicyclists.
The Menomonie City Council has a 7-person Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC). The BPAC meets bi-monthly to discuss bicycle and pedestrian related issues such as safety, infrastructure planning, policy, and plan review. The BPAC makes recommendations to the City’s Plan Commission.
Along with ongoing bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure planning, the BPAC and City of Menomonie have recommended and completed the following:
· Developed and designed a trail wayfinding sign system
· Adopted an ordinance requiring bicycle racks in most new development and redevelopment
· Increased bicycle parking in the Historic Downtown
· Installed three bicycle fixit stations along trails in the City (supported by MAMBA and Our Savior’s Lutheran Church).
Ride Menomonie! Ride Dunn County!
Places to buy or find bikes
One great place to get a bike to fix up is behind the Stout cop shop, next to Stout Surplus. The Stout cops auctions bikes that have been left around Stout every May. You can buy one of these beauties or check the dumpster for fixer-uppers at a much "lower cost."
You can also rent bikes from Stout Adventures or Simple Sports. The offer price options for the weekends, day and year.
Buses
1016 19th Ave E, Menomonie, WI 54751
715-235-4995
Greyhound: Bus Stop
302 10th Ave E, Menomonie, WI 54751
640 Stokke Pkwy, Menomonie, WI 54751
Taxis
Menomonie Taxi Services:
Menomonie Taxi (Affordable Transportation) - (715) 308-4816
A1 Eau Claire Taxi - 715-831-8294
Courtesy Cab - 715 - 308-9030
Magena SMV Transport & Taxi - 715 - 338-9840
Maverick Taxi - 715-577-3664
Pulse Party Bus - 715-313-4530
Town & Country Taxi - 715-309-9619
(These taxi companies have been licensed by the City of Menomonie)
Walks
This page is intended to be a place for community members to share their favorite walks here and in Dunn County with others. Please add your favorite walk to the page so others can learn about great places to go for walks in our community!
Junction Trail
by Don Roberts:
This trail is well groomed and accommodates "handicapped" people (I am "on a cane"); thus I have to be extremely careful, especially in Winter. The Junction Trail is cared for year around and is highly recommended. This segment of the Red Cedar Trail starts just North of Highway 29, the so-called Junction Trail. Get to Broadway/Highway 25 and Highway 29, and then proceed West on 29 across the bridge and on to the Red Cedar Trail Visitors Center (on the left) and make a hard right into the parking lot. The Junction Trail takes off just to the North of the parking lot and is especially.
About a quarter of a mile North there is a bench by the River on the right side, I've only walked a half mile up the Trail so far but intend to walk as far as the dam and the Public Library as soon as Winter is over. Then I will either arrange to be picked up to get back to my car or call a cab in order to accomplish this. The sound of the River is especially prized because of the rapids along this stretch; the only downside to the walk is the sound which emanates from the Swiss Miss plant on the East bank of the river, but this is a reminder of the combination of beautiful environments and working environments in the region. Enjoy the walk and please don't forget to add your favorite local or regional walk to the Wiki. Thank you
Menomin Park
Menomin Park is located on the eastern side of Lake Menomin. There are many forested trails that can be used for walking or biking.
Evergreen Cemetery
Evergreen Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Menomonie, located on what is now an island on the southeastern side of Lake Menomin. Although there are not formal walking trails, it is a great place for a relaxed stroll to view the lake and the historic graves.
Hoffman Hills
Hoffman Hills is a great place to go for a more strenuous hike. You can even hike up to the fire tower for a fabulous view of the entire region.
Shuttles
Hopefully one year soon, there will be rail service to Eau Claire and Minneapolis, but until then, there is a shuttle if you don't want to drive.
The Chippewa Valley Airport Service is a shuttle that runs between Eau Claire and the Minneapolis Airport. The shuttle stops in Menomonie, Baldwin, and Hudson. It can also drop you at the Mall of America or the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Shuttles run about every 1-11/2 hours, leaving Eau Claire starting at 2 AM and ending at 9 PM. The last shuttle leaves the airport around 12:45 AM. Cost is $39 one way.
Recycling and Composting
There are two primary recycling sites around Menomonie, the Menomonie Solid Waste as well as the Dunn Co. Transfer Station.
The Menomonie Solid Waste site also has composted leaves and one of wood chips that you can pick up for use in your yard or garden. Please read rules and regulations on their page.
Reduce your food waste
Instead of throwing out vegetable scraps, save them in a ziplock in the freezer and boil them down into a broth!
Composting
Most of us practice recycling in our homes..but what about composting?? Did you know that on average, America throws away over 38 million tons of food a year!? We can reduce this number significantly by composting. This not only reduces the number of trash bags in landfills, but you can use it as fertilizer or a soil amendment! Composting is also an awesome way to reduce your trash output!
There is as yet no municipal composting, other than the composted leaves. You can compost your food waste by setting up a compost pile in your yard and using the finished compost to fertilize your garden.
If you are interested in having municipal compost you should talk to your city council and county board representatives.
Recycling Electronics
There are a variety of places you can take old electronics to be recycled.
Get Inspired
Some of our greatest resources are right at our fingertips! My favorite ways to stay inspired are: watching YouTube videos, attending UW-Stout's sustainability organization(s) meetings and keeping myself educated on current sustainability practices (reading articles/books, listening to podcasts, talking to sustainably minded peers, etc.!)
-Here are a few more sustainable living ideas!
Groups
If you are a student at Stout, Greensense and Just Food are two sustainability organizations that meet every Wednesday in Jarvis 113 @ 5:45!
Events
