Bloomington honored with PETA compassionate city award for turtle culvert underpass

The Bloomington City Council recognized city staff and community partners on Sept. 8 after PETA awarded the city a "Compassionate City" award for work enlarging a culvert to allow turtles to pass safely beneath a busy roadway.

Mayor Tim Bussey read the PETA letter and invited project organizers — including Bridal Greedel, Rena Weiss and Jack Distel — to explain the project. City staff said the work used an opportunistic window during a Hennepin County pavement maintenance project to replace an existing culvert with a larger structure that would preserve the original drainage design while creating safe passage for turtles. Project leaders credited a multi-stakeholder effort that combined sustainability, wildlife protection and existing infrastructure work.

Council members and staff praised the initiative and discussed installing a trail camera to document wildlife passage. The mayor said the award and project were unique and likely to be copied by other communities; no formal council action was required for the recognition.