Great River Greening restores valuable and endangered natural areas and open spaces in the greater Twin Cities by engaging individuals and communities in stewardship of the Mississippi, Minnesota, and St. Croix river valleys and their watersheds.
Community Volunteers
Since we started our work in 1995, we have engaged more than 12,000 volunteers in projects on public and private property along the Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix rivers to enhance the ecological quality of these spaces.
By mobilizing and educating citizens to restore woods, prairies and other natural resources in their communities, we are building a community of individuals who will be good stewards of these natural areas in the future.
What We Do
We focus our work in locations and on activities that offer ecological, social and economic benefits. Our projects include:
- Native planting designs for developed and natural areas
- Ecological inventories and restoration management plans for natural areas
- Plantings of native trees, shrubs, wildflowers and grasses
- Restoration and management activities, including exotic species removal, prairie seed collection and sowing and prescribed burns.
We lead the Big Rivers Partnership, a group of more than a dozen organizations that share our commitment to improving the metro area's natural resources. Overall, we have established partnerships with more than 400 landowners, businesses, nonprofits and government agencies.
Funding
Our work is funded by a variety of sources:
- charitable contributions from generous individuals, foundations and businesses
- government sources, including the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Park Service
- contracts for services
We also offer private organizations and public agencies a complete range of ecological, design and volunteer management services through our fee-for-service program, Greening Strategies.
Read about threats to our river valleys and Great River Greening's response.
Paddleboat photo © Minnesota Office of Tourism.
