2023 Annual Report

A Leap Year

WORDS

Thank you for supporting our new, ongoing, and expanding programs throughout Minnesota!

Cheers to 2024 and beyond,

This pilot tree canopy program, launched in January 2023 in partnership with the Saint Paul Public School District and Saint Paul residents, takes aim at mitigating the devastating effects of urban heat islands that disproportionately affect low-income areas and communities of color.

GRG collaborated with a consultant specializing in racial, health, and environmental equity to kickstart this initiative, where community-based input laid the groundwork for planting 170 trees (and counting).

COOL SAINT PAUL

Due to a successful launch in 2022, we expanded our youth environmental education program in 2023. Our naturalist provided hands-on planting, restoration, and environmental stewardship experiences for over 600 students (grades 3-10) in partnership with three schools in Minneapolis and the East Metro.

FUTURE STEWARDS

Our work supports thriving economic and environmental outcomes through entrepreneurship, by promoting regenerative agricultural practices such as silvopasture (grazing animals in woodlands and savannas), planting cover crops, and planting perennial grains. Historically neglected wooded areas and croplands are now being managed through grazing and Continuous Living Cover (CLC) to provide habitat for birds, pollinators, and other wildlife. Through direct conversations with farmers, Greening supported the planting of 4,400 new acres of CLC in Nicollet County, improving soil health, water quality, and carbon capture.

BRIDGING AGRICULTURAL AND NATURAL SYSTEMS

Launched in January 2023, GRG has a bold plan to mitigate the effects of climate change in Minnesota and protect our shared natural systems and habitats. Our vision for 2030 is healthy, climate change resilient ecosystems throughout Minnesota. Recognizing the need to address our climate future in this decade and the desire of Minnesotans to address climate change

through nature, GRG will leverage the expertise of our ecologists and naturalists to restore Minnesota’s habitats to health and resilience.

VISION FOR 2030

USDA FOREST SERVICE AWARDED A $10M GRANT TO GREAT RIVER GREENING

These funds will combat extreme heat, enhance climate change resilience, and increase equitable access to tree canopies across Minnesota. Our award stands out as one of the highest funded programs in the nation that brings together 14 partners to remove dead/diseased ash trees, educate youth and communities on urban tree canopies, and plant and water 10,000 trees in key Minnesota urban and community heat islands over the next five years.

While we add new programs and initiatives, we have not wavered in our commitment to restoring habitats to health. This year, we created resilient habitats and addressed biodiversity loss through management and adaptive planting on over 5,000 acres. Through 2024, we are expanding our Pollinator Central Corridor project to add 800 acres of new pollinator habitat throughout central Minnesota, a habitat that is in decline and is essential for pollinators.