Adding Up 2025
Thirty years of Great River Greening, and we made every moment count. 2025 was a year of both unprecedented obstacles and record-breaking achievements, thanks in no small part to the support of our amazing community. Last year, you showed up with the highest engagement numbers we’ve ever seen, helping us to restore more acres than ever before. We’ve tallied up some of our biggest wins to celebrate an amazing year and to get excited about the year ahead.
Click the images to learn more about each area!
12,000+ acres restored or sustainably managed
With the hard work and dedication of our ecologists and the support of donors, volunteers, and community members across the state, we blew our goal of 10,000 acres out of the water! We’re now even closer to our goal of 100,000 acres than we thought possible, doubling the impact of our first 30 years by 2030. With this year’s acres, our total has climbed to over 62,000 acres so far— only 38,000 to go in the next four years!
31,000+ plants
Trees, grasses, shrubs, forbs— you name it. We made Minnesota more climate resilient with tens of thousands of little green helpers across the state, as far north as Cook County and as far south as Steele County.
1,200+ students
Future Stewards reached over 1,200 youth last year, providing hands-on environmental education to students in underserved communities. This impact goes far beyond the students engaged, thanks to the native pollinator gardens and mini forests on school grounds that will grow with these future stewards of Minnesota’s lands.
1,900 urban and community trees
Federal funding pauses and uncertainty didn’t stop our tree team from planting and distributing nearly 1,900 trees in target communities impacted by heat island effects. By strategically planting species that create a diverse, robust, and climate resilient urban tree canopy, our Cooling Minnesota Communities program made a meaningful impact across Southern Minnesota and the Metro Area.
2,025 red pines
Wildfires in recent years have wiped out swathes of Northern Minnesota’s forests. Partnering with the Northwoods Volunteer Connection, we hosted our first event in the Superior National Forest, helping reforest areas impacted by wildfire by planting over two thousand native red pines.
74 tonnes of carbon sequestered with biochar
Leading the implementation of biochar production as a tool for land management in Minnesota, our biochar team provided services and education across the state, turning 808 cubic yards of waste wood into 162 cubic yards of biochar in the process. The cherry on top was US Biochar Initiative’s National Conference, where we were invited to be the on-site biochar experts with a field-day demonstration.
8 rusty patched bumble bees
After zero sightings last year, the federally endangered rusty patched bumble bees showed up in the highest numbers recorded at our pollinator monitoring sites so far! There were plenty of other bees too, with the highest recorded number of total bumblebees and most species diversity we’ve yet seen.
7,100+ followers
Whether sharing stories of about our amazing volunteers and community partners, posting photos and fun facts from the field, or keeping you in the loop on all things Greening, we were so happy to be engaging with the community (and getting tagged in your awesome posts)! You can join our online community on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
8,200+ volunteers
With our shared climate future on the line, you stepped up in the highest engagement numbers that this organization has ever seen. In a time that it was easy to get distracted or feel defeated, over 8,200 people showed up to show that they care, with the support of the thousands more who provided crucial gifts that funded our work and kept us going.
No matter which piece you contributed to, we have each and every one of you to thank for helping to get us where we are. Our work certainly isn’t done, and we’re keeping the momentum into 2026, getting right back to work restoring and sustainably managing our precious lands and waters in communities across the state. If you want to help us get a head start coming into the new year, you can click here to support us with a donation.
We are so grateful for this wonderful community and look forward to seeing you out there in 2026!
Photos by Ariana Golemis, Jessica Drummond, Bill Lee, Brennan Blue, Becca Tucker, and Lawrence Cosslett