Northwest Minnesota Foundation
RESOURCE
The Northwest Minnesota Foundation invests resources, facilitates collaboration and promotes philanthropy to make the region a better place to live and work.
SUMMER 2016 | Number 72
SUMMER IS HERE, LET’S GET OUTSIDE! By Nate Dorr
Board of Directors Pete Haddeland, Chair Tom Anderson, Vice Chair Faye Auchenpaugh, Secretary Leah Pigatti, Treasurer Judy Roy Jody Horntvedt John Gonzalez Jon Linnell Cathy Forgit Kristin Eggerling Edie Ramstad Steven Anderson
Developing Community Assets Serving 12 Counties
School is out and the birds are chirping. There’s nothing like going for a leisurely walk in the prairie or paddling down the river. The Northwest Minnesota Foundation Natural Resources Grant Program promotes and preserves our natural assets and it is making really cool things happen all around us. Recently, the foundation supported a Northern Lights Council Boy Scouts of America project. The Scouts planted native prairie grasses and forbs to help improve critical habitat near Park Rapids for pollinators like bees, dragonflies, and butterflies. The Middle-Snake-Tamarac Rivers Watershed District in Warren received funding to help plan a birding trail along US Highway 75 that will have pollinator gardens at each stop. Another grant supported The Nature
Conservancy work in the Karlstad area to replicate the impact of fire and bison grazing on aspen parklands. The International Water Institute even got elementary school students interested in their local watersheds by releasing tiny wooden canoes and tracking their course downstream of Plummer, Old Mill State Park, Fertile, and Fisher. The foundation also helped lake associations at Turtle River and Grace Lake in the Bemidji area prevent the intrusion of aquatic invasive species. Many of us choose to live here in northwest Minnesota because of the easy access to our great outdoors. Grants to promote and preserve our natural areas truly improve the quality of place in our region. Now go ahead and saddle up for a nice bike ride. We will see you out on the trail!