In partnership with the Trust for Public Land and Cannon River Watershed District, Great River Greening has ambitious plans to improve water quality by planting a native forest near Faribault, Minnesota. The new natural area – called “Sunktokeca Wildlife Management Area (WMA)” – is 200-acres of mostly agricultural land with rich pockets of marsh, prairie, and emerging forest. It feeds into the Cannon River, which is a critical tributary to the Mississippi River.

What’s going on with Sunktokeca WMA?

Given its proximity to the Twin Cities, the community surrounding Sunktokeca WMA is a popular area for residential and commercial development. Although a sign of a strong economy, the booming population creates a huge demand on the area’s natural resources. The community’s prairies have slowly been plowed, its hardwood forests harvested, and its wetlands drained, resulting in serious threats to the natural landscape. For example, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency reports that excessive bacteria, nitrates, mercury, and sediment severely threaten native wildlife. Impairments also make recreation, and in some cases drinking water, unsafe for residents and visitors.

Our Goal

We envision a beautiful natural area where hikers, sportsmen/sportswomen, birdwatchers, and boaters can connect with the outdoors; where wildlife is healthy and abundant; and where the surrounding community thrives alongside nature.

You can make this happen.

Sunktokeca WMA is one of many stories across our state – expansive natural areas at risk of degradation, or disappearing entirely, because they can’t withstand our changing demands and landscape.Make a donation today and help us Restore Minnesota.[su_button url="https://greatrivergreening.z2systems.com/np/clients/greatrivergreening/donation.jsp" target="blank" style="flat" background="#799000" color="#ffffff" size="11" wide="yes" center="yes" radius="0" class="-webkit-border-radius:0px; border-radius:0px"]DONATE NOW[/su_button]

This project is made possible in part by support from Trust for Public Land, Cannon River Watershed Partnership, MN DNR