Do you remember learning to write haiku in elementary school?

“Great River Greening is hosting a series of hands-on volunteer events removing invasive species at River Bend Nature Center. Volunteers will help restore the landscape by clearing buckthorn, garlic mustard and wild parsnip. “

In Minnesota, our climate has warmed three-degrees over the last century and natural precipitation has increased by an average of 3.4-inches. While this doesn’t seem like much, slowly rising temperatures and rainfall have led to a decline in wildlife and plant populations, poor air and water quality, increasingly extreme weather patterns, more frequent natural disasters, and excessive heat and droughts.

In January 2022, Great River Greening kicked off a new youth program that connects students of color to the outdoors while helping them succeed in the classroom. The program – Future Stewards – builds native gardens on three school properties that serve as outdoor classrooms.

Volunteering not only has a real, immediate impact on our land and water…it’s also a positive experience for our volunteers. Kids love getting their hands dirty, adults learn the nuts and bolts of environmental restoration, and together we have FUN.

Thanks to generous grants from the Opus Foundation and an anonymous family foundation, we’re launching a new youth initiative to inspire kids and students to care for Minnesota’s land and water.

Milkweed is critical to protecting – and growing – our monarch butterfly population. Many butterflies need a single kind of plant for their caterpillars to feed on. For the monarch butterfly, that plant is milkweed whose leaves are the only food source that supports their growing caterpillars.