Izaak Walton League of America - Minnesota Division

The Upper Mississippi River Initiative is a collaborative program co-hosting events with presentation by experts and farmers using regenerative practices in their farming operations to educate other farmers about the benefits of healthy soil ecosystems for water quality. The majority of the expenses fund three independent contractors who coordinated events and developed partnerships to expand outreach and education in MN and Iowa. Several stream monitoring events were done in the Driftless area. Another initiative in this program is evaluation of ditch management practices and their impacts on downstream landowners. Revenues for this program were received as contributions.

Watershed and Wetland Grants are given for wetland or other native planting restorations. This grant of $2,400 was given to the Jaques chapter to restore additional acres of wetlands received as a donation.

Three Climate Grants totaling $3,575 were given to Chapters to hold events to educate the public about climate change causes and or fund mitigation actions. The Owatonna Chapter received $1,575 for partnering with a local school to install a rain garden that would capture rain from the school's roof and to plant trees in an open space. The Cass County Chapter received $1,000 to host a program about the Challenges for forests in Northern Minnesota where temperatures are rising. The plan to build an Outdoor Classroom to educate visitors to a local Memorial Forest about the benefits of forests to mitigate climate impacts. The Prairie Woods Chapter in the Detroit Lakes area received $1,000 to partner with community organizations to host an Electric Vehicle Expo where attendees could learn about electric vehicles and electric gardening tools and lawn mowers. Each event was a success.