2024 Year in Review
2024 was an exciting year, as we developed our priorities and framework for Environmental Stewardship and Projects
We hosted a fun Earth Day Cleanup on April 20, with 45 hardy volunteers bringing smiles and good will to provide litter cleanup stewardship at Minnehaha Park.
The end of April we engaged in an exciting partnership with the Park Board and other community partners, Audubon Society Twin Cities Chapter and Wild Ones Twin Cities to lead 30 energetic Target volunteers, happy to be away from the office and outdoors at Minnehaha Park in a morning of service — Invasives Removal in the park.
The MPRB Natural Resources Department provided our Friends group with native shrub plugs to plant at the park, and we were thrilled to partner with them in planting 40 of a total of 80 shrubs: Nannyberry, American hazelnut, Red-oshier dogwood, and American plum.
In mid-May we launched our pilot Citizen Science “Nature Walk” documenting observations in the iNaturalist app. Our Minnesota Master Naturalist project volunteer, Aimee Gillespie, developed and launched a Project page on iNaturalist and facilitated the event. Fourteen Citizen Scientist volunteers uploaded 69 observations and enjoyed a lovely potluck picnic and camaraderie afterwards.
The end of May, we collaborated with the Minneapolis Park and Rec Board and Metro Blooms to remove buckthorn and install a Lawns to Legumes grant-funded garden with native Foxtail sedge, and native shrubs White Snowberry and Serviceberry in a zone near the swim beach in the lower glen, with the help of 21 volunteers.
On September 14 we partnered with the MPRB to support and assist in leading a BioBlitz at Minnehaha Park, funded by a grant from the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. Volunteers worked with local experts to create a snapshot of the variety of life in the park on our designed date. Aaron Crawford, volunteer naturalist, represented our group as an expert Lead, and our members and loyal volunteers provided the backbone as greeters, and Co-Lead volunteers to help run the event attended by about 40 people.
Throughout the year we hosted our regular Buckthorn Removal Events, bolstered by a stalwart and amazing team of regular Friends Buckthorn Slayers led by Becky Rice, Nick Berg, and Angie Ebertowski, and supplemented by a crew of volunteers from the community (a shout out to Super Volunteers Pamela Clemens, Mark Ebertowski, Jonah Broberg, Gabriel Bertilson, Lisa Nilles and Mary Patrick) who joined efforts to support efforts to eliminate buckthorn and restore the natural environment. Events ran twice a week for much of the year, and once a week once the days shortened. In all a total of 87 unique volunteers, 355 volunteers at 51 events delivered about 884 hours of service. If you add the hours served to support invasive removal by members independently, that’s an astounding 1170 hours of service!
We would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the contributions of knowledge shared by experts supporting our group. Dave Crawford, retired MN State Park Naturalist, shared information and ignited curiosity about the wonders of native plants and shrubs in the park at his popular monthly “Nature Walk with a Naturalist” programs. And participants were delighted by a Bird Walk with volunteer naturalist Aaron Crawford in the early Spring. Minnesota Master Naturalist Aimee Gillespie, as mentioned earlier, expanded our awareness of species to be found in the park and helped us learn about and explore technology supporting data gathering and community learning of the amazing richness and diversity of natural life to be found in Minnehaha Regional Park.