Celebrating our 2024 volunteers and young river stewards

K-12 and youth programs

Youth groups and schools contributed 1,132 volunteer hours in 2024 through storm drain stenciling, invasive species removal and more. This year 1,210 young people also participated in 3,448 education hours through our youth programs.

At Dowling Elementary School, our partner of many years, we've expanded programming in 2024-2025 to offer monthly classroom presentations and outings for two third-grade classes. Also new in 2024 is a partnership with the High School of Recording Arts. This is a bi-weekly program with a focus on our Water Knowledge Network curriculum and career pathways. We're excited to deepen partnerships like these.

Environmental Stewardship Institute: summer intensive program

In 2024, FMR's Environmental Stewardship Institute (ESI) summer intensive program — part of our career pathways programming for high school-aged youth — increased the number of program hours and focused more than ever on experiential learning through paddling and other outings. Participants learned from river experts and community leaders about Indigenous lifestyles along the river, farming and conservation practices and more.

During the eight-week program co-led by our two youth assistants, 25 fellows carried out unique and creative projects on various topics, including invasive carp, water quality testing and local ecosystems. The program culminated with ESI fellows presenting their projects to family, friends and their ESI colleagues. See their projects and more.

Environmental Stewardship Institute: Youth Council

Our 2023-2024 Environmental Stewardship Institute (ESI) Youth Council worked with FMR staff to support invasive carp advocacy and education. Council members celebrated a big win in 2024 along with FMR and our partners. This school year, the ESI Council is researching the impacts of excessive road salt use, exploring alternatives and educating others. We also launched a new partnership with the Department of Natural Resources at Fort Snelling State Park for monthly outings.

We want to congratulate the six council members who graduated in 2024. ESI alum Riya Stebleton is now a first-year student in environmental studies at Lawrence University. She writes of her ESI experiences, "Working with this organization has helped me to emerge as a leader and discover my interests, shifting my visions for the future!"

Restoration volunteers

A total of 873 volunteers participated in restoration efforts. Whether volunteers pulled tiny invasive Siberian squill sprouts or worked up a sweat hauling buckthorn brush, they made a difference for the Mississippi. This year, volunteers collected native prairie seed and planted 140 trees and shrubs and 85 native plants. Dedicated stewardship groups including the Gorge Leadership Team, Hastings Environmental Protectors and Friends of the William H. Houlton Conservation Area worked independently at FMR restoration sites throughout the season, providing vital ongoing support.

To expand our circle of river stewards, we offered a new, more accessible volunteer event that brought nature indoors: a wintertime seed-cleaning party at our office. Within a few days of publicizing, you all responded with enthusiasm, filling the event to capacity.

(Photo by Chris Beeth / Goff Public)

Monitoring volunteers

Volunteers with our wildlife and pollinator monitoring programs gathered data that helps FMR ecologists track the impact of restoration efforts. Volunteers at River Heights Park, William H. Houlton Conservation Area and the Flint Hill Resources Pine Bend Bluffs restoration site contributed over 227 hours monitoring pollinators and other wildlife in 2024. 

Pollinator data collected by volunteers is helping FMR Pollinator Biologist Dr. Julia Leone assess FMR’s restoration approaches and inform future management. Monarch larva data collected by volunteers contributes to the Monarch Larva Monitoring Project, a community science project that tracks monarch eggs, larvae and milkweed throughout North America for conservation efforts on a multi-national scale. We're excited to expand pollinator monitoring opportunities in 2025 to find out. Stay tuned for details!

Stream Health Evaluation Program volunteers

Our Stream Health Evaluation Program (SHEP) partnership with Rice Creek Watershed District came back for its 19th season, bringing together 34 participants (six new to the community) to collect samples from streams and identify macro-invertebrates in the lab. Their work helps to assess the long-term health of three streams that ultimately drain into the Mississippi. Look for the upcoming annual SHEP report in the new year to see what these volunteers discovered in their streams.

Volunteer Wayne LeBlanc has been a part of SHEP since its inception in 2006 and has greatly contributed to the program through his dedicated participation, program design additions and team leadership. When asked to reflect on his 19th year, Wayne shared, "SHEP has been a very positive experience with exceptional environmental people. I appreciate being with such people!"

Storm drain stenciling volunteers

In our storm drain stenciling program, 526 volunteers stenciled 1,700 storm drains in the Twin Cities metro and shared 3,694 informational flyers with community members. Volunteers learned about common pollutants that enter the city's storm drains and flow to our lakes, ponds and rivers, then took action to clean up neighborhoods and inform others. 

A volunteer from a high school group reflected on their experience stenciling with FMR this year, "After our time stenciling, our group continued to be quick to point out not only trash along our way, but also the water conditions or lakes/ponds we passed. They really grew in their water awareness after the experience with FMR!"

We want to thank the many families, classrooms, corporate and community groups who partnered with us to stencil storm drains this season.

Cleanup volunteers

A total of 570 cleanup volunteers cleaned up litter in parks and neighborhoods across the metro area in 2024. Our Earth Day cleanup drew 385 volunteers this year, the highest turnout for this annual event since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August, we held our first on-water cleanup in many years. Volunteers paddled from Bohemian Flats to Hidden Falls Regional Park in St. Paul, collecting trash in kayaks and canoes while enjoying a gorgeous (though hot) day on the river. Thanks to funding from the Longfellow Community Council, we worked with local outfitter Paddle Bridge to provide free kayaks for many of our volunteers. National Park Service rangers joined us in a pontoon, helping volunteers haul extra-large items out of the river, like a traffic sign and old office chair. 

As dozens of volunteers pulled up on the Hidden Falls riverbank to unload, park visitors took notice. Volunteer Bea Schneider shared that one young onlooker repeatedly exclaimed, "That was in the river?" Bea reflected, “If one person on the shore becomes more aware of the need to be mindful of our gift of the Mississippi and its fragility, it was an even bigger win than removing the trash.”