With this appropriation, the Minnesota Land Trust plans to protect approximately 500 acres of critical shoreline habitat along Minnesota's lakes, wetlands, rivers, and streams by securing permanent conservation easements and dedicating funds for their perpetual monitoring, management, and enforcement. Lands being considered for permanent protection in this round of funding are located in Becker, Beltrami, Blue Earth, Itasca, Kandiyohi, Lac Qui Parle, Le Sueur, Otter Tail, Pope, and Wabasha counties.
There funds are enabling Pheasants Forever to acquire in fee title approximately 86 acres of habitat along the borders of existing Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) or Waterfowl Production Areas (WPA) in LeSueur, Lincoln, or Rice counties and convey the lands to a public agency for long term stewardship and protection. These strategic acquisitions will leverage and expand the existing habitat, water quality, and recreation benefits already provided by existing protected lands.
To strengthen a large partnership, including American Indian partners, as they improve and make available more historic information about the Minnesota River Valley.
In the third year of this project, MNHS staff continued to inventory and rehouse archaeological collections from Historic Fort Snelling. As part of MNHS involvement with the University of Minnesota's Heritage Collaborative, student interns spent the 2015 fall semester assisting project staff with inventory and research. Artifact data was shared with University faculty for use in their courses. To date, over 98,000 catalog records have been created, describing more than 180,000 artifacts recovered during archaeological excavations at Historic Fort Snelling.
Minnesota, home to the largest Somali population in the United States, lacks resources for students to access knowledge and representations of Somalia. The Somali Museum of Minnesota will offer students immersive field trips illuminating the history and arts of traditional Somali society by subsidizing admission fees, integrating elders as immersive guides on tours, and developing take-home curriculum materials.
Through this partnership, U of M and ACTC students from diverse backgrounds explored the museum field and issues related to diversity and museums through a fall semester-long course for ACTC students and a spring semester course at the university, followed by a paid internship at MNHS, the Somali Museum of Minnesota, Mia, and other organizations.
This project will involve the creation of a new theater room to be included in the Hmong Cultural Center Museum and Library. The theater room will allow visiting groups and walk-in visitors to view clips of historical documentaries about the Hmong diaspora and Hmong American Experience as part of their museum experience.
The Hmong Cultural Heritage Initiative is intended to both preserve and spread awareness and knowledge of Hmong culture in a comprehensive and multifaceted manner by supporting several outreach initiatives of the Hmong Cultural Center Museum.
Hmong Museum proposes developing a 400 sq feet traveling exhibit around the importance of Hmong's oral culture. It will be a research phase with collaboration between Hmong Museum and community members. Topics would include Hmong stories that are passed on including history narratives, skills that are taught orally, and folktales. It will also provide an opportunity for visitors of all backgrounds to be inspired to share their own stories about their lives and experiences.
Photograph all items of the Martha Kaufman-Zimmerman Collection of needlework and four archival boxes of objects from ca. 2000 to 2019 of Wat Tham Krabok with accession information and several hundred digital photos, and post them on our website so they may be viewed at any time and place. Publish books in Hmong and English with selected images and texts from our accession record, with additional information about common design elements and audio-video interview information.
The Hmong American Day non-profit would like to collaborate with Hmong for Native Speakers courses in the Osseo School District at Park Center Senior High and at Osseo Senior High to provide a culturally relevant education.
Our book titled Staring Down the Tiger: Stories of Hmong American Women, provides a platform to tell stories of Hmong women—stories that are often left unheard. The collection of the stories in the book were developed during a writing retreat that provided emotional and technical writing support to nearly 30 women. The writing retreat was invaluable in helping non writers uncover and creatively share their stories. We are requesting $5,000 to create a personal development workbook that will supplement the book offering readers their own virtual experience of the writing retreat.
This project requests funding to conduct and transcribe twelve oral history interviews focusing on the religious experience and interactions among immigrant groups in nine Twin Cities neighborhoods in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
To hire a qualified consultant to perform an assessment of White Bear Lake Area Historical Society's heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system at the White Bear Lake Armory.
To restore and abate water infiltration of the marble entrance stairs on the James J. Hill Reference Library, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Ka Joog and Afro American Development Association (AADA) will partner to create a platform for Somali American youth to learn traditional Somali artistic mediums and present their learning through public presentations that will ignite community conversations. Art clubs and public forums will be implemented in Hennepin, Ramsey, and Clay counties and will promote inter-generational dialogue on taboo topics within the Somali American and cross-cultural acceptance with non-Somali audiences.
The Minnesota Land Trust provides coordination, mapping, and data management for the Metropolitan Conservation Corridors partnership. Funds are being used to coordinate the partnership, guide strategic outreach and implementation efforts, manage project data, and provide reporting and mapping of accomplishments.
Friends of the Mississippi is using this appropriation to restore and enhance approximately 163 acres of permanently protected prairie and forest lands in Dakota, Washington, Ramsey, and Hennepin counties in order increase the amount of high quality habitat within designated conservation corridors. Specific activities will include updating management plans, soil preparation, prescribed burning, native vegetation installation, woody encroachment removal, and invasive species control.
