Maintaining Existing Holdings - A Parks and Trails Strategic Objective is a program area representing DNR's commitment to one of the four pillars identified in the 25 year Legacy plan. The Legacy plan calls this Take Care of What We Have, and identifies its purpose to provide safe, high-quality park and trail experiences by regular re-investment in park and trail infrastructure, and natural resource management.
There are 67 Minnesota State Parks and 7 Minnesota State Recreation areas that each have facilities to serve outdoor recreation users. Funds in this category are used for developing new facilities and include visitor centers, trail centers, roads, parking lots, bridges, campgrounds, and so on.
The Civil War stories of the Oliver Kelley Farm and Historic Fort Snelling were featured in a 30-minute television program and broadcast statewide by Twin Cities Public Television (TPT). A similar TV segment was also aired on the Civil War origins of Juneteenth and how this anniversary continues to to be commemorated in the African American community. These historical topics and many more, including the 1862 U.S, Dakota War, comprised a special 2-hour television program also broadcast by TPT.
The Minnesota Main Street program is a proven, comprehensive strategy that helps communities create new jobs and businesses while revitalizing buildings and preserving their historic downtowns. MNHS's Heritage Preservation department works with the partners
listed above to implement Minnesota Main Street,
which provides the tools, training, information, and networking that communities need to revitalize their business districts.
There are currently seven Minnesota Main Street designated communities: Faribault, New Ulm, Owatonna, Red Wing, Shakopee, Willmar, and Winona.
The Minnesota Digital Library (MDL) is a statewide, multi-institutional collaboration that supports discovery, education, and personal enrichment through digitization of and access to the rich historical resources of the state's public and academic libraries, archives, museums and historical societies, while also preserving these resources for future generations.
MDL partnered with:
Through the ML2015 Mississippi Headwaters Habitat Partnership appropriation, we permanently protected 1,923 acres of wildlife habitat in the quickly developing Mississippi Headwaters area. These accomplishments exceed the appropriation goal by 209%. Utilizing both fee-title acquisition and conservation easements, the partnership protected 10 projects, totaling over 11 miles of shoreline along the Mississippi River, its tributaries and nearby lakes.
The MNHS Indian Advisory Committee (IAC) is made up of tribally appointed representatives of the 11 Minnesota tribes, as well as representatives of key groups, such as educators. IAC advises on planning, developing, and evaluating MNHS activities and initiatives including exhibitions, publications, public programs, and curatorial policy as they relate to the research, collection, preservation, and interpretation of Minnesota and American Indian history in Minnesota.
MNopedia is an award-winning online encyclopedia of Minnesota created by MNHS, designed for use by a general audience, teachers, and students. In 2015, the MNopedia library grew to include essays on Hmong, African American, and Jewish history, and articles on topics as diverse as Minnesota in World War I, immigration to the Iron Range, Dayton's department store, and the Grange in Minnesota. A new feature, This Day in Minnesota History, a Minnesota book of days, was added.
A multimedia group has been created to support the development of educational and informational video productions including online curriculum for 6th grade history, the commemoration of the Civil War, WWI, and more.
New State Trail development to complete key missing trail segments or to fulfill funding gaps in trail development projects. Potetial development to include multi-use trail, trail parking areas, trail waysides, or trail bridges. New trail development includes all associated engineering, design and construction, and is to incorporate current Best Management Practices.
DNR regional clean water specialists and area hydrologists work with local partners to provide technical assistance on implementation projects and related outreach, resulting in cleaner water through healthier watersheds, shorelands and floodplains. We help partners identify, develop, target, design and/or implement on-the-ground projects that improve water quality, enhance habitat and protect infrastructure. We help design restorations that provide lasting benefits by mimicking features of healthy ecosystems.
The Oral History office worked with MNHS's Inclusion and Community Engagement staff on an oral history project related to the History Center's 2015 exhibit Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair. Interviewer Mica Anders-Turner completed 10 interviews to complement the Inspiring Beauty exhibit.
The Division of Parks and Trails is engaged in critical work to connect people to the outdoors. As part of the work in this project area, the new touch-screen kiosk project will increase awareness about outdoor recreation opportunities at Minnesota state parks and trails among underrepresented groups by creating and installing accessible, touch-screen kiosks with information in multiple languages, in high-traffic, family-oriented locations. Connection plans deliver Minnesota State Parks and Trails' messages to new audiences.
The 17 member Park and Trail Legacy Advisory Committee is appointed by the Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, the Chair of the Metropolitan Council and the Chair of the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission. The mission of the committee is to champion the 25 year "Parks and Trails Legacy Plan" by providing recommendations to enhance promotion, coordination, and accountability throughout implementation of the plan.
To provide grants to local units of government to support parks and trails of regional or statewide significance outside of the seven county metropolitan area. Funding for this grant program is from the Parks and Trails Fund created by the Minnesota Legislature from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment passed by the voters in 2008. Beginning July 1, 2015 (fiscal year 2016), the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission (GMRPTC) assumed management of reviewing and awarding these grants.
In 2017, St. Paul's world renown Penumbra Theatre will celebrate its 40 anniversary. This exhibit, a three way partnership between MNHS, Penumbra Theatre and the University of Minnesota, will highlight the central role this local theater company played in the burgeoning Black Arts Movement through documents, artifacts, costumes, videoed performances and interviews, and stage sets. Exhibit opens February 18 and runs through July 31, 2017.
Outcome goals: MHC attendance greater than 240,000 in FY17. Net Promoter Score goal +50 or higher.
This Minnesota Humanities Center Heritage Grant will allow project partners to plan and design a Chinese garden in Phalen Regional Park to commemorate the City of Saint Paul's Sister City Relationship with Changsha, China.
This groundbreaking project is creating a new model for school field trips, using mobile and web technologies to capitalize on the natural behaviors and learning styles of today's students. Serving approximately 7,000 students annually, Play the Past demonstrates how museums can use technology to create self-directed, personalized, responsive field trip experiences that deepen students' connection to history while honing their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
This program is to increase prescribed burning on Division of Parks and Trails (PAT) lands in order to meet shortfalls in achieving PAT restoration and management objectives.
MNHS continues to build a culture of evaluation. An evaluation manager leads institutional evaluation capacity building, as well as provides technical assistance and support to staff who evaluate ACHF projects and programs. An evaluation associate in the Education and Lifelong Learning Division facilitates evaluation efforts specifically in K-12 education and public programs. Three interns and numerous volunteers continue to support evaluation work.
MNHS staff created communication strategies and promotional materials for Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund (ACHF) history projects, programs, and grants, including media kits for grant recipients. Increasing public awareness of ACHF investments will ensure that students, teachers, and the general public will use and benefit from them.
Renewal of existing State Trail surfaces, parking areas, and trail wayside areas, improving accessibility, enhancing user safety and implementing current best management practices. MNDNR Parks and Trails Division has a identified approximately 85 miles of existing state trail in need of rehabilitation and upgrading. This program also focuses on the rehabilitation or replacement of existing state trail bridges, including structural engineering inspections of all trail bridges .
MNHS continued the Legacy Research Fellowships program in FY15 with a productive second year of adding to the body of knowledge and interpretation of Minnesota's pre- and post-statehood history.
Four scholars were selected as research fellows. Three scholars received $5,000 awards and one received a $1,000 award. The Legacy Research Fellows used the Gale Family Library at the Minnesota History Center to research their topics, which included:
MNHS has in its care over 100,000 cubic feet of hard-copy government records and manuscript collections dating from the territorial period to the present. To access the vast majority of these holdings, researchers must currently visit the History Center or make other special arrangements. In FY16, MNHS is piloting a unique "scan on demand" service for researchers that will allow them to request, either online or in person, the digitization of specific materials with the resulting images being put online for wide public access.
American Indian ceremonies were held at Historic Fort Snelling in November 2015, marking the 150th anniversary of the execution of Sakpedan (Shakopee) and Wakanozhanzhan (Medicine Bottle) at Fort Snelling. They were convicted by a military commission for their participation in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. MNHS provided a community meal for the Dakota community immediately following the ceremonies.
Ducks Unlimited successfully completed this Phase 4 our land acquisition/restoration program to protect shallow lakes and restore wetlands by purchasing and restoring 1,004 acres of land with drained wetlands and land on shallow lakes as additions to state Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) for the MNDNR throughout southern Minnesota.
