Voyageurs Conservancy will connect 17,000 Minnesotans to the state's only national park through standards-aligned K-12 education, career-building fellowships, and enhanced programs that engage diverse audiences in the park's conservation.
Wilderness Inquiry will expand its work to provide a continuum of outdoor experiences for youth, adults, and families in communities across Minnesota by:
The Conservation Partners Legacy Grant Program will be managed by the Department of Natural Resources to provide competitive matching grants of up to $400,000 to local, regional, state, and national non-profit organizations and government entities. In it's first 7 years of funding, the CPL program has provided 410 grants totaling $37 million to 133 different grantee organizations, positively affecting over 220,000 acres of habitat. Demand for CPL grants has continued to grow each year as new grantees hear about the program and successful grantees return.
Grassland ecosystems evolved to depend on periodic disturbances, such as fire and grazing, to maintain their health and stability. Periodic disturbances help control invasive species, add nutrients back into the soil, germinate plant seeds, enhance wildlife habitat, and more. In Minnesota habitat managers have used fire as a disturbance tool for decades but the use of grazing has been much rarer, mostly because of a lack of necessary infrastructure such as fencing.
The Conservation Partners Legacy Grant Program, managed by the Department of Natural Resources, provided 56 competitive matching grants to non-profit organizations and governments, appropriating all the available ML12 funds.
With the ML 2015 appropriation The Conservation Partners Legacy (CPL) Grant Program awarded 70 grants, 22 of these grants were the metropolitan area. Over 24,000 acres were enhanced, 2,500 acres were restored, and 386 acres protected through these 70 projects. Thirty-eight counties had CPL projects completed in them through 47 unique organizations. The average project for the ML 2015 grants was $96,000, with few exceptions most projects were completed on time and many were under budget.
The Traverse County Fair would like to book Wanda the Clown through Homeward Bound Entertainment Company from Chanhassen, Minnesota. Wanda is a Minnesota-based wandering clown artist who was previously employed by the Ringling Bros. and the Barnum & Bailey Circus. We would like to hire the Minnesota-based musician Rick Fidler to perform country music for people who attend our fair. We would also like to hire the 8th Hour Band to perform for an evening at our fair.
To provide local music artists an opportunity to perform folk, Country, and Rock music at the county fair. Funds will be used to pay for sound, lights, stage equipment, and the artists a modest fee to defray expenses and perform.
By continuing to showcase a variety of Minnesota entertainment, we can show off the talent that Minnesota has to offer and provide the citizens of Nobles County with music they maybe normally wouldn't be exposed to. This can lead to an appreciation for either a new instrument, a new genre, or maybe even a different culture.
The Traverse County Fair would like to book Gen X Jukebox, a band from Eden Prairie, Minnesota. We would also like to hire Rick Fidler to perform country music for people who attend our fair.
Okabena Lake, in Worthington, Minnesota, is plagued by excess phosphorus and sediment loading that causes harmful algae blooms and poor water clarity. Excess nutrients and sediment contribute to the impaired status of the lake, occasional objectionable odors, reduced recreational use, lack of aquatic plants and less diverse aquatic life. The lake has both regional and local importance. It is identified as a high priority in county, watershed, and Missouri River Watershed CWMP plans.
