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 Minnesota Zoo will improve the long-term viability of Minnesotas imperiled turtle populations by researching threats, implementing mechanisms to reduce mortality, and creating educational materials for use throughout the state.
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.
Terrestrial invasive plants such as buckthorn, wild parsnip, garlic mustard, and others are becoming widespread threats throughout many sites in Minnesota. Present chemical and mechanical control methods tend to be costly, effective only in the short-term, or have other negative environmental impacts. However, an alternative practice of using grazing animals for invasive species management is used successfully in many parts of the western United States.
This grant is intended to provide access to cultural music of this area of the state. We are inviting in musical groups for our old-time music afternoon and a special concert in our north entertainment area. These groups include The Concord Singers, The Marv Nissel Band, and the Over-60 band. We are trying to pass on old-time music to younger audiences and keep the tradition of this music as a part of the fair. We also have a fair museum, and the doors are sticking making it difficult for people to get in. This is a controlled environment building so we need to keep the doors closed.
Each year we try to highlight some form of the arts that the public may not get to see often. In 2024, we will be featuring a glass blowing demonstration in our Family Zone. The Glass artists do shows demonstrating techniques and create a piece for the audience to see each step off the process. They do multiple shows daily between 10am to 9pm.
