To bring arts and cultural heritage activities to the fair. The fair will provide an arts center where children can work with art instructors on art projects, host a lumberjack show highlighting MN's logging history, and offer canning and food preservation workshops.
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:
Identify forest management actions and guidelines that maximize breeding season productivity across breeding cycle (nesting through post-fledgling) for three bird species of conservation concern: Golden-winged Warbler, Veery, and American Woodcock.
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.
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.
As of 11/1/2023, the CPL program has provided over 970 grants totaling $115 million to over 250 different grantee organizations, improving or protecting over 577,000 acres of habitat. Demand for CPL grants has continued to grow each year as new applicants hear about the program and successful grantees return. In ML 2019 there were 99 grants awarded- 15 metro grants, 29 traditional grants, and 55 Expedited Conservation Partners grants. Through these 99 grants, over 34,000 acres were restored, enhanced, or protected. Over $10.6M was awarded to organizations for projects.
Most municipalities located in Cass County are adjacent to surface waters that drain into the Upper Mississippi River Watershed. In some cases, over 30% of the community consists of impervious surface coverage. Few, if any of these communities have done any work to retrofit existing stormwater systems. As a result, large amounts of untreated stormwater carrying phosphorus, nitrogen and sediments enter the river. These impacts have resulted in the degrading of water quality in the watershed.
The Pillager History Center is a building on the county fairgrounds. A history display started to grow there in early 2016, made of paper copies and memorabilia gathered from the community. At the beginning of this history collection, this building was not critter or weather proof. In previous grant cycles the building has had a critter-proofing project, and additional work has been done to further that work. Now, we are requesting funds to allow those 9-year-old paper photos and memorabilia items to be housed in better conditions.
Jeremy Lepak (ventriloquist and variety show) will perform four stage shows to entertain the crowd during the fair.
Rook- Musicians and Entertainers playing 70s, 80s, and 90s music, with 2 shows.
Halls of Magic - 3 magic shows performed throughout the fair.
