Otter Cove Children's Museum will be a state-of-the-art educational and cultural center in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, providing a much-needed accessible, indoor play space for the children of Otter Tail County and beyond. Otter Cove was started and driven by a group of moms but the actual place, Otter Cove, is for children and the "critters" who live there; the otter in the Otter Romp Playground, the fox at the cafe, the beaver at the dentist office, the raccoon at the grocery store, the swan on the stage, the mice at the bookstore, and the skunk at the veterinarian.
The goals of project are to: 1) engage stakeholders and the public in watershed management activities; 2) conduct microbial source tracking to determine the source(s) of E.
Create and manage a community outreach and engagement program to increase and enhance use of the parks by focusing on activities that strengthen use of parks, engaging the community, agencies, and developing relationships with community members. Additional focus would be identifying and supporting opportunities for partnership with DC departments including social services, corrections, etc. to provide opportunities to connect clients to outdoors.
Funds will be used to conduct programs at areas inside and outside of park boundaries (e.g. regional parks & trails schools, city parks and neighborhoods) to encourage use of regional park and trail facilities; scholarships for those wo meet income guidelines for low/moderate incomes; seasonal staffing to conduct recreation programs and outreach activities, and to fund advertising and marketing for programs and outreach activities.
The outreach specialist makes connections with agencies that serve youth in low income areas and that serve underrepresented regional park and trail users in a variety of settings. Examples of programs include gardening, fishing, and canoeing
