Great River Greening leads community-based restoration of prairies, forests, and waters. Our restoration efforts help preserve natural areas, protect clean air and water, and increase urban residents’ access to healthy natural areas and sustainable open space. Working alongside our ecologists, over 44,000 volunteers have helped restore over 25,000 acres of natural habitat. One way we inspire community stewardship is to hold 6-8 community events each spring and fall, as well as numerous smaller maintenance projects throughout the year. We also have programs to train volunteer supervisors, educate landowners, and expose at-risk teens to natural areas and environmental science careers.

Great River Greening was founded in 1995 as part of the St. Paul Foundation to restore the downtown St. Paul riverfront. In 1999, it incorporated as its own nonprofit and now works throughout the entire Twin Cities metro area and beyond to mobilize community volunteers to restore our native landscapes.

Great River Greening is a respected and active participant and leader in the community, and we maintain strong connections with many partners for volunteer recruitment, youth engagement, project implementation and evaluation, and conservation planning.

For volunteer recruitment, we reach out through volunteer and media websites, and we also dig deep into the community through church groups, schools, youth and community groups, other nonprofits, employee groups, Rotary and similar clubs, and Boy and Girl Scout troops, among others.

For our youth programs, we have ongoing relationships with schools and youth groups that serve minority and at-risk youth and will broaden these relationships for the expanded green jobs and service learning programs in this proposal.

We focus our work in locations and on activities that offer conservation impact, ecosystem services, and community benefits. While we started in Saint Paul, we now have projects throughout Minnesota, including oak savanna restoration north of Saint Paul to Wright and Morrison Counties.We choose our projects based upon conservation need, feasibility, and community benefits. Current priorities include critical lands and waters in the metro area, endangered habitat in the Anoka Sand Plain region of east-central Minnesota, conserving water quality in our state-designated wild and scenic rivers, and collaborating with farmers in agricultural watersheds.

Our work is funded by a variety of sources:

Charitable contributions from generous individuals, foundations, and businesses

Government sources, including the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Fund, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and watershed districts and organizations

Cost-share or other agreements with landowners

Corporate Sponsors