As Community Stewards with Conservation Minnesota, our role is to build relationships within the community, facilitate service projects, promote learning, and spark conversations about our area's most important conservation issues.
We wanted to share some highlights from our work this past year and thank those of you who have contributed to it. If we haven’t met yet, we invite you to participate in some new volunteer opportunities.
We hope to see you at an event soon!
Highlights from the Fall
Pollinator Gardens
Native plants are critical in saving pollinator species and creating carbon sinks to help mitigate climate change. Conservation Minnesota has partnered with the Arrowhead Chapter of Wild Ones and the Duluth Monarch Buddies to work on several projects to educate about and create pollinator gardens.
Winter Seed Sowing
In 2024, we hosted a winter seed sowing workshop at Hartley Nature Center. Participants learned about winter sowing and took home native plant seeds in jugs they planted at the workshop! This was a great opportunity to get a jump start on the growing season and to learn from experts how to have the best success possible. This event will be held again Saturday, February 1st. RSVP below!
Pollinator Garden at Thompson Hill Visitor Center
We are working with the Minnesota Department of Transportation to install a pollinator education garden at the visitor’s center at Thompson Hill in Duluth. This is an ongoing project, with ground-breaking set for this spring!
Duluth PolliNeighbors
Beginning last year, we created the Duluth PolliNeighbors. This local group is focused on connecting neighbors with each other and volunteering to help each other install new pollinator gardens. Participants who receive help must commit to helping at least two other households. Feel free to reach out to Paul at pauld@conservationminnesota.org to learn more and participate!
Relocating Lakewalk Garden
The City of Duluth is performing renovations on the Lakewalk to make it ADA accessible for our friends with disabilities. Unfortunately, this meant the Wild Ones demonstration garden needed to be moved. We helped rescue and relocate hundreds of native plants from the Lakewalk to Hartley Nature Center. The new pollinator garden you can see by the sidewalk was installed in only a couple days with volunteer help! If you would like to volunteer to help maintain this garden, contact us or reach out to Cathy Wood, president of the local Wild Ones chapter.
Book Club
Conservation Minnesota partnered with the Duluth Public Library to host a book club discussion of Climate Grief by local author Dr. Shawna Weaver. The author joined us to lead the discussion about processing our feelings as the world around us changes.
Birding
Birds are critical in our ecosystems, and as the climate changes we need to keep track of how their populations are responding. Our populations of native species have lost more than 3 billion birds in the last century, an unsustainable loss that we can all work to prevent. There are many great opportunities to get out and help with citizen science projects to monitor the health of our avian friends’ populations!
Christmas Bird Count
This year, we participated in the Christmas Bird Count, led by the Northeastern Minnesota Bird Alliance. We counted over 100 birds of 17 species, including two ruffed grouse!
Great Backyard Bird Count
We led a small group of volunteers last winter to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, a citizen science project hosted by Cornell University. We braved the coldest day in January to go out and count waxwings, chickadees, and one lone bald eagle that gave us a good flyby.
Birding at Boulder Lake Big Day
Partnering with the Northeast Minnesota Bird Alliance and Boulder Lake Environmental Learning Center, I led one of the groups out birding at the Boulder Lake Big Day event in May. This program had been suspended for a few years after the pandemic, and it was great to get people out enjoying the spring weather and returning birds again! If the weather holds, we plan to do this again this year. Stay tuned for details!
Dark Sky Advocacy
Conservation Minnesota has worked with Starry Skies North and local photographer and author Travis Novitsky to help get the word out about light pollution and protecting our access to the night sky.
The Night Sky with Travis Novitsky
Last year, we hosted a live webinar with Travis to learn about his work and the indigenous perspective on the sky. Travis was also kind enough to join us and the Institute on the Environment Duluth at the UMD Alworth Planetarium for a showing of the documentary Northern Nights, Starry Skies; an Emmy award winning film that features his photography.
Globe at Night Light Pollution Hike
Starry Skies North and the Arrowhead Astronomical Society joined us this September for a discussion of the effects of light pollution and a night hike to view the stars. We also introduced participants to the Globe At Night app, an ongoing citizen science project where volunteers can upload data they observe about local light pollution levels.
Local Events
We occasionally table at local environmental events, like the Hartley Stewardship Fest, UMD Sustainability Fair, Helping Hives—What’s the Buzz?, and Duluth EcoFest. Stop by to say hi, sign up to volunteer, and learn about our work and that of other great Duluth area organizations!
Upcoming Events
Learn what's coming up next in Duluth on our Events page.