What We're Up to in Bemidji

Bemidji Steward Newsletter

As a Community Steward with Conservation Minnesota, my role is to build relationships within the community, facilitate service projects, promote learning, and spark conversations about our area's most important conservation issues.

I wanted to share some highlights from our work this fall and thank those of you who have contributed to it. If we haven’t met yet, I invite you to participate in some new volunteer opportunities.

Highlights From the Fall

• Missing & Murdered Indigenous Relatives Red Earth Walk

  November 23rd—Together with the Northwest Indian Community Development Center (NWICDC), we organized a walk to honor, remember, and spark conversation and awareness around the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives crisis. I worked as a sustainability advocate, helping to plan this event in a way that reduced the environmental impact of our gathering. We marched through downtown Bemidji, connected with community members, and warmed up with a healthy, low-waste feast. Anyone that attended could take a feast bundle: a reusable and portable kit of eating-ware that ends reliance on disposable alternatives.

• Compost Assistance Program

  Through the Compost Assistance Program (CAP), I’ve been making home composting accessible and simple. Whether you need questions answered or an entire compost bay installed, I can help! Please reach out if you’re interested!

• Co-teaching Indigenous Skills Youth Group

  Alongside Northwest Indian Community Development Center staff, I have been co-teaching youth group sessions with students from the Voyageurs Expeditionary School (VES). Students have learned to sew their own ribbon skirts from start to finish, and I look forward to teaching  additional environmental skills like harvesting medicines, living off the land, and brain tanning pelts.

• Planet-Friendly Dog Treats Class

  December 16th—I taught a class to middle schoolers at Voyageurs Expeditionary School, where we learned about plastics, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and what we can do to reduce our reliance on single-use plastics. We also got our paws dirty by making dog treats from scratch with simple ingredients! Some treats were donated to Great River Rescue, the local animal shelter that helps re-home surrendered and abandoned pets in the Bemidji area.

Works in Progress & Upcoming Events!

• Caring for Yourself & the Planet: Reducing the Impacts of Self-care

  Date: January 3rd
  Time: 4pm–5pm
  Location: Bemidji Public Library

  Join us to talk about self-care and hygiene alternatives that can save money and reduce your environmental impact. Recipes or samples provided for shampoo, conditioner, bath bombs, face masks, and more! Kids are welcome and it’s free and open for all.

  RSVP for self-care event

• Climate Grief Support Group

  Date: January 10th
  Time: 3pm–4pm
  Location: Bemidji Public Library

  We’re launching a Climate Grief Support Group where community members will be invited to talk about how climate change makes them feel and what stresses them out about our future. We’ll learn and encourage each other to take meaningful action in our community. We’ll also dig into resources to broaden our understanding of climate change.

  RSVP for Climate Grief Support Group

• Walk on the Wild Side: Winter Animal Tracking

  Date: January 18th
  Time: 1pm–3pm
  Location: Neilson Spearhead Center

  Join us and the Mississippi Headwaters Audubon Society for an animal tracking hike. We’ll search for scat, tracks, trails, and scrapes as we learn what our animal relatives are up to in the sometimes-frigid Minnesota winters.

  RSVP for Walk

Feel free to reach out to me if you’d like to get connected or volunteer. I’m always open to new ideas and to connect to our community.

I hope to see you at a future event!

—Ashley Harris, ashley@conservationminnesota.org