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Conservation Crew students from A.I. Jeldicka Middle School in Proctor. Their mascot is the Conductors, so they helped craft this train from old material. It collects plastic bottle caps for later recycling.

 Those of us who are lucky enough to call Minnesota home know it’s an amazing place to live, work, play or raise a family. 

According to Explore MN, Minnesota is one of the top states in the nation for economic activity, home ownership, physical activity and voter turnout. From Tettegouche to Itasca, from Old Mill to Camden and Whitewater, we also host one of the best state park systems in the country. Our quality of life is connected to our outdoor opportunities. 

Minnesotans have invested heavily in our lakes, trails, forests and health because these things are important to our way of life, our economy, and future generations. That’s why the work Conservation Minnesota has done in the last 20 years to protect our most cherished outdoor places is so important. 

Conservation Minnesota’s mission is to protect the Minnesota you love by solving our state’s most important conservation problems. 

We are committed to protecting people and places from the adverse impacts of pollution and climate change while ensuring that everyone who calls Minnesota home has access to the Great Outdoors and opportunities to enjoy it. 

We do this in a variety of ways, whether cultivating a new generation of environmental leaders through our youth leadership program Conservation Crew or lobbying the state legislature on issues that are important to you—our work benefits all of Minnesota. 
 
How we work
Finding common ground drives our work. After all, in a democracy, powerful change is only possible when enough people decide to do things differently. That is why we build everything we do around the idea of bringing people together across regions, backgrounds and beliefs to find real solutions. 

Our family of organizations —Conservation Minnesota, Conservation Minnesota Voter Center and Climate Vote Minnesota — are structured to maximize our impact through education, advocacy and democracy so we can fulfill a unique and essential role in the community: turning Minnesotans’ shared culture of love for our Great Outdoors into the public support, political leadership and policy solutions that will ensure a sustainable future. 
 
Future leaders
Making sure that the next generation is well prepared to help steward our Great Outdoors and be positive influences within their communities is important. That’s why Conservation Minnesota created Conservation Crew, a student-led extracurricular middle school program rooted in service learning. 
Students develop leadership skills by designing and implementing conservation projects that they choose. We help provide them with the resources and expertise to make their project successful.

Conservation Crew has grown to include more than 40 schools statewide, including Duluth and Proctor, with more than half of the schools qualifying for Title 1 status, meaning more than 40% of their student body qualifies for free and reduced lunch prices.

 
Community impact
Our work centers on listening to communities to find common sense solutions that protect our Great Outdoors at the local level. That’s why we’ve partnered with AmeriCorps to host Climate Impact Corps members called Community Stewards in Bemidji, Duluth, Moorhead, Rochester, St. Cloud and Winona. 
These stewards work to educate people on conservation issues by hosting informational events and community service projects. Some recent projects include removing invasive buckthorn, native seed sowing workshops, birding events and light pollution education. 
 
Local action
We understand the important contribution and role that local governments play across the state to conservation and access to the outdoors. That’s why we have implemented the Blazing Star Award to acknowledge the good work being done by cities, counties and tribal nations. 

Each year a panel of judges comb through dozens of projects submitted to us by local governments to choose three winners to receive the award. The winners have exciting projects that either advance conservation, climate resilience, environmental protection or outdoor recreation opportunities. 

Recent winners include Howard Lake with Minnesota’s first net-zero energy library, Sherburne County and their accessibility and management improvements at Grams Park, and the City of Hopkins’ heat vulnerability study that will be used to inform future urban planning in a changing climate.  
 
Advocacy and lobbying
Our local communities are certainly on the front lines of conservation and environmental protection, but we must also ensure that Minnesota has strong laws that help protect our Great Outdoors, protect people from pollution and protect Minnesota from the adverse impacts of climate change. That’s why we have a strong presence at the state Capitol and work to inform your state legislators about what environmental issues are most important to our members. 

 Together with our members, we have successfully advocated for the passage of the Packaging Waste & Cost Reduction Act, which holds manufacturers accountable for their products and packaging throughout the entire life cycle, from product design all the way through reuse, recycling or safe disposal. 

We’ve worked with our members to help ban PFAS, or forever chemicals that cause adverse health impacts, from 11 different product categories. 

We also helped Minnesota become the first state in the nation to ban toxic trichloroethylene, which is known to cause cancer and birth defects. 

We’ve secured more than $250 million to remove lead service lines throughout the state, worked to pass the 100% clean energy by 2040 law, and helped improve energy efficiency programs, among other important issues. 
 
Protect funding
Protecting the environment and providing ample outdoor recreation opportunities across the state is not cheap. That’s why we help to defend, expand and enhance funding opportunities to ensure a stable source of income for our Great Outdoors. 

Conservation Minnesota helped pass the landmark Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment in 2008. More recently in the last election, we led the campaign to keep the lottery working for our Great Outdoors, which passed with more than 77% support, ensuring this funding will continue for an additional 25 years. 

This critical funding benefits every corner of Minnesota and every outdoor user group. 
 I’m fortunate enough to be able to call Duluth home and I look forward to engaging the community around this important work. If you would like to get involved, go to conservationminnesota.org/volunteer.

Avery Hildebrand has been with Conservation Minnesota for more than 10 years, working in their Public Engagement Team. He started his work in the South Metro, engaging and supporting communities on the issues that are important to them and now supports all of Conservation Minnesota’s public engagement programs statewide as the Public Engagement Program Manager. During his personal time, Avery enjoys spending time with his family at their home in Lakewood Township, as well as hiking, camping, astronomy and photography.