At Friends of the Mississippi River’s 15th Anniversary Celebration on July 14th, Kate Wolford of the McKnight Foundation spoke about FMR’s accomplishments and the McKnight Foundation’s commitment to river protection. Her comments follow.

Thank you, Whitney.

It is certainly appropriate for this event to be here on the banks of the Mississippi River. I was lucky enough to walk here because McKnight’s offices are just down the street. Every day, our location reminds us of one of our most important program priorities — the protection of this great river.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak at this celebration on behalf of The McKnight Foundation. In 1993, McKnight provided our first financial contribution to Friends of the Mississippi River. Tonight, I am pleased to congratulate FMR’s staff and its board on 15 years of successful advocacy on behalf of the Mississippi.

As you all know, FMR is both an unwavering environmental champion and a model citizen-advocacy organization. We at McKnight are proud to have helped support your good work over the past decade and a half. In the beginning, McKnight provided virtually all of FMR’s start-up funding. Over the past decade, FMR’s budget has increased more than eight-fold, but McKnight now represents only 10% of FMR’s diverse funding base. We are thrilled to see a nonprofit like FMR grow and diversify its resource base over time.

Since 1993, McKnight’s board has approved more than $1.8 million in grants to FMR. With the support of McKnight and many others, you have done amazing things, organizing local citizens to produce real results for the river and its watershed.

Over the years, as FMR’s dedicated staff has grown from 1 to 17, we at McKnight have been gratified to watch you expand your reach and impact — to include advocacy at local and state levels, protection of ecologically valuable lands, public education, and a full range of activities aimed at engaging volunteers.

One great example of this is the River Challenge. As it flows through the Twin Cities, FMR’s River Challenge attracts hundreds of canoeists annually for a summer weekend on the river; for many residents, it has become one of the season’s highlights. And since 1998, FMR has also engaged more than 20,000 volunteers in a storm drain-stenciling project, informing residents that whatever lands on our city streets eventually also lands in our river.

With FMR’s fostering of citizen leadership to develop stronger storm-water management policies and practices, both Vermillion River and Rice Creek watersheds have embraced their policy recommendations in their entirety. And FMR’s land protection efforts have resulted in the permanent protection of 12 sites, with dozens more permanent protection projects currently pending.

FMR’s Community Stewardship program, which began in 2000 with a few citizens in one Minneapolis neighborhood, has since expanded to nine neighborhoods on both sides of the river. The model has been used by FMR to form three other stewardship groups across the Twin Cities.

McKnight recently funded a two-year study through the National Academy of Sciences, resulting in the 2007 report “Mississippi River Water Quality and the Clean Water Act.” Because the Mississippi flows mainly between states on its way to the Gulf, and because the federal government has not taken an active enough role monitoring and ensuring its preservation, the report’s text alarmingly referred to our river as an “orphan.”

Unfortunately, from a water-quality monitoring perspective, the Mississippi is indeed an orphan of sorts. We are all doing what we can to correct that. But regardless of the label, critically important groups like FMR have ensured that our river is not without grassroots advocates, resources, and of course “friends.” Throughout its work, FMR has helped inform and empower generations of volunteers to take a leadership role in stewardship projects.

You are making a difference with the river, and in the millions of lives that depend upon it for water, habitats, recreation, and more. As you focus on the Twin Cities region, the entire watershed is better today for the efforts of this fine organization — your leaders, your staff, and your many volunteers and community partners.

We at The McKnight Foundation are pleased to continue our support to maintain and restore a healthy environment in the Mississippi River basin. This river and the lands that border it, running through the heart of our country, are vital pieces of the natural heritage we want to leave future generations.

May the accomplishments of the past 15 years reenergize all of us for the important work that lies ahead. Thank you.