Where can you walk through a dry waterfall, find karst topography, encounter a walking fern, meet ancient bur oak trees and see the oldest operating flour mill in the state? Vermillion Falls Park in Hastings! Oh, and there's a large rushing waterfall here as well. >>
Conservation and Restoration Blog
FMR works with landowners, government agencies and concerned residents — including hundreds of volunteers — to protect and restore bluffs, prairies, forests and other lands important to our communities and the health of our metro Mississippi.
Here's what our conservation staff are currently working on and encountering in the field.
A map of our protection and restoration sites is available here, as well as more information about our approach and program.
Conservation updates are also shared on social media (Facebook and Twitter) and in our Mississippi Messages newsletter.
November 2, 2019
FMR ecologist Alex Roth's earthworm research made it on the cover of the highly regarded professional journal Science at the end of October, the same journal that published the human genome for the first time. >>
October 31, 2019
Facing a steep climb up tall stairs, FMR staff and River Gorge Stewards opted for a creative way to dispose of invasive buckthorn at a recent volunteer event along the river: create habitat piles. >>
October 31, 2019
Have you seen a coyote or fox on your Twin Cities property? If so, let us know if you'd be willing to let our research partners capture and collar these animals! It will help us understand how they're adapting to urban areas, and inform our habitat management strategies for these species. >>
October 29, 2019
If you live in the Twin Cities Metro area and have seen gray fox, red fox or coyotes or their tracks, we could use your help! >>
October 24, 2019
This summer we found the Minnesota state bee at one of our restoration sites. Why is that newsworthy? >>
October 10, 2019
Daurius Mikroberts, one of FMR's 2019 summer ecology interns, reflects on a summer monitoring birds, pollinators, turtles and native plants at FMR restoration sites. Despite the mosquitoes, Daurius says the internship was "one of the best ways I’ve ever spent a summer." >>
October 9, 2019
What's next for this special place (and FMR restoration site) on our great river? You can help decide. >>
October 8, 2019
We didn't pay MPR to write that headline, but it's exactly the message we want people to understand. >>
October 8, 2019
At this field season's volunteer events, we handed out invasive species collector's cards as a guide (and a thank you) for our intrepid, invasive-busting volunteers. Now that the field season is drawing to a close, we're sharing them with everybody. >>