Updates and Articles

Learn about a huge N Mpls riverfront redevelopment and weigh in

by Irene Jones

June 15, 2017

Affordable housing. Parks and trails. A 10,000-seat riverfront amphitheater. A business incubator. All have been suggested as part of the redevelopment of the long-closed port of Minneapolis, the 48-acre Upper Harbor Terminal site in North Minneapolis. Come learn about the options and weigh in on what you'd like to see at a series of community meetings late-June through September.

The massive Upper Harbor Terminal site along the Mississippi River in North Minneapolis.

Get that beaver a Super Volunteer T-shirt!

by Alex Roth

June 12, 2017

With the second phase of native prairie restoration set to begin at Ole Olson Park along the North Minneapolis riverfront, FMR is grateful for the help of an unlikely partner.

Nature Notes: It's a sign! Giant stonefly found in downtown St. Paul

by Karen Schik

June 9, 2017

This surprise visitor to the Robert Street lift bridge is commonly found in trout streams and is considered an indicator of good water quality.

FMR Executive Director Whitney Clark named transformational leader

by Sara DeKok

June 9, 2017

FMR is proud to announce that our very own executive director, Whitney Clark, won the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits' 2017 Transformational Leader Award.

Whitney has often expressed that he strongly relates to E.B. White’s comment, “I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world.” But to his friends and colleagues, these appear to be one and the same.

Our metro Mississippi River and its communities would not be what they are today without your leadership. Congrats, Whitney!

The river belongs to all of us. FMR's 2016 annual report.

June 8, 2017

Friends of the Mississippi River annual report

How water fared in the legislative session + a happy hour invitation

by Trevor Russell

June 5, 2017

While the 2017 Minnesota legislative session didn’t go as well as we hoped — we failed to make any meaningful progress on water quality — we can say for certain that the final bills were a great improvement over those originally vetoed by Gov. Mark Dayton.

Thank you FMR River Guardians, Water Action Day participants and everyone who joined in our efforts to stand up for clean water this session!

Learn more from our Legislative Updates blog and join us for happy hour, Tuesday, June 27 to recap the session with the FMR Capitol Crew and discuss what's next.

Aerial image of Mississippi River near Crosby Park in St. Paul

Environment bill becomes law: What’s in & what’s out?

by Trevor Russell

June 2, 2017

The Minnesota Legislature's original environment bill was one of the most sweeping anti-environmental bills to advance at the Capitol in many years. Luckily, it was vetoed by Gov. Mark Dayton on May 12. So what made it into the final bill that the governor signed on May 30? Some rollbacks, no water quality progress, but not the worst provisions were removed during final negotiations with the Dayton administration.

Sigh... Environment bill signed. Legacy funds shifted.

by Trevor Russell

June 1, 2017

We're pretty sure that when Minnesotans passed the Legacy Amendment, this isn't what they — what we — had in mind. Just signed by Gov. Mark Dayton, the environment bill shifts voter-mandated conservation funds to administrative costs. Thank you to all the River Guardians who tried to prevent this, we look forward to inviting you to happy hour soon to recap the session.

Where the Legislature stands on water & the environment in its final week

by Trevor Russell

May 16, 2017

This 2017 Legislature has featured a series of sweeping assaults on our environment, including widespread rollbacks to bedrock environmental finance and policy positions that threaten to undermine water quality and river health throughout the state. Here's where things stand.

Gov. Dayton vetoes awful environmental bill! (But another is on the way.)

by Trevor Russell

May 12, 2017

Friday, May 12, Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed a historically bad omnibus environment bill. It sought to give polluters the right to write their own environmental impact statements, slashed funding for environmental agencies and even prevented cities from banning plastic bags. In short, it threatened to undermine Minnesota’s long tradition of protecting the water we drink and the air we breathe.

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