Every so often, a bill starts moving at the Capitol that defies rational explanation. One such bill this year aims to give $2 million in state taxpayer funds to regulated parties to allow them to provide “oversight” of their own state regulators. Welcome to the MESERB bill. Fox…meet hen house. >>

While FMR is known for our work at the Capitol and in the communities, forests and prairies along the river, we'd be lost without a strong home base. And that's exactly what Michele Bevis, our office manager, has provided for over 10 years. 

So it is with deep gratitude that we say goodbye to Michele as she embarks on her next phase: one relaxing yet adventurous retirement. >>

FMR's 2018 Member Survey results are in — check out the highlights! Thank you to the nearly 300 members who completed the survey. We'll use your ideas and input to shape our work in the years ahead. 

See the survey results. Or, if you're not one already, become an FMR member. 

In 11th grade, Flannery Enneking-Norton went on a field trip with her class and FMR staff to Crosby Farm Regional Park in St. Paul. Their task? To identify and count certain plant and insect species, including invasive earthworms. As they wriggled from the ground, Enneking-Norton was smitten. 

Since then, the St. Paul Academy high-schooler has been working hard to help FMR better understand the relationship between earthworms and their fellow invasive species, European buckthorn, at our habitat restoration sites.

The result? An interesting finding regarding an especially ecologically harmful invasive worm — the nightcrawler — and a first-place win for Enneking-Norton in the Twin Cities Regional Science Fair! Not to mention awards from the US Department of Agriculture and the Minnesota Horticultural Society. >>