3 things River Guardians can be proud of from 2024

2024 was an exciting year for our advocacy work, and it wouldn't have happened without the efforts of River Guardians.

These community members engage with our advocacy work in various ways, from action alerts and petitions, to tours and community meetings. Every way they show up for the Mighty Mississippi and its communities makes a difference.

Reflecting on the past 12 months, three major highlights stand out as examples of how encouraging, exciting and successful the year truly was.

A shared love of in-person events

In 2024, FMR hosted 22 advocacy events — more than ever before.

Many River Guardians attended our annual Show Some Love for the River event to make legislative valentines. Others met with their state representative at a constituent meeting. Advocates also toured fields of clean-water crops and visited the Ford Area C toxic waste site on the St. Paul riverfront. Increasing the range of events we offer is important. It helps connect community members to issues facing the river, and shows that effective action takes many forms. 

We look forward to offering more of these opportunities for our River Guardians in 2025. We know the power we’re building for the river will continue to grow. 

Funding for the first proactive carp deterrent on the river in Minnesota

River Guardians were incredibly active in our push to secure funding for an invasive carp deterrent. From community meetings to petitions to custom, handmade messages to legislators, each of these efforts made the difference we needed to secure a major win: Legislators tapped into the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council to award $12 million for the construction of an invasive carp deterrent at Lock and Dam 5 near Winona.

This is a huge milestone, and a testament to the many years of effort everyone has put in to prevent invasive carp from moving further upstream the Mississippi River. We look forward to sharing more news as progress is made on the deterrent.

A resounding victory for vital conservation funding

This election, an important ballot initiative rededicating state lottery money to the environment received record-setting "yes" votes across the state. This funding dedication supports several FMR efforts and many important projects throughout Minnesota, so we are extremely grateful for the overwhelming support for this initiative. 

Importantly, this was only possible this year thanks to River Guardians' actions during last year’s legislative session, when they pushed for lottery rededication to be included on the ballot in the 2024 general election. 

What's on the horizon?

With the new year approaching, we already know of a few opportunities that will be important to many advocates.

When the legislative session starts, we’ll be back at the Capitol advocating for funding for clean-water crops, and other opportunities to get more living cover on the landscape year-round. We also plan to connect with River Guardians on our work advancing sustainable aviation fuel, and our efforts to raise awareness about the potential consequences of nickel mining in the Mississippi River watershed. Keep an eye out for upcoming webinars, events, timely action alerts and other opportunities to learn more about how these issues could impact the Mississippi River. 

Thank you to our River Guardians!

And of course: Thank you, River Guardians.

You proved time and time again that effective action can take many forms. Minnesota's great outdoors will continue to get funding because of you. The Mississippi River's waters will be better protected from invasive carp because of you. And the community of river supporters here in the Twin Cities continues to grow because of you.

None of this could have been achieved without your efforts.