2023 Annual Report

Fellow friends of the river,

Celebrating and reflecting upon Friends of the Mississippi River’s 30th anniversary throughout 2023 gave us an opportunity to recognize how far we’ve come towards realizing our mission of a cleaner river for all and to appreciate how significantly, meaningfully and impactfully the organization’s scale and scope has grown.

This past year we again made significant progress engaging people and furthering programs to protect, restore and enhance the Mississippi River and its watershed. At the Capitol, FMR advanced important initiatives on safer drinking water, the integrity of St. Anthony Falls, invasive carp and much more. Our youth council shaped policy as well, making recommendations on park access and supporting our work in communities. Pollinators are better off thanks to our habitat restoration and monitoring. And we continued to grow the emerging market for clean-water crops.

Annual reports usually focus on just the past year, but we close this report with an overview of some of the incredible accomplishments since our founding. Check out our timeline to look back on some highlights from the past 30 years.

We are building, growing and transforming this organization together, and these accomplishments — and those that are on the horizon — belong to us all. Thank you for giving what you can to the life-giving river we love.

With gratitude, Chad Dayton, 2023 Chair of FMR’s Board of Directors

Protecting and restoring critical lands for water quality, wildlife and climate resilience

Our ecologists actively restored and maintained  34 sites across the metro region , creating wildlife habitat, improving water quality and strengthening climate resiliency.

You've seen the reports of worldwide pollinator decline. Our Land Conservation team works to counteract that trend, focusing on pollinator habitat in all of our restoration efforts. Here's what that looked like in 2023.

Connecting individuals and communities with our river and its watershed to inspire a stewardship ethic

We're grateful to the  many individuals and organizations  who give their time to steward the health of our metro riverway through our volunteer events and programs like our BIPOC River Stewards, Above the Falls Stewards, River Gorge Stewards and Vermillion River Stewards.

Our education program partnered with young river stewards through hands-on classroom lessons, service-learning outings, volunteer opportunities, community science partnerships and our career pathways program.

FMR's Environmental Stewardship Institute youth council consulted on the Metropolitan Council's 2050 regional plan, presenting findings on park accessibility, safety and education. They developed their policy recommendations through research, including listening to dozens of stories from youth and other community members.

Reflecting on these interviews, they wrote, "We learned about the lack of park access and attendance among disempowered groups, especially among young people, and how community gardens and habitat restoration can create stronger and more resilient communities."

Engaging people through grassroots advocacy and assisting decision-makers to envision and create healthy, inspiring river communities

In 2023, our Land Use & Planning program participated in  28 planning and development projects  from end to end of the national park corridor.

Here are just three of the important issues we weighed in on in 2023:

We'll soon know a lot more about one of the state's most crucial, but overlooked, pieces of infrastructure: the cutoff wall underneath St. Anthony Falls.

Without FMR's leadership, we wouldn't have a plan to determine the condition of this 1,850-foot-long concrete structure 40 feet beneath the riverbed. We do know that if the wall were to fail, it could compromise the water supply for Minneapolis, St. Paul and several suburbs, and threaten nearby roads and bridges.

This past year we led the campaign to educate the public and our decision-makers about this hidden hazard, and it paid off. The Legislature awarded $1 million to investigate the cutoff wall — a first step in protecting our cities and the only waterfall on the Mississippi River.

River Guardian advocates  joined us to take action  on river issues at every level of the political system in 2023.

Activating people and building partnerships to influence public policies that impact the river’s health

We're proud of  the work we got done at the Legislature  with our coalition partners and River Guardian advocates. In addition to advancing clean-water crops and securing funding to investigate infrastructure at St. Anthony Falls, we're celebrating:

Clean-water crops are key to restoring our river's water quality. But farmers can't grow a crop that isn't in demand.

To support the growing market, we've championed programs that uplift the businesses bringing these crops from the field to the market. Investing now in these local businesses reduces early-stage barriers, and gives us a chance to make Minnesota a leader in 21st-century agricultural innovation that benefits soil, water, climate and communities.

With our partners, we designed a state investment program to develop value chains for clean-water crops. Thanks to legislative wins in 2022 and 2023, local businesses could apply for grants last spring. Companies like Perennial Pantry can scale up their operations, and groups like Regenerative Agriculture Alliance can facilitate advancements for small farmers. That means you'll be able to buy more Kernza baked goods, hazelnut snacks and other tasty products soon. And Minnesota will see more acres of these crops on the land and cleaner waters as a result.

Your contributions as a donor, volunteer or advocate have been instrumental in helping us make significant progress toward our goal of protecting the river and its watershed. We're grateful for your generosity and dedication.

As you celebrate the impactful work you made possible over the past year, be sure to check out our full supporter report honoring our 2023 Super River Guardians and SuperVolunteers, as well as our generous donors giving between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023.

If you haven't given recently, consider making a donation for 2024:

*In 2022, FMR moved to a July-to-June fiscal year calendar. The above data is for the unrestricted income for the 12-month period July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023.

In 2023, we celebrated our 30th anniversary and all we've accomplished with our supporters. Here are 10 highlights since our founding in 1993.

In 2024, you can expect us to continue all this work and more. We'll be championing the potential for oilseeds to become biofuels, releasing our analysis on the significant benefits of continuous living cover, making our curriculum more inclusive, partnering on pollinator habitat for a major solar power installation and advocating for barriers to stop the spread of invasive carp. Join us!