With multiple conservation successes over the past decade and a half,
Great River Greening is poised to
do even more in the near future.
The organization began in 1995 as part of the
St. Paul Foundation, with
an initial goal of planting 35,000 trees and shrubs in the riverfront
area of St. Paul.
By mobilizing over 10,000 volunteers, Great River quickly achieved that
mission and moved on to a new project: the "Million Acorns Campaign,"
which aimed to revive the dwindling oak savannah population in the city.
With that project now completed as well, the group is looking to go
state-wide with its initiatives, and is adding two key director
positions in development and marketing, to grow the nonprofit.
"We need to go to the next level," says Deborah Karasov, Great River's
Executive Director. "We have an amazing group of devoted donors, and now
we want to take our message to a wider audience, and grow
geographically."
The group is well known in the St. Paul metro area, but Karasov notes
that they'd like to do more initiatives in the Minnesota River Valley,
as well as in northern counties.
Great River is distinctive, she adds, because they don't do political
advocacy or lobbying work, focusing all their energies instead on
conservation efforts and community building. The group's ability to get
volunteers for hands-on work is particularly inspiring, Karasov
believes.
In the future, she anticipates there will be many more projects around
water quality protection and land restoration. The newly-minted
directorial positions should bring a needed boost to Great River's
ambitious-but-realistic goals to green up the state.
Source: Deborah Karasov, Great River Greening
Writer: Elizabeth Millard