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NEWSLETTER / DECEMBER 2023
Welcome to our final newsletter of 2023! Thank you for subscribing and for caring about our watershed. Your involvement and support are vital to our mission.🙏
In this issue, we’ll unpack three big themes from the last year that will carry over into 2024. We look forward to keeping you updated as we work with our partners and community members to protect and improve water quality and habitat in our watershed.
Happy New Year!🎉
Three Big Takeaways from 2023
1️⃣ Transforming the Riverfront
 Aerial view of construction at Graco Park on Dec. 21, 2023.
🏞 Our work is all about the Mississippi River. That’s why we’re thrilled to take part in several projects that will make the riverfront a greener, more sustainable and welcoming place for all.
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What Happened: Project partners broke ground on Graco Park, a new 9-acre park next to Boom Island and Hall’s Island in Northeast Minneapolis. The MWMO is funding stormwater and habitat enhancements at the park, which is expected to open next year.
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What’s Next: The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) is set to build a long-awaited trail connection between Ole Olson Park and the 26th Avenue Overlook. The MWMO is funding habitat improvements along the new trail. Meanwhile, shoreline restoration work will continue at Upper Harbor Terminal, where the MPRB recently took ownership of the future parkland.
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Also Noteworthy: Neighbors are doing their part too. The MWMO funded a trio of neighborhood-led restoration projects at Father Hennepin Bluff Park, Nicollet Island, and Sheridan Memorial Park. Friends of the Mississippi River is partnering on all three projects.
2️⃣ Growing Greener Streets
 A newly constructed boulevard raingarden on 37th Avenue NE in Columbia Heights on Oct. 26, 2023
🌱 Urban street design is evolving, incorporating green infrastructure that provides a range of environmental benefits. Several new projects made headway this year.
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What Happened: Nearly a full mile of green stormwater infrastructure was added to 37th Avenue NE between Minneapolis and Columbia Heights in 2023. Construction also wrapped up on similar street improvements on Minnehaha Avenue.
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What’s Next: Crews will wrap up the final plantings for 37th Avenue NE and Minnehaha Avenue sometime early next year. The MWMO also just approved funding for three new projects in the Southside Green Zone of Minneapolis.
3️⃣ Embracing Environmental Art
 MWMO Artist-in-Residence Sarah Nassif holds a Weaving Water Workshop in South Minneapolis on June 11, 2023.
🎨 Blending artistic expression with environmental awareness can be a powerful way to spark conversations with the community. MWMO-supported artists outdid themselves in 2023.
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What Happened: Projects by MWMO Artist-in-Residence Sarah Nassif, Aaron Dysart, Art to Change the World, and Annie Irene Hejny engaged thousands of visitors on issues ranging from water quality to environmental justice to the impacts of climate change. And artist Seitu Jones completed construction of his artARK as part of the WAKPA Triennial Festival.
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What’s Next: The MWMO will continue collaborating with Sarah Nassif in 2024. We’re also working on a winter workshop series that will combine hands-on learning with ecology. Stay tuned!
In Case You Missed It…
📣 A few other notable achievements in 2023:
Aabijijiwan / Ukeyat yanalleh
MWMO Artist-in-Residence Sarah Nassif will lead a workshop at All My Relations Gallery on Jan. 6, 2024. The workshop is currently sold out, but you can see Sarah’s loom as part of the Gallery’s current exhibit about the Mississippi River by artists Karen Goulet and Monique Verdin. The exhibit runs through Jan. 13.
Learn More >
Photo of the Month
 📷 Minneapolis resident and paddleboard enthusiast Bryan Boyce dons a wet suit and life jacket as he launches his paddleboard from the MWMO shoreline on Dec. 22, 2023. Temperatures in the Twin Cities broke all-time records on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, reaching the mid-50s. Overall, 2023 is on track to become the third warmest year on record for the metropolitan area. Boyce took advantage of the unusually warm weather to paddle to Boom Island.
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