Friends of the Minnesota Valley

04/27/2026

Ney is a great place with excellent leadership

We're accepting applications for Junior Leaders for one more week! If you're 15-17 years old, this is a great opportunity to not only get outside this summer, but to fain valuable leadership skills and experience! https://neycenter.org/junior-naturalist-volunteers/

04/27/2026

If you get a chance, visit the Ney Nature Center near Henderson

04/26/2026

Friends of High Island is doing, has done, wonderful things for this lake

04/26/2026

The landscape of the Minnesota River basin has changed dramatically in the last 100 years and significantly in the last 50 years.

Early aerial photographs from the 1920s show much of the river basin pockmarked with Prairie Potholes.

Rain that fell in the basin that didn't seep into the ground flowed overland and gathered in the potholes, wetlands, and small lakes. From these natural storage areas in every area of the basin, precipitation water evaporated, seeped away to supply water to springs, and provided habitat for wildlife.

As recently as the 1970s, even as many potholes were being tiled and drained, most of the Minnesota River basin that was farmed consisted of small 80 acre, 160 acre, or 240 acre dairy farms.

A typical dairy farm planted half of its tillable acres into hay or oats with rarely more than 50% of the acres in corn and soybeans. Significant portions of the farm were in pastures.

Even as wetlands were being drained, only about half the land was rowcrop corn and soybeans during this small farm era.

Now, the milk cows are concentrated into mega dairy farms, the alfalfa hay fields and the oats fields are gone.

The wetlands have been drained and the pastures plowed and planted to rowcrops.

Huge fields, tiled to dry out quickly for spring planting or to convert low lying areas into cropland now dominate the Minnesota River basin.

Excess snowmelt and rainwater now finds its way to farm drainage tile that moves it quickly to streams and rivers and the Minnesota River carries massive amounts of sediment to floodplain wetlands downstream and filing in places like Lake Pepin.

Meanwhile taxpayers spend billions dredging shipping channels in the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. Taxpayers are spending millions to recreate wetlands to keep water in the watersheds where it falls as rain or snow.

04/26/2026

In December 2025, Ed Crozier passed away.

Ed was a supporter and friend of the Friends of the Minnesota Valley (FMV) and played a key role in the creation of FMV.

Way back in the 1960s, Ed was part of a citizen group that began advocating for creation of a National Wildlife Refuge in the lower Minnesota Valley. After years of work by Ed and his fellow advocates, the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge was created by an Act of Congress in 1976.

Ed, who had been working in the Regional U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in the twin cities was appointed as the first Refuge Manager. In effect, Ed Crozier was the founder of the refuge.

The Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge became the first urban National Wildlife Refuge in the United States.

The group of people with whom Ed worked to create the refuge formally organized themselves into FRIENDS OF THE MINNESOTA VALLEY.

In many ways, Ed Crozier deserves to be recognized as the father of Friends of the Minnesota Valley.

04/26/2026

Something interesting to do in the Minnesota River Valley and a chance to check out the wonderful town of henderson

04/26/2026

We are looking for personal stories or remembrances about the Minnesota River and the entire Minnesota River basin.

Tell us your experience with a time the Minnesota River flooded.

Did you or an ancestor have an interesting experience that involved the Minnesota River? Tell us about it.

What are your observations about how the river has changed during your lifetime.

Friends of the Minnesota Valley intends to build a Minnesota River Stories Library on our website:

friendsmnvalley.org

You can email your story to:

[email protected]

If you have questions about this Minnesota River Stories project, just email us.

River Watch is a high school program that allows students to get outside and learn hands-on data collection and water monitoring skills, to aid in pollution monitoring throughout the Minnesota River Valley.

04/26/2026

History is a big part of what makes the Minnesota River Valley interesting

This replica of Fort Renville is featured in our new display at the museum. It was made by Matthew R Tyler. Does anyone know Matt and what this project was for.

04/26/2026

New Ulm, one of the most intriguing cities in the Minnesota River Valley

New Ulm has been named one of the 100 Best Midwest Small Town Getaways by Midwest Living. 🙌

From historic downtown streets and German heritage to festivals, food, scenic river valley views, and peacocks! — it’s easy to see why New Ulm stands out.

Whether it’s your first visit or your next weekend getaway, there’s always something to discover here.

👉 Read the feature:
https://www.midwestliving.com/travel/around-region/100-best-midwest-small-town-getaways/ -minnesota