Beatrice

• City of Beatrice - In 2007, Exmark Manufacturing celebrated 25 years of business in Beatrice, Nebraska, with a donation for a playground for Roszell/Exmark Park.  To meet the needs of the community, additional shade trees and updated landscaping will be added.  The project will engage Exmark employees in the renovation effort, and increase employee and community pride in this important public green space.

• Diller-Odell Public Schools - In 2007, Exmark Manufacturing celebrated 25 years of business in Beatrice, Nebraska, with a donation for a playground for Roszell/Exmark Park.  To meet the needs of the community, additional shade trees and updated landscaping will be added.  The project will engage Exmark employees in the renovation effort, and increase employee and community pride in this important public green space.

• Keep Beatrice Beautiful – Chief Standing Bear Trailhead Area Restoration and Beautification - Chief Standing Bear Trail is a rail-trail, which follows the Union Pacific Route whose original track was laid back in 1879 alongside an Old Reservation Road from Beatrice to Marysville, KS.  The trail's north end in Beatrice connects to the Homestead Trail, which travels 40 miles north to Lincoln.  The grant funds for this project, managed by Keep Beatrice Beautiful, will reclaim areas of the trail that have been neglected.  Planting evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs and seeding the area will turn a neglected industrial area into a part of the trail to be enjoyed by community and tourists alike.  

Iron Mountain

• Habitat for Humanity Menominee River - Habitat for Humanity Menominee River serves families in need by building and renovating homes and improving neighborhoods.  This project will bring together local civic groups and volunteers to transform the Stanton Street Tot Lot on the Northside of Iron Mountain. Aging tennis courts will be replaced by pickle ball courts, in addition to installing new playground equipment. Improving the green space with new landscaping, including trees and bushes, will provide a welcoming environment and enhance the park experience.

• Lake Antoine Park Partners-Dickinson County Michigan - One of the oldest and most used parks in Dickinson County, Lake Antoine Park is 48 acres, including 3,000 feet of frontage on Lake Antoine.  Located just east of Iron Mountain, the park features a swimming beach, picnic areas, and wooded campground among other things.  In recent years, due to a number of factors, several park features became deterrents to visiting the park.  Revitalizing the park with stump removal, seeding the lawns and planting native shoreline shrubs, in addition to regrading and cleaning up the beach, will improve the aesthetics and foot traffic safety of the beach.

Windom Business, Arts and Recreation Center

• The Business, Arts & Recreation Center (BARC), along with the City of Windom, Windom Economic Authority, Region 6 FFA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Windom Area Schools Ag Department, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Cottonwood County Soil and Water Conservation District, are collaborating to develop and expand welcoming, usable and sustainable public spaces in Windom.
  
  The grant will support:
  
  
  • Construction of rain gardens and the earth berm in Tegels Park
  • The BARC grounds will be enhanced by adding plantings and landscaping along with movable raised butterfly gardens
  • Tree planting along the Des Moines River in Island Park

Xiamen City

• Green Waterkeeper Environmental Center - Focusing on the protection of the ecological environment of water sources, The Green Waterkeeper Environmental Center carries out activities associated with the Jiulong River and Xiamen streams.  Grant funding supports river patrol, water-quality testing, and educating the community on nature and the ecology of the river, with the ultimate goal of increasing environmental awareness.  

Lyndale/Shakopee

• Camp Fire Minnesota - With nature as the catalyst, Camp Fire Minnesota energizes youth through nature-based experiences.  Tanadoona is a 103-acre facility on Lake Minnewashta in Chanhassen, MN.  A new Community & Dining Center is being added to the campus.  Grant funding will support tree and shrub plantings surrounding the new building and also create a second camp garden where youth will plant, tend and harvest produce to prepare healthy meals in the Center’s new Teaching Kitchen.

• Minnesota Landscape Arboretum - The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum is home to 1,200 acres of gardens, plant and tree collections, model landscapes and natural areas.  A new regional trail is being built providing an off-road alternative for people to travel for commuting or recreational purposes.  Grant funds will support beautification of the landscape along portions of the trail that traverses the Arboretum’s property including installing turf, shrubs, trees, and plants that are environmentally sound, sustainable, and support songbirds and pollinators.

• The Loppet Foundation - With a mission of creating a shared passion for year-round outdoor activity in the Minneapolis area focusing on underserved youth and families, The Loppet Foundation in partnership with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board recently opened a new Trailhead Building in Theodore Wirth Regional Park.  The Trailhead and surrounding outdoor space is a community hub for year-round outdoor activity.  Grant funds support garden and lawn installation, as well as invasive species removal resulting in visible beautification of the area.