Our Work in 2023

 
2023 was a year of celebrations and big changes for our program.

 

New leadership

Cynthia Osmundson retired as the Nongame Wildlife Program Supervisor in the summer of 2023. Under her leadership, our program grew to include new public engagement initiatives, the Minnesota Loon Restoration Project, the Bird by Bird program, a community science program, and so much more. Her dedication to Minnesota's wildlife has left a legacy that will be felt for decades to come.

Kristin Hall has taken over as our new Nongame Wildlife Program Supervisor. Kristin has been with the program since 2018 as our State Wildlife Action Plan Coordinator. Before joining our program, she spent 10 years with Audubon building partnerships and collaborations for Important Bird Areas. Kristin brings incredible experience and we couldn’t be happier to have her as our new Nongame Wildlife Program Supervisor.

To lead our new public engagement and education efforts, we created an exciting, new leadership position of Nongame Wildlife Program Engagement Supervisor, filled by Jessica Ruthenberg. Jessica joined us from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, where she was a Watchable Wildlife Biologist for over nine years. She holds a Masters in Natural Resources and the Environment from University of Michigan, with a dual-specialization in Conservation Biology and Environmental Behavior, Education, and Communication. We’re so excited to have Jessica and can’t wait to continue developing the engagement and education side of our program.

 

New beginnings

 Minnesota Wildlife Action Plan Revision

We kickstarted the revision process of the Minnesota Wildlife Action Plan (WAP). The WAP directs much of our work and is revised every 10 years. Last year, our team hosted workshops with conservation specialists throughout the state and began creating the 2025-2035 Wildlife Action Plan.

The cover of the 5 year WAP report
10 Years of the EagleCam

2023 also marked our 10th season running the EagleCam. Unfortunately, the nest fell on April 2, 2023. Our EagleCam team spent the remainder of the year searching for a new nest location and monitoring the old site. We are working towards installing a new nest camera, so stay tuned.

Bird by Bird Takes Flight

In June 2023, we launched Bird by Bird in the Twin Cities, an educational program that shares the joy of birding with classrooms and communities.

200 elementary students are participating in classroom activities focused on bird observations and adaptations. Each class has been provided with schoolyard bird feeding stations, a set of binoculars, field guides, and interactive curriculum to encourage and inspire students to observe birds.

In partnership with Urban Roots, our cohort of seven high school BOLD (Birding and Outdoor Leadership Development) leaders learned about bird identification, ecology, and conservation careers. They participated in over 250 hours of hands-on field experience, so they can lead birding events in their communities.

(This project was inspired by Bird by Bird Idaho and partially funded by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund).

A group of children bird watching

 

Community science grows

Frog and Toad Calling Survey

Last year, our community science program ran a pilot relaunch of the popular Frog and Toad Calling Survey with experienced volunteers from the original survey. We had over 100 volunteers and assistants survey over 70 routes across the state. A huge thank you to everyone who volunteered! We look forward to opening the survey up to new volunteers in the future, so stay tuned for future updates.

A closeup of a gray treefrog
30 years of the Minnesota Loon Monitoring Program

2023 was also the 30th anniversary of the Minnesota Loon Monitoring Program. This is one of our longest running community science projects, and thanks to our volunteers we have over 30 years of loon data for more than 600 lakes.

Swift Night Outs

We continued expanding our Chimney Swift Sits (also called Swift Night Out) to include new locations and more events. Last fall, participants observed over a thousand swifts roosting for the night at Mahtomedi High School. We’ll be hosting more Swift Night Outs this coming year, so make sure to follow us on Facebook for event details this spring and fall.

A counter that displays 1448 indicating that over 1400 swifts were seen

 

Researching and preserving wildlife

Minnesota Loon Restoration Project

We continued work on the Minnesota Loon Restoration Project. Our loon specialists deployed 40 artificial nesting platforms with community partners to augment natural loon nesting habitat. They also presented at over 20 community events and continued developing the Loon-Friendly Lake Registry Program.

A loon with a chick on its back
Four toed salamander monitoring

After years of planning and pilots, staff in northern Minnesota kicked off our four-toed salamander monitoring project. Four-toed salamanders were discovered in Minnesota in 1994, but there is a lot we don’t know about the species. They are a Species in Greatest Conservation Need in Minnesota and their habitat is found in areas with timber harvesting. Staff want to learn how four-toed salamanders populations change over time in response to forest management, so they have identified survey sites in both areas where timber harvest is planned and areas where it is not. They will spend the next several years surveying these sites, gathering data before and after the harvest to see how the salamanders respond. So stay tuned for future updates.

Prairie reconstructions 

2023 was a year of prairies, patience, and partners for our staff in the southern region. Minnesota has lost most of its native prairie, so staff in southern Minnesota are monitoring prairie reconstruction sites to see if reconstructing prairie habitat is a way we can benefit Minnesota’s prairie species. They monitored 11 reconstructed prairies, searching for specific bumble bee, butterfly, and bird species. We need more years of data, but the preliminary research is showing that prairie reconstructions seem to be having a positive impact on bumble bee and butterfly populations. We will continue to monitor these sites in 2024.

A closeup of a prairie butterfly

 

Thank you!

This is just a small snapshot of the amazing work we’re able to accomplish thanks to your support.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered, purchased a critical habitat license plate, shared our messaging, donated to the program, and supported our program. We’ve been helping Minnesota’s rare and vulnerable wildlife for over 45 years and thanks to you, we’re still going strong.

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