If you’re a teen or young adult looking to learn more about Minnesota’s wildlife, you’ve come to the right place! Whether you want to put up a birdfeeder or get out and explore our natural areas, there’s lots of ways you can interact with Minnesota’s wildlife.
- DIYs
Quick and easy DIYs to help you connect with wildlife near you.
- Projects
These activities require a little more work than our DIY list, but they’ll help attract wildlife to your yard or balcony! These are more advanced projects that may need ongoing maintenance throughout the year.
- Apps to get you started
These free mobile apps can enhance your wildlife viewing experience, with plant and animal identification and offline parks and trails maps.
- Places you can visit
Wildlife is everywhere in Minnesota; even indoors! If you want to avoid the bugs and weather, indoor nature centers and museums are a great place to learn about Minnesota’s wildlife. For those who want to get out and explore, there’s lots of natural areas throughout Minnesota for you to visit.
In the Twin Cities
Statewide
- Activities
Activities that help you recreate outdoors and connect with the wildlife. This list ranges from low to high intensity activities.
- Get Involved
One of the great things about wildlife watching is that you can do it alone or together! These resources can help you connect with people and enjoy wildlife in a social setting.
You can also get involved with a community science project and help scientists around the world with their research. There’s a variety of topics to choose from, like watching your birdfeeder with FeederWatch or getting outside and surveying bees with the Bumble Bee Atlas. Community science projects are also a great way to get volunteer hours!
- Community science projects
- Volunteering with the DNR
- Start/connect with your local community garden
- Connect with local nature groups. There’s lots of nature groups on Facebook and Instagram, or you can search your city name with “nature group” to find groups.
- Educational Resources
Expand your knowledge on a wide range of natural resource topics, from rare animals to environmental issues. You can also check your local library for more resources about Minnesota’s wildlife! They might also have state park passes you can check out.