Meet our Volunteers

Jim Lockrem and the Lake Seven (Scalp) Lake Association in Frazee, Minnesota, came to the DNR with concerns of erosion occurring on an island within the lake that is routinely used by loons as a nesting location. The island is DNR owned. Working together with DNR Fisheries' aquatic management area (AMA) habitat staff, Jim helped develop a plan to restore the damage.

Jim coordinated volunteers to cut willow shoots which were used to make willow wattles, bundles of live branches and cuttings used at the bottom and on slopes of shoreline for stabilization. Both wattles and live stakes, another tool used in shoreline restorations, will sprout and grow, forming a living stabilization system. Jim also hand cut the wooden stakes used to install the coconut coir logs - these are 12"-16" diameter logs or rolls made of densely packed coconut fiber within Coir fiber netting. When staked against the shoreline, these logs provide protection from the waves and will biodegrade over a period of about 5 to 8 years.

The lake association funded the purchase of all materials needed and the DNR contracted with Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa (CCMI) for installation of the project. Jim was there on installation day, lending a hand and any tools needed to get the job done. Jim's effort is really what made this project happen!

Sara Holger’s work with Project WET (Water Education for Today) has been instrumental in pairing educational materials with her outreach work in rural Minnesota. For example, through Project Get Outdoors, a small non-profit organization located in Wabasha, MN, Sara has offered Minnesota Master Naturalist courses to introduce adults to the natural history of the Driftless Area of southeast Minnesota. A major emphasis of these courses is to help participants understand the unique and fragile regional landscape known as karst topography and how human land-use practices impact groundwater resources.

As part of these courses, Sara coordinates field trips and the guest presenters to give participants hands-on experiences that allow them to develop personal connections to the land and water. In 2025, Sara offered two Master Naturalist courses: one in Spring Valley, Fillmore County and one in Pine Island, Olmsted County. Participants visited caves, sinkholes, springs, disappearing rivers, trout streams and were introduced to Project WET activities, such as the Water Cycle game. These helped reinforce the concepts discussed during field trips and introduce tangible resources they can access if they want to educate others in their communities about our water resources.

Sara is currently collaborating with Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center to plan a summer teacher institute for English Language Learner (ELL) teachers and paraprofessionals who provide support in ELL classrooms. The three-day summer experience will provide mentorship and support to empower ELL staff to weave nature-based curriculum and outdoor exploration into their classrooms. Project WET curriculum activities will be used to train the educators.

Lake Bemidji State Park used to have a difficult time recruiting volunteers for their programs and events, but not anymore. Lynn Moore offered to share her communication skills this past year stepping in to help recruit and coordinate volunteers in the park. Lynn personally reaches out to interested people to invite them to volunteer and schedule them for projects. Volunteers help at many events including candlelight hikes where they set out and light candles, prepare and serve refreshments, and tend campfires. Volunteers also assist the park naturalist with interpretive programs by trimming boughs for a wreath making program, setting up deer exclosures to stop them from eating certain plants, and helping with group programs in the visitor center setting up tables and chairs, and cleaning up afterwards.

As part of the Friends of Lake Bemidji State Park, Lynn also works with this non-profit support group to host two pancake breakfasts for campers on Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend each year. Volunteers cook, serve, set up, clean up and interact with park visitors at these events.

Lynn has been a great help in assisting park staff in running these large events and programs. 

Wildlife management areas (WMAs) are part of Minnesota's outdoor recreation system and are established to protect those lands and waters that have a high potential for wildlife production, public hunting, trapping, fishing, and other compatible recreational uses. Since adopting a wildlife management area, 16 Brown County 4-H members (K–11th grade), along with several adult volunteers, participated in a service-learning day last spring at Somsen WMA near New Ulm. During this event, youth helped clean ditches by removing trash and scrap metal, installing new signposts, and learning about bird calls to identify species present.

Brown County 4-H has 235 enrolled youth members in eight community and project-based clubs along with additional clubs that primarily operate through after-school programs in Sleepy Eye, Springfield, and New Ulm.

Thanks to Brown County 4-H for selecting the Adopt-a-WMA program to enhance learning and foster civic responsibility by participating in this community service.

Pictured L to R: Landon Frederickson, Calleigh Frederickson, Natalia Frederickson, and Lillian Brandes of the Bows & Triggers 4-H Club.

Minnesota’s wildlife management areas are key to protecting wildlife habitat for future generations, providing citizens with opportunities for hunting, fishing and wildlife watching, and promoting important wildlife-based tourism in the state. Seeking to assist in these efforts, JB Bright organized a group of Pheasants Forever members to clean up old dumping piles found on the Star Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Pope County near Glenwood.

This group collected and hauled off a trailer full of trash, old farm equipment, large pieces of steel, buckets, fencing and other old items. This eye sore had been there for many years and its removal greatly improved the aesthetics and safety for people and dogs visiting the WMA.

Thank you to JB and Pheasants Forever!

Due to multiple equipment breakdowns, posting the wildlife refuge boundary last August on Thief Lake, Middle River, Minnesota, had to be completed last minute in inclement weather. Working from a small boat in unseasonably cold, rainy, and very windy weather, Dr. Adam Point assisted the Thief Lake Wildlife Management Area assistant area wildlife manager with posting four miles of refuge boundary just in time for early waterfowl season openers.

Posting the refuge boundary involves driving approximately 12’ long freshly cut aspen poles a few feet into the bottom of Thief Lake from a boat.  A reflective sign reading “State Wildlife Sanctuary DO NOT TRESSPASS” is attached to each post with 2 screws facing the huntable portion of the lake so that waterfowl hunters can see the sanctuary boundary. This is important because the lake boundary needs to be posted before teal and goose seasons open in early September so hunters can see where the sanctuary line is and do not hunt there which is illegal.

Adam also assisted DNR staff with setting up five predator scent post surveys. This is dusty, stinky, sometimes labor-intensive work, often in hot, sunny weather. Furbearer scent post surveys have been conducted by the MN DNR since 1975 to monitor population trends for numerous terrestrial carnivores within the state.  Surveys are conducted in early September each year. The station itself is a 3-foot diameter circle of sifted earth, grubbed at the edge, shoulder, or ditch as conditions dictate.  The imprint of the 3-foot diameter hoop marks the station boundary.  A (very stinky) scent disc is placed in the center of each scent station.  Routes are set during daylight and checked for predator tracks the following morning. Tracks were found of domestic dog, domestic cat, weasel, coyote, skunk, marten, fisher, and red fox on the surveys.  In the past, black bears, wolves, raccoons, bobcats, possums, and minks have also been recorded leaving prints in the station.

Thank you, Adam, for all your help!

Cave surveying is careful, methodical work. Each measurement taken underground helps create accurate maps of the cave’s passages, revealing how water has shaped the rock over thousands of years. In a karst landscape like southeast Minnesota, those maps are more than lines on paper, they help us understand how the surface and subsurface are connected. Survey data gives us insight into how groundwater flows, how passages relate to sinkholes and streams above, and how we can best protect this fragile system.

Cheryl Johnson, chair of the Iowa Grotto club of the National Speleological Society, and board member of the Cave Research Foundation, regularly travels from Iowa on her own time to assist with ongoing cave survey work, which is a true testament to her passion for caves and conservation. Last year, Cheryl completed 2,000 feet of survey monitoring and inventorying resources found in Mystery Cave, part of Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park near Preston, Minnesota. 

By helping document the cave in such detail, Cheryl is contributing to science, conservation, and visitor safety. Her boundless enthusiasm, steady dedication, and love of learning make long survey days productive and inspiring. Volunteers like Cheryl help ensure that Mystery Cave is not only explored but truly understood and protected for generations to come.