GREAT RIVER PASSAGE CONSERVANCY

In 2024, we encouraged people to explore the river through new events, deepened our partnerships with community leaders, and advanced transformational projects that will connect more people to the Mississippi River in meaningful ways. RIVER LEARNING CENTER - A major milestone in bringing the River Learning Center to life was the selection of architecture firm VJAA and landscape architects TEN x TEN to lead the next phase of design. These local firms have national expertise in riverfront projects and are deeply committed to environmental stewardship, making them ideal partners. Joining them is Full Circle Indigenous Planning + Design, which will continue to facilitate engagement with Native American tribal leaders and organizations, ensuring Indigenous perspectives remain central to the project's development. Together, this team will refine the concept plan, integrate community input, and advance the design toward final construction documents by December 2025, bringing us one big step closer to creating a dynamic new gateway to the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, we are piloting events to activate the site and explore future programming opportunities. Our Winter Play Day drew over 400 attendees in January, and partner-led programs like Park After Dark, History Cruises, and Mystery on the Mississippi have helped us collaborate with future River Learning Center partners to test a range of program types and scales. These efforts not only activate the site but prepare us to work well together before the Center officially opens. RIVER BALCONY - We are leading the effort to unite downtown partners under the Saint Paul Riverfront vision, aligning projects like the River Balcony and RiversEdge to guide development, funding, and programming. A new website, saintpaulriverfront.com, launched as a hub for exploring the projects transforming the riverfront. Working in partnership with the City of Saint Paul, Ramsey County, and downtown stakeholders like the Science Museum of Minnesota, MN Wild, and Downtown Alliance, we are advancing a cohesive vision for the downtown riverfront. One of the key steps is completing the Downtown Riverwalk, a pedestrian loop connecting downtown Saint Paul to the Mississippi Riverfront. The two-mile loop will feature interpretive locations focusing on a range of subjects, including cultural history, geology, river commerce, and ecology. The successful Riverwalk funding campaign in 2024 will see it come to fruition in 2025. A central feature of the Riverwalk will be a reimagining of the railroad underpasses at Sibley and Jackson streets. Today, these passageways are dark, uninviting, and often perceived as unsafe, deterring pedestrians and cyclists from accessing the riverfront. To turn the underpasses into vibrant, welcoming gateways to the Mississippi River, we are transforming these spaces through public art installations. As these larger-scale and longer-term projects progress, we aim to bring people to the river along the way. Last summer, we hosted events like Patio Thursdays, History Walking Tours, and JazzClectic on the River. EAST SIDE RIVER DISTRICT - Restoration and community activation efforts continue across this 1,000-acre district, particularly at Pig's Eye Regional Park. In partnership with the city and University of Minnesota scientists, we are planning bioremediation projects to explore how plants can accelerate cleanup and restore a healthy landscape. We launched this initiative with a November webinar that introduced the public to these efforts and previewed upcoming ecological experiments. This spring, we will begin experiments, including two demonstrations of a biochar filtration system. Community events are being planned for this fall to share progress and engage the public in the restoration efforts. We continue to collaborate with partners like the DNR, Army Corps, Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi, Urban Roots, and Friends of Pigs Eye, while also working closely with the Pig's Eye Dump Task Force, an MPCA-led multi-agency task force charged with developing a plan to clean up and restore Pig's Eye Dump. Their cleanup and restoration plan will be completed in February 2026, with "future public use" being the most important factor in the state's decision to fully remediate the site.