OUR STORY

Friends of Lake Hiawatha was started by a group of neighbors who had grown concerned about the amount of trash in Lake Hiawatha. Over the years we’ve added new folks and started habitat restoration. We recently have connected with the University of Minnesota’s CCEL program (Center for Community Engaged Learning) whereby students can volunteer with us and receive credit at the University. We have also worked with Nawayee Center School and Cub Scouts, Highpoint Center and many other groups.

Our current area of focus for planting is along the south side of the lake, near where the Minnehaha Creek enters. When it comes to trash, we pick it up wherever we find it! We have our own tools, and no one is paid for their work as this group is volunteer driven.

Our relationship to the lake is what drives us, but our partnership with the Parks Board of Minneapolis (MPRB) is crucial to our work, as well. The MPRB supports us through the stewardship agreement because our work aligns with the Hiawatha Nokomis Regional Plan of reducing turf areas and rewilding of local areas including the space we are working in. Their support over the years has ranged from coordinating Earth Day cleanup events, to donating plants and installing a trash collection device on the north side of the lake. We also receive seeds, shrubs, compost and leaf mulch from the city of Minneapolis and MPRB.

We are a small group of volunteers without funding, so we work in steps to gradually expand our restoration area each year. We prepare the new areas in the fall preceding by bringing in organic material to cover the turf zones in the fall prior to planting in spring. Together we’ll make sure that Lake Hiawatha has a bright (and clean) future!