The University of Minnesota Extension celebrated April with National Volunteer Month by honoring four individuals from various workgroups across five regions in Northwest Minnesota that have gone above and beyond for the Regional Sustainable Development Partnership (RSDP).
The University of Minnesota Extension and the Northwest Regional Sustainable Development Partnership honored four volunteers from different workgroups that make up the Partnership. The four volunteers were Nicole Bernd with the Natural Resources Group, Katy Chapman with Clean Energy, Kristen Fagerlund with Resilient Communities, and Sheila Capistran with Sustainable Food & Ag. “The idea was to give some recognition to those folks that help drive our work and bring projects forward, and vet the ideas that come through for possible funding,” Northwest RSDP Program Associate Shannon Stassen explained. “It’s a really important job, and we wouldn’t have the connections to the University and RSDP without our volunteers. They’re what make it happen, and they connect us to other folks throughout the region that have great ideas, and we do the best we can assist them by connecting University resources to that project,” he added. The groups meet four times a year to discuss projects and updates that each of them is doing and decide what projects to move forward with to help the County. One of those being a large meeting in November where they look back at the other three meetings that happened during the year and evaluate them, and decide what areas or groups take higher priority.
Nicole Bernd is one of the four volunteers selected by the University of Minnesota Extension for her work and contributions in the Natural Resources group and for her representation in the West Polk Soil & Water Conservation District, incorporating her own knowledge for deciding on what projects they would precede with. Bernd was first introduced to the group by Executive Director Linda Kingery and loved the people and connections she made within the Group and the University of Minnesota Extension and the information she received from all of her fellow members. “The Natural Resources Group is a good, fun group,” Nicole Bernd explained, “We actually have members that represent the State, other SWCDs, and private citizens, so the discussions are very informative, and we learn a lot from each other on our stances, or what we think would be good projects moving forward.” During her time as part of the Partnership, Bernd and her District have completed many beneficial projects, such as a pollinator habitat that was planted in an area east of Crookston. Where they placed solar panels in a field and surrounded the panels with pollinator plantings to help pollinating creatures in the spring and summer. She noted that the Partnership and her branch will continue to monitor it and see how it will tie into the community and how the community can give back to it. Bernd has also volunteered her time at the Friends of Rydell and Glacial Ridge Refuge and the Agassiz Environmental Learning Center, as she was a previous Board member in all of them, and still tries to volunteer her time for both organization’s projects.
Stassen explained that he and the University of Minnesota Extension chose these four volunteers due to the expertise and passion they bring to their groups and projects and how they bring the groups together to help all of the regions they cover. “The main thing is these are individuals that are not only at the meeting, but they’re contributing in meaningful ways. They’re bringing their expertise, their excitement, their energy, their ideas, all the connections, and networks that they have, and again we can’t do our work without them,” Shannon Stassen explained. “Our volunteers are what makes RSDP go,” he added. Stassen explained that many other volunteers around Minnesota were also recognized for National Volunteer Month, by the University of Minnesota Extension, in cities like Bemidji and Hallock, but these four were the ones that were selected for the Crookston region.
The University of Minnesota Extension has honored many volunteers through National Volunteer Month and is continuing to do many projects with the RSDP. To learn more about them and any current and upcoming projects, go to www.extension.umn.edu and click on Regional Partnerships.
