In response to Metro Greenprint, a citizens report that called for stronger efforts to protect nature in the face of urban growth, the Minnesota Legislature established the Metro Greenways program in 1998 and provided $4.3 million to plan, protect, and improve significant natural areas in the seven-county metropolitan region. Administered and coordinated by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Metro Greenways relies on unprecedented partnerships with a wide range of nonprofit conservation organizations, government agencies, institutions, and private businesses and landowners.
By assisting local government with planning grants and project funding, the program empowers communities to protect and improve the natural resources that are important to them in a way that earns local support. At the same time, the seven-county scope assures that the individual projects contribute to the existing local and regional park systems as elements of a regional network of green spaces and naturally functioning ecosystems.
Metro Greenways so far has launched efforts to protect more than 1,300 acres of sensitive natural areas. It has provided technical help to 57 local units of government and worked with communities across the region to inventory natural resources and develop stewardship plans affecting more than 600,000 acres, leveraging more than $12 million in other funds in the process.
For more information on this project, see Related Links at bottom right of screen.
Download the Metro Greenways Case Study (pdf).
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