Description

This course is only available by special invitation. It is intended for students in classes taught by certified MN Master Naturalist instructors. If an instructor at your institution gave this link to you, then you are in the right place. Please click on the section to the right called EXT XNR.0016-001 to complete your registration and watch for future emails from the Minnesota Master Naturalist program.

The mission of the Minnesota Master Naturalist Program is to promote awareness, understanding, and stewardship of Minnesota’s natural environment by developing a corps of well-informed citizens dedicated to conservation education and service within their communities.

Our core biome courses are designed to give a general overview of one of Minnesota's three biomes:

• Big Woods, Big Rivers

  In this core course, training is tailored to Minnesota's Eastern Broadleaf Forest biome. This area makes a diagonal sash across Minnesota, starting at the northwest corner of the state with a narrow band and widening out in the southeast. It encompasses approximately 12 million acres, and includes three of the largest rivers in the state.

  Big Woods, Big Rivers covers topics of geology, glaciers, water, wildlife, humans, ecology, and botany using a variety of teaching techniques, ranging from lectures, classroom discussions, field trips, field work, small group work and readings.

• Prairies & Potholes

  The official name for the ecological province called the Prairies & Potholes by the Minnesota Master Naturalist Program is the Prairie Parkland Province. This biome was historically composed mainly of tallgrass prairie. Today it is used for agricultural purposes. The glaciers deposited between 100 and 600 feet of drift over the entire region. The Prairies & Potholes biome covers just over 16 million acres on the western edge of the state.

  The biome is a hot and dry place, where evapotranspiration is annually higher than precipitation. In the northern portions of the biome, glacial kettles have filled with water and form the "potholes" that dot the landscape. These bodies of water are important for migratory waterfowl, and waterfowl production. The Minnesota River now flows through the old channel carved by Glacial River Warren, an outlet for Glacial Lake Agassiz.

• North Woods, Great Lakes

  In this core course, training is tailored to Minnesota’s unique Laurentian Mixed Forest biome. The largest biome of the state, it covers over 23 million acres of northeast Minnesota. The region contains a multitude of landscapes, including swampland, bogs, vast forests, lakes and exposed bedrock.

  North Woods, Great Lakes covers topics of geology, glaciers, water, wildlife, humans, ecology, and botany using a variety of teaching techniques, ranging from lectures, classroom discussions, field trips, field work, small group work and readings.

Volunteer Service

Following the completion of the training course, Minnesota Master Naturalist Volunteers will be expected to complete 40 hours of volunteer service per year to be considered an active Master Naturalist. Any time spent on the capstone project and any volunteer service hours completed after graduating from the training course may be counted towards the 40 hours. There are four basic areas of service:

• Stewardship. Natural resource management activities such as invasive species removal or restoration projects.
• Education/Interpretation. Public presentations of natural resource information, educational materials development, or leading hikes.
• Citizen Science. Data collection and other support for research projects. Examples include Monarch larval monitoring, plant or animal counts, or water quality monitoring.
• Program Support. Projects include working in a store or office of the Minnesota Master Naturalist or sponsor or serving as a local chapter organizer.

Help

Course content questions

info@minnesotamasternaturalist.org

Registration questions 

Extension Registration, ext-reg@umn.edu

User Name or Password help

UMN Help Desk, HELP@umn.edu, 612-301-4357.

Visit the Minnesota Master Naturalist website for more information on this and upcoming courses.