Southwest Minnesota Foundation Helps Preserve Native Prairie

Southwest Minnesota Foundation, Hutchinson, has supported The Brandenburg Prairie Foundation's Touch the Sky project to preserve native prairie in the region. Touch the Sky is an educational, tourism and environmental initiative with a goal to draw people to southwest Minnesota to experience the native prairie environment.

The grant will help The Brandenburg Prairie Foundation purchase an additional parcel of land that will be developed as a trailhead for visitors. Brandenburg has already secured 690 acres for the Touch the Sky project through its partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"Our grant to the Brandenburg Prairie Foundation supports leadership and partnerships working to add value to our region's natural resources for potential future tourists and our own residents," said Sherry Ristau, president of the Southwest Minnesota Foundation.

In total, the Southwest Minnesota Foundation awarded $50,000 to support the Touch the Sky project. The funding is part of the foundation's Regional Impact Grants to support projects in the southwestern Minnesota region. Other projects receiving the foundation's Regional Impact Grants include Ridgewater College ($31,590) for its Nursing Simulator Project, and Project Turnabout ($50,000) to rebuild its Granite Falls Family Center that was destroyed in a July 2000 tornado.

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