(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to "Farm Connections."

I'm your host, Dan Hoffman.

On today's episode, we visit with Master Naturalist, Sara Holger, to discuss the Master Naturalist Program and what it provides for Minnesotans.

And we meet Forester, Mark Miller, and discuss the abundant resources our forests provide.

All here today on "Farm Connections".

(upbeat country music) - [Announcer] Welcome to "Farm Connections" with your host Dan Hoffman.

- [Announcer] Farm Connections' Premier sponsor is Minnesota Corn.

- [Announcer] Programming supported by Minnesota Corn, working to identify and promote opportunities for corn growers, enhance quality of life, and help others understand the value and importance of corn production to America's economy.

(upbeat country music) - [Announcer] Additional support from the following sponsors.

- [Announcer] Programming supported by R&S Grain Systems, a family-owned business, serving its customers for 50 years with leading designs in the manufacturing of grain handling equipment and grain storage systems.

You can call in for a quote today.

- [Announcer] Programming supported by EDP Renewables, North America, owner/operator of Prairie Star and Pioneer Prairie Wind Farms in Minnesota and Iowa.

EDPR wind farms and solar parks provide income to farmers and help power rural economies across the continent.

- [Announcer] Mower County Farm Bureau Association, a KSMQ broadcast sponsor, advocates for agriculture based on the policies and beliefs of its members.

It's dedicated to making the voices of its members stronger.

You can learn more about membership benefits at fbmn.org - [Announcer] Program supported by employee owned AgVantage Software, Rochester, Minnesota, celebrating their 50th year designing and developing agribusiness software for grain elevators, feed manufacturers, producers, fertilizer and chemical dealers, co-ops, seed companies, and fuel distributors.

(light calming music) (light calming music continues) - Welcome to "Farm Connections".

We traveled to the Hay Creek Forest Recreation Area and with me is Sara Holger.

Sara, thanks for having us.

- Thanks for coming.

- What's happening today?

- Well, we have a Minnesota Master Naturalist class.

We've been meeting for well three weeks now and this is our graduation day.

But we are gonna be learning more about the forests of southeast Minnesota.

And these folks are then, once they graduate, are expected to volunteer at least 40 hours a year with conservation and we're hoping some of them are gonna volunteer with our non-profit organization.

- Well how fascinating.

What have they learned so far?

- Oh my gosh, they've learned so much about the Driftless Area of southeast Minnesota, the plant and animal communities, the geologic history, the history of the humans on this landscape, ecology, invasive species, and just ways to communicate about nature with others and how they can get involved with local organizations to just help support conservation and stewardship.

- When you say Driftless, what do you mean?

- So the Driftless Area is an area of southeast Minnesota that the last glacier, is about 10 to 12,000 years ago, missed, the glaciers kind of stopped before they got here and started melting and retreating.

So we have really unique landscape here.

We have deep valleys, tall bluffs, caves, sinkholes, disappearing rivers, springs that feed our cold trout streams.

So it's a really unique landscape.

So Driftless isn't just southeast Minnesota, there's a part of Iowa, Illinois, and Southwest Wisconsin.

But it's a really unique region.

I think about like the great flood story with Noah's Ark.

This is Noah's Ark.

This is the area that missed that great flood of the glaciers melting.

- Well, it's beautiful.

- Yeah, it's gorgeous.

- What kind of response did you get from your students as they move through and they touched the nature that's here?

- Oh wow, I mean some of these folks were already, you know, real nature enthusiasts and some of them are more, you know, beginner level.

But man, everybody gets super excited.

Every single class, so we have seven classes, every class was held at a different site.

So we visited lots of different between parks and scientific and natural areas, forest units, private land.

We got to tour some farms and see some neat things.

And people overwhelmingly are just really grateful and excited for these opportunities, especially to go with somebody like a mentor to visit these places.

A lot of them haven't been out to a scientific and natural area before.

What is that?

How do you find it?

Where do you park?

How do you navigate these spaces?

So I'm getting a lot of really excited, positive feedback from folks.

- Fantastic.

And how many people in the class?

- So we have 20 in this class, which is a good size group.

It's a lot of cars.

(laughs) Try to encourage them to carpool 'cause we're going out on all these field trips.

But it's a good size group.

Yeah, 20.

- And there's some synergy when you get like-minded people that enjoy nature, enjoy learning, right?

- Exactly, that's the thing I tell them on the first day.

I am a learner too.

We are all teachers in this space.

We all have something we can share.

And so I see that just building and building over the seven sessions.

Folks more comfortable sharing with each other, sharing their experiences and just things they've learned over time.

And so we're all learning from each other, yeah.

- So would you regard this group as a cohort group?

- I would say it's a cohort, yeah, for sure.

- And how many classes or years have you done this?

- Oh my goodness, so I got certified with the University of Minnesota Extension Service Master Naturalist Program in 2007.

And then I offered the first class, it was at Whitewater State Park, that was in 2010.

And we did an annual class every year.

And then this last year I've done four.

(laughs) I really upped my game this past year here.

- Well certainly it's made an impact and it's gotta be gratifying as they graduate and they go out and do things.

What do they do after they take this class?

- Oh my goodness.

A lot of different things.

What we try to show them is that no matter what your passion is, your skills, your experience, you can use that to connect people to nature.

So let's say you're a CPA, you're an accountant.

Could you offer to help with the books at a nature center?

Or let's say you have graphic designer marketing background, could you help create flyers or posters for a conservation organization?

So it's really helping them find a way to use their skills to connect people to nature.

And they're all over the place.

I mean, we actually have had, with our organization, we have had somebody help with accounting, marketing, documentary producing, like all kinds of things you don't think of when you think of nature, but you can use those skills to get people outdoors.

- Absolutely, and when you spoke of your organization, specifically what is that?

- So I'm with Project Get Outdoors.

We're a small non-profit based out of Wabasha, Minnesota.

We serve southeast Minnesota and actually outside of that region as well.

But most of our work is in southeast Minnesota.

We focus on connecting kids to nature and really our target is underrepresented kids.

So maybe kids who aren't in 4H or scouting or sports or they don't have mentors to take them outdoors and teach them about fishing and canoeing and hiking and all those things.

And so we do a lot of training.

We train folks in the afterschool realm, so maybe they work at a rec center, a Boys and Girls Club, a library.

We do trainings for those folks.

We also do training for childcare providers and we offer trainings for teachers to be able to kind of work with nature as a partner in teaching.

And we help create outdoor classrooms at schools as well.

And then we also piloted a training this year for mental health providers, so therapists, social workers and counselors that work in school settings.

So we're really trying to empower the adults who are working with youth to work with nature as a partner in the work that they do.

- Why is getting out in nature or getting outdoors important?

- Oh, it's so important in so many different ways.

First of all, we, we originate in nature.

We are part of nature, right?

I ask kids that, I say, "What is nature, right?"

And they come, "Oh, it's the sun, it's the air, it's the animals, it's the plants."

I say, "Are we nature?"

And they have to think about that.

We are nature, we're part of nature too.

And so we evolved in nature with a strong connection to the outdoors.

And so I think every aspect of wellbeing has a connection to nature.

Physically, I mean we are more active when we're outdoors, when we're navigating uneven terrain and the different textures of the ground.

That's helps build balance and agility.

We develop muscles, just the sun touching our skin, that's what triggers the processing of vitamin D in our body, which is crucial for health and immune system function and bone development and all of that.

And then mental health, I mean huge mental health benefits.

When we go out into nature, just the patterns that we see, there's something called a fractal pattern.

It's reflected in everything in nature.

So the way a tree branches out into smaller and smaller branches, we see that pattern in the veins of leaves, the way flowers are designed, the crystal structures in rocks and minerals, the way watersheds branch out, even in our own body, our respiratory, our circulatory system, that's all a fractal pattern.

And when we see that pattern, it's a calming pattern.

And the theory is that in the womb, when we were in our mother's womb, at a certain stage we could open our eyes and what we saw is called the tree of life.

It's an artery that branches out into smaller veins.

It looks just like a tree.

And so that's a soothing, calming pattern to our brain.

And so that's why doctors and dentists often have pictures of nature in the waiting rooms or in the exam rooms.

So just the visual images in nature.

So looking out a window can be very powerful for mental health as well.

Or having plants or pictures of nature in the house.

But then also when we go outside, there's sounds that soothe us.

There's smells in the air.

When we talk about aromatherapy, just walk outside, right?

Smelling the soil, smelling the flowers, smelling the fragrances the trees give off.

That soothes our body as well in our mind.

So there's all sorts of benefits health wise.

And then social connection.

When we go out into nature, it's easier to connect with others.

And also just with nature itself, we feel part of a community.

Maybe it's not the humans, it's the plants, it's the land around us, but it's easier to bond with other humans outdoors.

So some of the trainings I've led have been up in Minneapolis in urban settings, talking with folks up there.

And I, you know, over and over again people say, "Yes, it's so much easier to talk with people when we're out on the river and we're fishing along the shoreline downtown Minneapolis."

And we help each other, "Oh, you need help taking off that fish.

You need help putting on that worm."

We start sharing fishing stories and we make new friends every time we go outside.

And so even therapists are starting to adopt this ecotherapy or nature-based therapy because they see this real immediate response in patients going outside, walking together in tandem, just that movement together.

We're not staring at each other.

Nobody's higher, you know, hierarchy here, we're together on the same playing field.

And then we engage with nature with our senses and helps calm and helps open up conversation.

Just very, very powerful.

And then we can go into the learning benefits, creativity, problem solving, teamwork, increased empathy.

I mean, just, I could talk for hours about why we need to go outdoors.

(laughs) - I can see why you're good at what you do.

- Thanks.

- But certainly nature is the great leveler or equalizer.

And the bonding.

But also, like you said, the hierarchal breakdown.

I mean if you're in a corporate office, somebody's got a suit and tie on and they're the boss, that's one thing.

But when we're all out in nature, we're in the canoe, it's teamwork, isn't it?

- For sure, for sure.

Yeah.

It'd be great if more employers would weave this into like employee wellbeing and team building and like some of those retreats bring in the nature component 'cause exactly it breaks down the hierarchy and it makes people kind of work together in a way that they're not forced to do so, you just kind of have to.

(laughs) - Sara, nature is all around us, but as we travel on the highways, as we live in our homes that aren't natural anymore, do we really experience what you're talking about?

- You know, it can be difficult 'cause it is, it's everywhere.

I say even in the cracks of the sidewalk in downtown Minneapolis, there's life growing there.

But we're always in a hurry.

And I think if we're not shown as children, especially, like how to stop and pay attention and look for it, we just walk right past it.

And so part of what we do through Project Get Outdoors too is to teach people how to just take a deep breath and notice what's around you in your backyard, in your neighborhood, right in your community.

And what are the nearest parks?

A lot of kids, unfortunately, they don't know, actually adults too don't know where their nearest parks are.

What you can do at those spaces.

And not just parks, we have thousands of public land locations in Minnesota.

Like today we're at a state forest unit and there's hundreds of these.

We have wildlife management areas, there's over 1,400 of those in Minnesota.

So how do we help folks just learn about the nature that's accessible to them right in their community or nearby?

And then it's kind of trying to figure out how do we get there.

For some people it's not safe.

Their neighborhood isn't a safe place.

So how do we help the schools, the childcare centers, the community neighborhood support and create like programming and activities that connect kids to safe outdoor spaces?

- Well, speaking of not natural, our phones, our televisions, electrons, we spend a lot of time in front of them.

That's not really natural.

It has some consequences, right?

- Definitely, so when we started Project Get Outdoors back in 2005, the statistic was kids were spending four to six hours a day on devices or in front of electronic screens.

Today it's 10 or more hours that they're spending in front of electronic screens.

- Literally close to 50% of the day.

But maybe 80% of their waking hours.

- Exactly, and that's hard, 'cause even in school now, everything's gone to a screen and they have iPads and stuff that their books are on.

So part of what we do is try to show teachers there's ways we can teach outdoors where yeah, we're always gonna need those electronic devices.

And there's obviously there's benefit to having those technologies as well.

But we have to use them responsibly.

And so how can we teach kids that at a young age?

And parents need to model that too from the time a baby is born.

So part of this also is how do we work with doctors and provide kind of learning opportunities for new parents so that people are exposed to this information.

But the technology can also be used as a way to learn about nature, right?

There's all kinds of amazing apps and things that you can download or you can go out and explore nature with.

One of the tools that our Master Naturalists love to use is called iNaturalist.

And so you upload that onto your phone or download it onto your phone, you go out and you take pictures of things you see in nature and it will automatically upload them to iNaturalist.

And then scientists actually help you identify what those plants, animals are.

And they're using it for real scientific research.

So it's a really neat way for kids to get involved in science just by going outside and taking a walk and taking pictures of things they see.

So there's a lot of tools like that as well.

- Wonderful.

So we can integrate.

- Exactly.

- Love it.

Do you have a website for your organization in case the audience wants to learn more?

- We do, so our website is www.mnprojectgo.org.

- To really get off the road and get into nature is invigorating.

The first time I met you was at Good Earth Village, another beautiful setting.

And you were taking a group out into nature and you called it a forest... - Forest bathing walk.

Yes, so back in 2021, I got my certification through the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides to be a certified nature and forest therapy guide.

So that was 2021, 4 years ago.

And so that is a Japanese based practice, Shinrin-yoku, forest bathing.

It's a practice of slowing down and using all your senses to pay attention to the nature that is right around you.

And usually on those walks, we don't go far.

We might use a picnic area, maybe we walk 100 feet or 200 feet.

It's very adaptable because we're going slow.

It's not a walk, it's an actual like paying attention to what's right where we are, super therapeutic.

And what I love is, like I said, it's adaptable.

So folks, whatever abilities as far as physical abilities, we can sit at a picnic table if we need to, but we're gonna hone in with the listening, with the smelling, even what we taste in the air, what we feel on our skin, the textures we can feel around us.

And then there's an opportunity for the group 'cause usually it's a small group where we will share what we're experiencing.

And what I love about these forest bathing walks, the sharing to me is the part where the awe comes.

I mean, there's some beautiful things we see in nature, but each person sees something different or experiences nature differently.

And we take time to share what we're noticing.

Something really cool happens there.

And sometimes it leads to bigger things.

People see kind of what they're experiencing play out in nature.

And so it starts to kind of reflect their psychology and sometimes they share some pretty deep things that they notice in the outdoors.

So it's a really beautiful way of being outdoors together.

- Wonderful things.

Thanks for sharing.

Really appreciate it.

- Thank you so much.

- Stay tuned for more on "Farm Connections".

(upbeat country music) Welcome to "Farm Connections".

I'm Dan Hoffman, and with me today is Mark Miller from Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Mark, thanks for joining us.

- Yes, thank you for having me.

- Well, it's our privilege actually.

And I've got a question for you, is this your office or one of them?

- One of them.

This is one of the forest units that I work on managing with my coworkers.

We've got a number of forest management units down in the Driftless Area of southeast Minnesota here.

- What's really special about your office, your work area?

- I appreciate the Driftless area.

I grew up in Duran, just across the river into Wisconsin.

And I enjoy the bluffs, the diversity that it offers.

The differences from north facing slope to south facing slope.

- Probably different vegetation, different soils.

What's different?

- The vegetation differs depending on what slope you're on.

The top of the bluff versus the bottom of the bluff, whether you're facing south where it's drier or on the north where there's more moisture and shade.

- Mark, you mentioned forest management or managing the forest.

Why is that important?

- It's important to manage the forest because doing nothing means that the forest is gonna continue to evolve in one direction or another.

And if we have invasive species, for example, doing nothing means those invasive species are gonna continue to take over the forest and make regenerating it difficult.

And so actively managing the forest helps keep the forest healthy.

Trees are gonna grow and get older and eventually die and fall apart.

And so that's a good process.

But we don't want every tree to do that because certain trees are more early successional and they're only gonna last in that early habitat.

If everything transitions to that older mature habitat, we're gonna lose some of those younger species.

So it's important to manage to have that diversity out there.

Each of those different age classes and size classes are beneficial for different types of wildlife.

- You talked a little bit about invasive species.

Can you elaborate on that?

- Yeah, invasive species would be species, they're not native to our area.

They've come in and a lot of times those invasive species, they may have an edge on the native population.

They don't have a natural predator that keeps them in check.

They don't have a natural pathogen that keeps them in check.

And so they may leaf out earlier than the native vegetation and edge out the native vegetation or have leaves that stay on longer and edge out vegetation.

And so there's species that being brought in from outside of this native habitat, they have become a problem.

We've got exotics that are just non-native species, but then we have invasive exotics, and those are the species that are really a concern because they capitalize on that environment and outcompete the native vegetation.

- Where does buckthorn fit into that?

- Buckthorn would be one of those exotic, invasive, terrestrial species that right now in the fall, most of the leaves are leafed off.

Buckthorn is still green and so it's shading out vegetation longer than the native vegetation.

And if buckthorn completely takes over, it really kind of wrecks the environment, doesn't it?

- Yeah, it makes it very difficult to regenerate trees in particular, which is what I work to try to do.

When the buckthorn chokes out the understory, trees aren't able to germinate and get established.

It can release a chemical that out competes and suppresses other vegetation.

And so underneath a complete canopy of buckthorn, it can be bare soil and nothing else.

And that's not desirable habitat for a lot of the species that we have.

- Would that possibly lead to erosion as well?

- Yes, it could lead to erosion.

If we don't have the diversity that we like, then there's more exposed mineral soil and more chance for erosion from that.

- Many of our farmers and rural landowners have acreages that have trees on them or they want to develop more trees on their property.

How can they utilize your skills and the Department of Natural Resources to enhance that?

- Sure, Division of Forestry has a number of DNR foresters that are available to assist with landowners.

And so a landowner can contact the DNR and a forester can stop out, visit with the landowner, walk the property, take a look at their woods, have a conversation about what the landowner has out on their property for woods, what kind of quality there is, opportunities for management.

If there are concerns that should be addressed such as invasive species or a maturing forest that maybe would be an opportunity to have a timber sale to regenerate it and change that age class.

- So when you say a sale, you're actually talking about another crop that we might harvest?

- Yes.

Yep, yep.

Farmers are familiar with the common row crops and alfalfa, us foresters, we look at crops of trees, Aspen that may be harvested every 40 or 50 years.

Pine that can be thinned periodically.

Oak that may go 80 to 100 years between harvests.

- Mark, earlier we talked about this being your office.

What do you like about your office?

- It's nice to be able to get outside first and foremost and work in the woods with the trees.

I enjoy managing the forest for sustainability and to improve the forest and still generate some revenue.

- Are there any incentives, either tax rebates or real estate tax reductions for people that protect the forests?

- Yeah, so for landowners that want to be more active in managing their forest, a landowner could contact a DNR forester and look at having a woodland stewardship plan written.

And a woodland stewardship plan, the forester would assess the forest, inventory the forest and divide the forest up into manageable units.

And each of those stands, we would call them, has a different age and structure, species composition and different recommendations on how to manage each of those stands.

- And how do we contact the DNR?

Is there a website or a place to go to learn more?

- So a landowner could look on the DNR website for contact information on a local forestry office to reach out to a local forestry office and talk to a DNR forester.

We're happy to stop out and walk the woods with a landowner and let them know what they've got and offer some recommendations on how they could manage or improve their forest.

- Mark, thank you so much for what you're doing to make our world a better place and improving our environment.

You're very welcome.

That does it for now, I'm Dan Hoffman.

Thanks for joining us here on "Farm Connections".

(upbeat country music) (upbeat country music continues) (upbeat country music continues) (upbeat country music continues) - [Announcer] Farm Connections' Premier sponsor is Minnesota Corn.

- [Announcer] Programming supported by Minnesota Corn, working to identify and promote opportunities for corn growers, enhance quality of life, and help others understand the value and importance of corn production to America's economy.

(upbeat country music) - [Announcer] Additional support from the following sponsors.

- [Announcer] Programming supported by R&S Grain Systems, a family-owned business, serving its customers for 50 years with leading designs in the manufacturing of grain handling equipment and grain storage systems.

You can call in for a quote today.

- [Announcer] Programming supported by EDP Renewables, North America, owner/operator of Prairie Star and Pioneer Prairie Wind Farms in Minnesota and Iowa.

EDPR wind farms and solar parks provide income to farmers and help power rural economies across the continent.

- [Announcer] Mower County Farm Bureau Association, a KSMQ broadcast sponsor, advocates for agriculture based on the policies and beliefs of its members.

It's dedicated to making the voices of its members stronger.

You can learn more about membership benefits at fbmn.org - [Announcer] Program supported by employee-owned AgVantage Software, Rochester, Minnesota, celebrating their 50th year designing and developing agribusiness software for grain elevators, feed manufacturers, producers, fertilizer and chemical dealers, co-ops, seed companies, and fuel distributors.

(upbeat music)