Greeting All,

It’s hard to believe we are on the doorstep of 2026!

I hope this email finds you well and you are enjoying the holiday season. Snow and colder temps have already provided many Minnesotans with opportunities to get outdoors for some favorite wintertime activities. I’ll be headed out for an annual overnight ice fishing trip this weekend and am looking forward to that. Make plans now to adventure outdoors with your family and friends. Spring isn’t around the corner quite yet but without trips on the calendar time can move forward at breakneck speed. Can you believe the firearms deer opener was already almost two month ago?

My fall highlight was with a duck hunting trip that turned into a deer scouting trip that eventually led to a successful deer hunting season for me. As the father of a 3rd grader this was the first year I realized just how fantastic the timing of MEA weekend is for getting outdoors with youth during the heart of the fall. I’ll definitely be taking advantage of that scheduling choice in the coming years.

2025 was a year of progress for the Minnesota Conservation Federation. Check out my top 5 of 2025 list below for a look at some of our accomplishments over the past year.

Stay tuned! As the calendar changes from 2025 to 2026 MNCF will be making a big change as well! I look forward to telling you about it in the upcoming days.

Sincerely,

Brad Gausman- Executive Director

A trip to hang a public land deer stand in October was time well spent over a break from school.

5. Three new board members join MNCF

This past December MNCF welcomed three new members to our board of directors. All three bring unique conservation skill sets and backgrounds that will help elevate our work.

Board members are volunteers who provide governance and support for the work of MNCF. Thank you to all of our amazing board members who gave of their time and talents in 2025.

Take a moment to check out our board member biographies on our website to learn more about board members, leadership, and new board members: Elena Mathys, Alan Toczydlowski and Leya Charles.

Newley elected board member Elena Mathys pictured a with catch and release sturgeon we can only assume is an MNCF supporter!

4. MNCF increases our focus on wild food foraging

Fish. Hunt. Forage.

Wild food foraging is growing in popularity all over Minnesota. Much like hunters and anglers, foragers represent a constituency of active outdoor enthusiasts who interact in a unique and fulfilling way with our varied landscapes. Over the past year MNCF has worked to develop relationships within foraging circles and are excited to continue leaning in to work to advance and uplift issues that affect foragers while advocating for the continued development of rules and regulations that will allow for wild food foraging to be done in a sustainable and accessible manner.

The next year will see MNCF continue to develop our capacity to engage with and uplift foraging as an outdoor pursuit along side hunting and angling.

3. Al’s Breakfast takeover

Our Give to the Max Day takeover of Al’s Breakfast was a blast.

The stools were full and the grill was hot when the MNCF board took over the counter at Minneapolis’s iconic Al’s Breakfast!

We were able to say hello to many of our supporters in person and share some breakfast for dinner. Thank you again to everyone who came out to support our event or made a donation. We are looking forward to this becoming an annual event and hope to see everyone again next year.

2. Launch of the new Women in Conservation Leadership  program

Along with natural resources conservation advocacy MNCF’s mission involves welcoming new folks into conservation leadership through outdoor recreation. I like to say that MNCF works to make conservation leaders out of hunters and anglers (and foragers!) and to make hunters and anglers (and foragers!) out of conservation leaders.

In 2025 we continued the success started through our Conservation Leadership Academy program for college students and welcomed our first cohort of women to our Women in Conservation Leadership program. WiCL fosters a supportive environment for women to engage in new outdoor activities by providing them with support and skills training.

Our first WiCL cohort participated in a shooting range event before gathering again for a pheasant hunt weekend that included presentations from the local Soil and Water Conservation Districts and field tour of sustainable agricultural practices.

1. National Wildlife Federation Annual Meeting comes to Minnesota

The Minnesota Conservation Federations affiliation with the National Wildlife Federation goes back nearly to our founding. Twice we have been awarded the affiliate of the year award- shout out to 1965 and 1986!

Yet until 2025 we had not had the pleasure of welcoming our NWF friends and colleges to Minnesota. That changed this year when the 89th annual meeting of the National Wildlife Federation was held in Minneapolis. It was fantastic event that brought together conservation leaders from across the country.

Months of planning resulted in field trips, learning sessions, keynote addresses, happy hours, and even a First Avenue Prince dance party that went off without a hitch.

Executive Director Brad welcomes attendees to the 89th Annual Meeting of the National Wildlife Federation.

2025 was such an exciting year for MNCF initiatives both new and old. Started in 2019 the CLA program introduces future conservation leaders to hunting, fishing, and conservation advocacy.

This picture shows students in our most recent cohort enjoying a morning in the duck blind as part of our October program. Next up for the group is a January ice fishing trip to the Brainerd area.

Notice anything different at the links provided or in this email? You may have a clue as to what are big announcement will be in the coming days. Stay tuned!