The 2026 Minnesota Climate Adaptation Awards celebrate individuals and organizations implementing innovative solutions to foster resilient landscapes and communities. The University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership hosts the awards each spring to celebrate and accelerate environmental stewardship across the state.
“In a world of increasing weather and climate volatility, the work of adaptation is not just a ‘nice to have,’ it is the bedrock of our future,” said Heidi Roop, director of the UMN Climate Adaptation Partnership. “We are no longer just planning for tomorrow. We are protecting the people and places we love today.”
This year’s award winners have developed cutting-edge adaptation plans for their communities, supported project-specific implementation of adaptation investments, and served as leaders championing adaptation across their organizations.
Innovating infrastructure
The award for Organizational Adaptation went to Bolton & Menk for the firm’s Low Salt Design initiative. Drawing on insights gained from training more than 20,000 plow drivers and shovel crews, Bolton & Menk identified a critical gap in civil engineering practice, and a clear opportunity to advance design for Minnesota’s rapidly changing winter conditions.
The Low Salt Design team developed innovative, cost-effective, and practical strategies that increase the speed of winter pavement recovery, reduce recurring issues caused by blowing snow, and minimize meltwater sprawl and refreeze.
The Low Salt Design Guide is used worldwide and has been integrated into the Minnesota Stormwater Manual, marking a major shift in state guidance.
Ecological solutions
In the Collaborative Adaptation category, the Farm and Forest Growers Cooperative was recognized for its forward-thinking approach to reforestation. The cooperative is a group of small-scale farmers and growers who work together to produce climate-smart tree seedlings for Minnesotans engaged in tree planting and forest restoration efforts.
The changing climate across northern Minnesota is leading to a host of new pressures on forests: disease, pests, droughts, floods and fires.
The cooperative focuses on fostering broad genetic diversity by gathering seed from native trees across southern and central Minnesota, and from multiple populations of each species. The seedlings are grown out by the cooperative’s network of growers and then planted more than 200 miles north of the mother populations.
Community resilience
Janet Brown of Sabathani Community Center received the Transformative Adaptation award for significant strides in transforming systems and addressing the root causes of climate vulnerability in Minnesota.
Brown has provided project coordination and development support for Sabathani Community Center’s Community Energy Project since May 2020. This $21 million initiative will establish a community resilience hub featuring a geothermal heat pump system, solar energy, and battery storage in Minneapolis.
The Individual Adaptation award was presented to John Vaughn. Vaughn has advanced climate adaptation in Minnesota by building community-led systems that prepare communities for extreme weather while strengthening local economic capacity.
Most of John's career has been spent building affordable housing and supporting small businesses as the executive director of community development nonprofits in Northeast Minneapolis and on the east side of St. Paul. More recently, he joined Fresh Energy, assisting urban and rural environmental justice communities with decarbonizing and realizing the economic benefits of renewable energy.
Climate communication
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s Climate Exhibits and Outreach Team took home the Creative Climate Communications award. The team has produced a suite of inventive teaching tools, including climate catapults, a climate pollution quiz, home electrification “Operation,” scannable objects, dioramas, and thoughtfully crafted graphic panels that highlight Minnesota’s climate priorities, progress, and pathways forward.
These exhibits consistently open the door to deeper conversations about state climate goals, community action, and what makes Minnesota’s approach to mitigation and adaptation unique.
In 2025, their work reached more than 200,000 visitors at the Eco Experience at the Minnesota State Fair, with at least 17,000 people stopping to play, learn, and engage directly.
Lifetime achievement
The ceremony concluded with a standing ovation for Paul Huttner, who received the Lifetime Achievement award. The longtime chief meteorologist for MPR News, Huttner is retiring this month after decades of service.
Since joining MPR in 2007, Huttner has been a definitive voice connecting Minnesotans to the science of their changing world. He launched daily weather chats on MPR News’ 40-plus-station network, created the popular Updraft blog, which focuses on the “whys” of weather and climate, and launched Climate Cast, a radio and podcast series featuring the latest climate change research and solutions.
Learn more about the awards on the Climate Adaptation Partnership’s site.
The Minnesota Climate Adaptation Awards are sponsored by the University of Minnesota Climate Adaptation Partnership in partnership with the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and the University of Minnesota Extension.
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