Since the program’s inception, Minnesota Master Naturalist volunteers, students and instructors have reached out to at least one person in almost every county in Minnesota. Through our advanced training, hosted stewardship programs, and facilitated volunteer activities, we’ve made a significant impact across the state.
Advanced training
Recognizing the need for continuing education, the Minnesota Master Naturalist program began offering advanced courses to its volunteers in 2008. These courses offer Minnesota Master Naturalists and the public opportunities to participate in recreational activities and learn about new natural resource topics. Topics build on the biome curriculum.
We have offered hundreds of advanced trainings since the inception of the program, including but not limited to:
- Monarch larvae monitoring
- Phenology volunteer training
- Bird banding
- Spiders workshop
- Stream ecology
Gathering Partners
The Minnesota Master Naturalist program has hosted an annual conference since 2008. Conferences offered at rotating locations throughout the state have attracted hundreds of participants each year.
The Gathering Partners of Natural Resources partners with the University of Minnesota Extension Forestry team, the Minnesota Forestry Association, the Phenology Network and the Extension Aquatic Invasive Species program. We continue to look for ways to enhance the quality of programming offered to conference attendees each year.
Minnesota Master Naturalists socialize with others dedicated to stewardship of Minnesota’s natural resources at the conference. They also participate in workshops that count toward required continuing education.
Instructor training
The Minnesota Master Naturalist program began offering instructor training in 2007. Since then, we have trained more than 300 instructors in counties across Minnesota to teach biome courses and advanced topics. Many of our instructors have ties with nature centers or government agencies that offer (or plan to offer) Minnesota Master Naturalist courses.
Instructor training takes place all over Minnesota, and we expand our reach every year. Volunteer instructors help us offer many more courses than we could otherwise.
National Public Lands Day
National Public Lands Day is a national day of service observed annually on the fourth weekend of September. Each year, the Minnesota Master Naturalist program coordinates at least 10 volunteer sites around the state. Projects include invasive species removal, bud capping and pollinator garden restoration.
City Nature Challenge
The City Nature Challenge is an annual global participatory science competition held over four days in late April. Cities compete to document the diversity of natural living things as they learn and collaborate with others in their communities. Each year, Minnesota participates in the challenge with a project hosted in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area. Participants of all ages and abilities can record their observations of wild organisms and submit them via the iNaturalist app. This data is used by scientists for research and to inform conservation efforts in Minnesota and beyond. For more information, check our events calendar.
Reviewed in 2026