It's Time to Thrive
Wilderness Inquiry was selected to help create a more inclusive and accessible outdoor experience for all through the Outdoor Foundation’s Thrive Outside Initiative, a community-led program built with trusted local and national partners. This initiative is helping to address equity barriers to the outdoors, seeking to move the needle on barriers such as safety, walkability, transportation cost, and cultural inclusion.
The Thrive Outside Twin Cities community, led by the team here at Wilderness Inquiry, is using community organizing techniques to coalesce a new and diverse group of partners to help families connect with the outdoors on the Mississippi River and other natural places close to home and further afield.
Together with some of our existing partners, we seek to engage entirely new community-based leaders and organizations to engage a more diverse population into outdoor activities on waterways and public lands in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and across the Twin Cities metro.
Get Outside
As a Thrive Outside community, Wilderness Inquiry and our partners are a critical part of the collective movement to connect underserved youth and families to the outdoors. Here are a few of the inclusive ways you can get outside to celebrate the Thrive Outside Initiative. Don’t forget to share your favorite ways and places to enjoy the outdoors using hashtag #ThriveOutside!
Accessible Outdoors
Check out a list of the 29 Minnesota State Parks with wheelchair-accessible campsites, lodging, and trails.
Gone Fishing
Want to go fishing, but don’t have a boat? Minnesota has 200+ fishing piers and on-shore platforms, available in urban and rural areas, on everything from small rivers to large lakes.
News and Resources
The Minnesota Conservation Volunteer, the flagship publication of the Department of Natural Resources, which covers the state's outdoor news and conservation issues and features an audio version for those who are unable to hold, handle or see well enough to read the booklet in print!
Free Outdoor Fun
Accessing nature shouldn’t be cost-prohibitive. Here are some no-cost ways to get outside in the Twin Cities:
- Visit Como Zoo in St. Paul
- See Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis
- Tour the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway
- Explore Elm Creek Park Reserve in Maple Grove
- See REI’s 95 Ways to Spend More Time Outside
Thank You to Our Partners
Thank you to our partners for their support of the Thrive Outside Twin Cities Initiative and Thrive Outside Day 2022. We are grateful for the many other key partners that provided their valuable time and insight to make this initiative a success.