What was once an overgrown, deteriorating nature area across from Windom Middle High School has undergone a remarkable transformation.
The effort came thanks to a community-wide project led by the Des Moines Valley Chapter of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, local students and multiple partner organizations.
The Windom Environmental Center — about eight acres of mixed woodland and wet prairie along Perkins Creek — had been in steady decline for years. A once-popular walking trail had deteriorated to the point of being unsafe, the bridge over the creek was rotting and invasive species had choked out much of the native habitat.
“The Environmental Center had basically been left to survive on its own,” said Denis Quarberg, MDHA Des Moines Valley Chapter treasurer. “Like an old-growth woods, it reached a point where it was no longer productive and in some spots, it was unsafe to walk through.”
That changed in 2022 when the Toro Foundation awarded a $100,000 grant to replace the Perkins Creek bridge, remove hazardous dead trees and make other initial improvements.
For more on this story, please see the Aug. 20 edition of the Citizen.
