The UMVRDC wrote a successful grant for the Minnesota River Valley National Scenic Byway Alliance to the Carl and Verna Schmidt Foundation. The byway will receive $10,000 to work on interpretive planning projects, including completion of a current U.S.–Dakota War of 1862 interpretive sign project.
The grant will also pay for administrative time to complete interim byway work to keep interpretation projects viable. This will be accomplished by continuing work on interpretation planning, and grant writing to state and federal agencies for additional interpretation funding.
The byway received funding in 2010 from the Minnesota Historical Society Historical and Cultural Grant Funds made possible through the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota constitution in November 2008. This funding allowed the byway to create 10 interpretive signs about the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862 along the Minnesota River Valley.
The project has taken an enormous amount of time and collaboration. By late summer, the byway plans to have 10 new signs installed at the following locations: Camp Release, Renville County Park #2, Henderson, Milford Monument (near New Ulm) and New Ulm.
For more information on the Minnesota River Valley National Scenic Byway, click here to visit the byway website, or call Kristi Fernholz, byway coordinator, at 320-289-1981 ext. 6.
