Saturday, June 14, 2008, was a very good day on the Mississippi River. The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area and Minneapolis-based Wilderness Inquiry kicked off a new partnership that brings together programming from each organization to create a powerful urban wilderness experience. The program focuses on the Mississippi River within the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. This new program will introduce urban citizens to the National Park Service and the continent's greatest river that flows right through their front yard.

Honored guest National Park Service Deputy Director Lindi Harvey joined the park, Wilderness Inquiry and more than 100 Twin Cities Metro Girls Scouts to celebrate National Get Outdoors Day. The group canoed from Hidden Falls Park to Harriet Island in St. Paul, MN. Park rangers provided an introduction to the stories and resources of the Mississippi River and Wilderness Inquiry provided canoe instruction and safety training before the group embarked on their Voyageur canoes into the rain swollen Mississippi.  Many of the girls and their parents/leaders had never before experienced a canoe paddle on the Mississippi River.  

The group stopped for lunch at Picnic Island within Fort Snelling State Park and heard stories about the Dakota people and their reverence for the Mississippi and Minnesota River confluence as the center of their universe and the location of an internment camp for Dakota people, a story that stirs emotions yet today. At the conclusion of the paddle, Deputy Director Harvey administered the Junior Ranger pledge to our newest group of Junior Rangers, who promised to ”Learn about, Explore and Protect the Mississippi River”.