River Keepers executive director Christine Holland helped compose some of the nature and history plaques along the Discovery Walk beside the Red River. (Photos/Nancy Hanson.)

River Keepers set up the Storybook Stroll, with hints and questions relating to the Red, based on Marc Martin’s picturebook “The River.”

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

River Keepers has come up with a new reason for families to explore the banks of the Red in these final days of autumn: A pint-sized Storybook Stroll through Viking Ship Park, designed expressly for the very young.
“We wanted to find a way for kids to get to know our river,” explains Christine Holland, executive director of the Fargo-Moorhead nature organization. “The ‘stroll’ is designed to get them relating to the Red River, and to get them talking about it with their parents.”
Based on author Marc Martin’s picture book, “A River,” the stroll along the trail behind the Hjemkomst Center is just long enough to use up a bit of preschoolers’ youthful energy, but short enough to hold their attention. Illustrated pages from the imaginative story line the trail, posted on yard signs. They explore a child’s view of the river in her back yard and the city and land that surround it – tall buildings and farm fields, busy freeways and forests, fish and woodland critters.
Each poster, low enough for little ones to examine without standing on tiptoe, is accompanied by questions or facts intended to start a conversation. (Question: How many kinds of fish do you think live in our river? Answer: more than 90!) The marked trail will remain up through Sunday evening.
The Storybook Stroll is the latest of River Keepers’ brainstorms to draw citizens of Moorhead and Fargo down to the meandering waterway in their midst. Parents (and other tall people) may also want to wander along the Discovery Walk on the River Corridor Trail.
What will they discover as they crunch leaves underfoot and gaze on the river? “This spring, we added 17 interpretive signs along the trail telling about its history and the natural setting,” Christine reports. River Keepers partnered with Moorhead Parks and Recreation and the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County to explore the Red’s story in depth. Funded by a grant from the HDR Foundation, the signs begin at 12th Avenue North near the National Guard Armory, then continue to a grab bag of intriguing topics: fishing on the Red, water quality, the old zoo and bear cage near downtown, glacial Lake Agassiz, steamboat landings, flood stages, ice houses, wildlife and the ski jump of a century ago.
Many of the interpretive signs are accented by artwork organized by the F-M Community Theatre. Take a close look, too, into the underbrush. You may spot the Forest Friends, woodland creatures made of wood scraps and other found materials by local artist Patrice Delaney.
Christine, who is completing her tenth year with River Keepers, is the third to lead the river-centric group of volunteers. Founded by Steve Zaiser in 1990, the organization was established to advocate sustainable use of the Red River of the North and to inspire residents to rediscover the waterway that has played a central role in their history.
“The river was underappreciated and underutilitzed,” she observes. “We’ve been working ever since to open people’s eyes to the precious resource that really defines our region.”
One of River Keepers’ first accomplishments targeted the goal of opening eyes to recreation on the Red. Over the past 25 years, it has led the way in building boat ramps and river access points, organizing fishing clinics and Race the Red for canoes and kayaks, publishing a variety of guides for boaters and hikers,, adding safety features, organizing volunteer work parties, and completing a master plan for the river corridor.
During the more temperate seasons, thousands of River Keepers volunteers gather along its banks to clean the corridor and plant trees in distressed areas. Reforest the Red itself draws throngs of men and women each spring on the Moorhead side, each fall in Fargo, to plant trees of a variety of species and sizes under guidance of the cities’ foresters.
One of the group’s biggest annual undertakings is the Red River Water Festival. For the past four years, River Keepers has drawn together fourth grade classes from F-M and surrounding towns for a massive educational field day combining outdoors lore with history. Last month’s contingent numbered 1,550.
Also in its fourth year, the Winter Solstice Walk is another crowd-pleasing innovations. The most recent drew more than 800 for a twilight stroll along the trail in M.B. Johnson Park. “I was, frankly, shocked,” she says, laughing. “It was brutally cold, but the people just kept coming and coming … on Dec. 21.”
She explains, “The ideas just pop up. It’s all about getting people outside to enjoy and learn about our river.”
Christine has worked with River Keepers since 1993, when she was hired as the marketing intern, working with Zaiser and, later, Bob Backman. She succeeded Backman in 2014.
Over the years, she has observed real progress toward achieving its mission of education and stewardship. Consider the drastic change in the detritus volunteers clear away each year. “When we started, it was washing machines, old cars, carpets ….” she remembers. “Now it’s mostly fast-food and beverage packaging. That counts as progress.”
Another sign of success lies in the sheer volume of faithful volunteers who step up to care for the corridor. “We have something like 2,000 volunteers,” she reports. “It’s so popular in some businesses that support us have held lotteries to choose who gets to come out for clean-up and Reforest the Red. There are just too many who want to work.”
River Keepers’ budget is supported by the Buffalo-Red River Watershed District in Clay County and the Southeast Cass Water Resource District on the North Dakota side. The balance is raised by annual membership (currently at about 200) and proceeds from its annual Catfish Cup golf tournament in June and Celebrate Our Red fundraiser and silent auction in autumn.
For more information about River Keepers’ programs, volunteer opportunities and memberships, visit www.riverkeepers.org.