Falls Restoration

It has been our pleasure to work with The Falls Initiative Leadership Team to prepare a Conceptual Programming and Partnership Report, which contains recommendations for programming and partnership opportunities for The Falls Initiative. We led five tabling sessions at various locations around the Twin Cities, two on-site focus groups at Owámniyomni - St. Anthony Falls, three additional off-site focus groups, one boat tour, and four expert interviews. Specifically we sought targeted engagement with Native community, elders and youth. Through these interactions, we talked to hundreds of individuals from the Twin Cities and beyond about what they’d like to see at Owámniyomni - St. Anthony Falls in the future. The result was a list of about 70 different programs to consider. These programs ranged widely in terms of scale, costs, and implementability. Some program recommendations—like food trucks or a popup restaurant—were commercial in nature. Others, like a sweat lodge or other ceremonial structures, were more reflective or even sacred in nature, and arguably at odds with programs that would bring a lot of traffic to the site. Some people tended to prefer programs that represented active recreation (for example, a skating rink or a basketball court), while others recommended more passive programs like walking trails or an observation deck. Some people prioritized natural features and emphasized the importance of designing the space to accommodate wildlife; for others, fun was what was important. Educational programs like a genocide memorial or a canoe school were popular with some people we talked to but not others. Some people prioritized practical infrastructure like bathrooms, bike rentals, and parking, while others did not. To evaluate these 70 disparate ideas, we used common-sense assumptions to rank them according to popularity (how often the program was selected in the card activity, written about in the free write section, or discussed at one of our other activities); compatibility (how likely they are to be harmonious with other programs); cost, maintenance (how much staffing and maintenance they might require), and, perhaps most importantly, how they advance Native Partnership Council priorities. Following that, using the early design ideas as our base map, we did a simple scale analysis to see what programs would fit where. (The use of these early design ideas as our base map impacted this exercise significantly. For example, we limited our siting of food trucks, popup restaurants, and other more urban elements to areas the plan designated as hard scape, and resisted siting programs on areas reserved for natural restoration.) The result of this was a whittling down that left us with 30 or so programs that we think are worth exploring further in a re-imagined Owámniyomni - St. Anthony Falls. Our goal with this report is to report back on which programs people want to see (see our “Analysis of Engagement Findings” chapter), perform a basic amount of due diligence on these programs (see our “Program Evaluation” chapter), outline their pros and cons for the The Falls Initiative Leadership Team (see our “Recommendations for Programs & Partnerships” chapter), and indicate how they might be incorporated (see our “Site Plan Considerations” chapter).