Friends Event

With a heavy heart we wanted to share that long-time volunteer and Friends Board Member Bev Spande passed away last week. You can find her full obituary here. Funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 1, 2023 at Central Lutheran Church, Winona. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. at the church. Lunch will…

The Friends of the Refuge Headwaters (FORH) are encouraging all amateur photographers to get outside and capture the beauty of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (Refuge) for a Centennial photo contest. The Refuge, which was established in 1924 through the efforts of Will Dilg, founder of the Izaak Walton League of…

Check out these great photos from our 2023 Kids Ice Fishing Event:  

The next regular meeting of the Friends of the Refuge Headwaters will be Thursday, MARCH 2, beginning at 4:15 p.m. at the Refuge office (102 Walnut Street, Suite 205). Click here for a PDF of the agenda. There are some fun events coming up if you want to be part of the planning process! (The meeting…

We will be offering the free Kids Ice Fishing Event again this year on Saturday, January 28, 2023 from 10:00 – noon at the McNally Boat Landing on the Prairie Island Dike in Winona, MN. We need volunteers to help kids fish, put wax worms on hooks, and take fish off the hook (hopefully). We…

The annual Kid’s Ice Fishing Event co-sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Friends of the Refuge Headwaters is scheduled for Saturday, January 28, 2023 from 10:00 a.m. to noon at the McNally Boat Landing on Prairie Island Drive, Winona, MN. This year’s event is also supported by the Eldon Skurdahl Memorial and…

We will be bringing back the Kid’s Ice Fishing event at McNally Landing on Saturday, January 28, 2023. We will hold a planning meeting on Thursday, January 12 beginning at 4:15 p.m. at the Refuge office (102 Walnut Street, Suite 205, Winona). Anyone interested in helping with the event is welcome to attend the meeting,…

Thank you to those who participated in the Swan Watch Bus Tour and a special “Thank You” to retired La Crosse District Manager Jim Nissen for providing interpretation on the bus! It was a snowy but good day to see swans. If you haven’t gotten out to see them yet, check them out on Big…

The next regular meeting of the Friends of the Refuge Headwaters will be Thursday, October 27 beginning at 4:15 p.m. at the Refuge office (not the park shelter). Reminder, our office is located at 102 Walnut Street, Suite 205. Please bring a mask as it will be required if the Winona County community spread level…

We will be conducting a litter pick-up of the Prairie Island dike on Thursday, October 27 beginning at 10:00 a.m. We will meet at the McNally Boat Landing (next to the Prairie Island Campground in Winona) to hand out equipment (gloves, picker-upper sticks, trash bags) and be done by noon. You will be assigned a…