Photo by Jim Muchlinski SMSU graduate Katie Chapman is coordinating the renovation of the SMSU Natural History Museum. The project will be completed by June 1. Chapman is the naturalist at the Shetek Lutheran Ministries environmental learning center and also teaches an SMSU GOLD College class.

MARSHALL — After spring semester the Natural History Museum at Southwest Minnesota State University will never be the same.

Instead it will be new and improved through a $45,936 grant. It was received from the worldwide David B. Jones Foundation.

Jones was a noted paleontologist. He started a foundation to generate funding for museums and educational institutions that spotlight natural history and fossils.

The Natural History Museum dates back to the early days of SMSU. It’s hosted school and community group visits since the 1970s.

Many of the objects in the museum in 2024 were part of the original design. The grant will allow for changes that reflect museums of the 21st century. Today’s museums usually aim for a unified set of displays that tell a complete story.

“We want to bring it to life,” said grant executor Katie Chapman. “The changes will be designed to better reflect the story of the prairie. It will include soil, wetlands, plants, raptors, animals and other topics important to the prairie ecosystem.”

Some of the current objects will remain on display. Several interactive nature puzzles will be kept, and an updated hide identification board will be created.

The museum’s whistling swan, which hangs from the ceiling, will be one of the highlights in the new wetland section.

As executor, Chapman will be in charge of the dismantling of old displays and the installation of new ones. She will be assisted by work study students. Several volunteers also plan to participate; including Brad Strootman, Tim Swenson and Will and Candace Thomas.

The entire project will be completed in about a month. The grant has a completion date for June 1. Chapman said the renovations will have benefits for SMSU and for natural areas in the region.

“When people are exposed to a cohesive, interactive resource about the prairie, it leads to greater appreciation,” she said. “Hopefully it also instills a stweardship ethic, a desire to keep prairies vital for the future.”

About 99% of southwest Minnesota’s native prairie was plowed up in the early 20th century. About 90% of its wetlands were drained in order to create farmland.

Substantial prairie and wetland restoration has taken place in the past 50 years. Conservationists have goals to continue the expansion of natural habitat.

“Prairies still face challenges that are human derived,” Chapman said. “We still have pollution and habitat loss. The Natural History Museum shows why prairies are valuable, and why it’s important to preserve them.”

Chapman is a 2008 graduate of SMSU. She earned her master’s degree in environmental science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

She works as a naturalist at the Shetek Lutheran Ministries Environmental Learning Center at Keeley Island on Lake Shetek. She is also a GOLD College Instructor at SMSU.

Grants for Natural History Museum renovations were first pursued by SMSU environmental science professor Tom Dilley, who passed away in 2023.

“The museum project is a great opportunity for me to give something back to SMSU as a member of the alumni,” Chapman said. “It’s also rewarding that the whole idea started with Tom. I’m happy to be able to finish the work that he started.”