We are proud to partner with a variety of organizations which contribute their expertise, creativity and time to benefit our community. We thank our community partners for their tireless dedication and outstanding efforts to make Minnesota an even better place to live, work and play.
Since 2000, Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend has partnered with Friends of the Mississippi River and Great River Greening to help restore the Pine Bend Bluffs Natural Area along the Mississippi River to pre-settlement conditions, investing more than $3.6 million.
The area provides critical habitat for resident and migratory animals and is a major migratory flyway for millions of songbirds and 40% of North America’s waterfowl and shorebirds. Restoration efforts have focused on protecting and enhancing native prairie plants through prescribed burns and the removal of invasive plants.
The Pine Bend Bluffs Natural Area is an Environmental Initiative award winner for natural resource protection and has earned gold certification from the Tandem Global Wildlife Habitat Council.
For more than 20 years, Flint Hills and its volunteer partners have worked to maintain and improve this important habitat. Learn more in this video.
Learn more about this effort in the Friends of the Mississippi River’s 2023 Ecological Activities Report.
For more than 40 years, Flint Hills Resources and Ducks Unlimited have worked together to conserve nearly 250,000 acres of Minnesota’s lakes and wildlife habitat, with more than $1.6 million invested to support conservation throughout the state.
Additionally, for nearly two decades, Pine Bend has supported Ducks Unlimited’s Living Lakes Initiative, which focuses on bringing life back to shallow lakes and marshes. Other highlights of the partnership include restoring more than 36,000 acres of wild rice lake habitat, protecting or restoring 144,235 acres of wetlands and 54,097 acres of grasslands, and permanently protecting five miles of sensitive shoreline.
Since 2001, Flint Hills Resources has sponsored the annual Flint Hills Family Festival in downtown Saint Paul, investing nearly $7.4 million to support the kick-off-to-summer event and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. The festival focuses on expanding access to the arts, providing children and families of all backgrounds with an opportunity to learn together, enjoy art activities, and experience world-class performances at either low-cost prices or for free.
The festival has two parts. During School Days, thousands of students watch performances at the Ordway, attend workshops and interact with dozens of artists. During Family Weekend, children and families attend indoor and outdoor performances, participate in hands-on arts activities, and more. Over the past 25 years, approximately one million people have attended.
Since 2005, Flint Hills Resources has provided more than $4.2 million in support of Environmental Initiative programs, including Clean Air Minnesota, Project Green Fleet and Project Clean Air Repair:
The Pine Bend refinery is a member of Clean Air Minnesota: a group of businesses, units of government and environmental organizations convened by Environmental Initiative to develop a set of strategies to clean up the air through proactive, voluntary approaches.
Flint Hills is a founding sponsor of Project Green Fleet, a collaborative effort with Environmental Initiative to install pollution control equipment in Minnesota school buses, heavy-duty trucks and other diesel vehicles. The program reduced fine particulate matter by 36 tons annually and was recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a national model for improving air quality.
Project Clean Air Repair (CAR)
Flint Hills is also a founding sponsor of Project CAR, an Environmental Initiative program that helps repair high-emitting vehicles to reduce pollution. Through partnerships with 14 repair shops, the program provides qualifying clients with free vehicle emissions control repairs, helping reduce pollution while supporting community members in need. The CAR Initiative has achieved 52 tons of emission reductions and repaired more than 1,000 cars since 2017.
Through a partnership with the Science Museum of Minnesota, Flint Hills Resources helps spark students’ interest in science.
Flint Hills has partnered with the Science Museum of Minnesota for 37 years and invested more than $8 million since 2000. During this time, Flint Hills’ support has allowed more than 145,000 Minnesota students to experience interactive school assemblies and take memorable sleepover field trips to the museum.
Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend has partnered with The Works Museum since 2013 to provide children and families with memorable, hands-on learning experiences in science and engineering. Specifically, Flint Hills’ partnership with The Works brings Family Engineering Nights to K-12 schools in the Twin Cities metropolitan region. As an employer of hundreds of Minnesota scientists and engineers, Flint Hills aims to inspire the next generation of innovators and problem solvers.
Since 1991, Flint Hills’ Discovery Scholarships program has awarded more than $2.5 million in scholarships to more than 1,200 Minnesota students.
Since 1989, Flint Hills has partnered with the Minnesota Zoo to support enriching educational opportunities for students, including the ZOOMS STEM Design Challenge. Flint Hills has had a 37-year relationship with the zoo and invested more than $4 million since 2000.
The ZOOMS STEM Design Challenge provides students with real-life zoo challenges and asks them to develop solutions using their creativity, math, science and engineering skills. The project culminates with a ZOOMS Design Challenge Exhibition at the Minnesota Zoo in the spring, where the top student designs from across the state compete for prizes.
Since 1997, Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend has supported the DARTS Learning Buddies program, which brings together older adults and students in kindergarten through eighth grade to share experiences and learn from one another. The program focuses on math, science and reading.
More than 75,000 students have been mentored during more than 113,000 volunteer hours with Learning Buddies over the years. Serving 200 Minnesota classrooms, Learning Buddies provides an intergenerational approach to learning, with volunteers mentoring students in the areas of reading, spelling, vocabulary, science and math, along with providing critical social-emotional connections.
Flint Hills Resources has supported the Carpenter Nature Center for more than 16 years. Located near the St. Croix River, the nature center has more than 10 miles of hiking trails and an interpretive center. Each year 7,000-10,000 Minnesota and Wisconsin students visit the center for hands-on learning experiences that fulfill state science curriculum standards. In addition to donating a building on the property, Flint Hills has supported important Carpenter Nature Center events such as the Apple Blossom Races, the annual gala, and academic programming for students from pre-school to high school.
The Pine Bend refinery hosts free training sessions for law enforcement and public safety responders at its training facility. The comprehensive training center provides law enforcement, fire, rescue, military and government agencies the opportunity to train in mock situations ranging from bomb threats to hazardous materials to search and rescues.
Each year, the center hosts more than 250 training sessions for more than 5,000 public safety officers from around the country. Free use of the facility saves law enforcement agencies more than $100,000 in rental fees each year.
Volunteer Harry Wickhorst, a retired Flint Hills Resources employee and former law enforcement officer, established the training program that utilizes refinery buildings and grounds. Wickhorst has made standout improvements to the facility and Pine Bend has continued investing in its development to support realistic training opportunities, keeping the resource free for public safety agencies.
Flint Hills Resources maintains a fully functioning, two-house fire department at the Pine Bend refinery. The fire department’s 132 crew members, including 87 refinery volunteers, receive ongoing training on all aspects of industrial emergency response and battle live, pressurized petroleum fires at an onsite training center.
Since 1991, Pine Bend has provided free industrial firefighting training for fire and other departments in the cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. In addition, Pine Bend provides mutual aid industrial fire training to the Rosemount, Eagan, Inver Grove Heights and Hastings fire departments. Pine Bend also grants scholarships for local firefighters to attend industrial firefighting programs in other locations.