Lower Phalen Creek Project

Lower Phalen Creek Project, doing business as Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi, is a Native American-owned, tax-exempt nonprofit organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota, that acts as a federal grant recipient (100% prime recipient posture) focused on habitat restoration, indigenous cultural education, and community science. The organization has received nine federal grants totaling $1.2 million obligated across the past eleven years, with no federal contracting footprint and no subcontract activity.

The vendor's customer concentration spans multiple agencies, with the Department of Agriculture Forest Service Washington Office Acquisitions accounting for three of nine awards. The remaining awards split across the Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Service, the Department of the Interior National Park Service Midwest Region, and the National Endowment for the Arts. All work is delivered as prime recipient with no sub-recipient relationships.

Recent representative work includes a Project Grant from the Department of Agriculture Forest Service (award date August 12, 2026, ultimate completion December 31, 2028) focused on habitat restoration for migratory species — specifically reversing monarch butterfly population decline exceeding 80-90% since the 1990s — while providing educational, cultural, and leadership opportunities for youth and residents in St. Paul's Phalen Creek Corridor. A National Endowment for the Arts Project Grant (June 1, 2024, completion May 31, 2026) supports the Dakota Lifeways Program at Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi. A Department of the Interior National Park Service Midwest Region Cooperative Agreement (August 1, 2022, completion June 30, 2027) engaged the organization to co-develop interpretation, education, and volunteerism programming for the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area by incorporating Dakota and Ojibwe perspectives through tribal educator partnerships and formal curriculum development. Earlier work included an EPA Region 5 Project Grant (June 1, 2022, completion April 30, 2023) on community-based air quality sampling and environmental justice framework development across St. Paul's East Side neighborhoods.

Activity has been episodic — one or two awards annually since 2020 — with only one award (combined obligated value not specified) reaching ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. The organization's work centers on indigenous knowledge integration, habitat conservation, and community-based environmental monitoring, with all awards routed through cultural or natural-resource-focused federal grant programs rather than federal contracting vehicles.