Editing Science Museum of Minnesota (section)

===Mississippi River Visitor Center===
Inside the museum's lobby is the [[National Park Service]] Visitor Center for the [[Mississippi National River and Recreation Area]], which is free of charge. Mississippi River exhibits and National Park Rangers are available to help people learn about and experience the river.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Timmons |first=Bob |date=2025-03-05 |title=Feds plan to terminate leases at Mississippi River recreation headquarters and visitor center in Minnesota |url=https://www.startribune.com/feds-plan-to-terminate-leases-at-mississippi-river-recreation-headquarters-and-visitor-center-in-minnesota/601231479 |access-date=2025-03-07 |website=The Minnesota Star Tribune |language=en}}</ref> The visitor center is also equipped with resources to plan trips to any of the more than 390 national parks.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}

<big>'''Center for Research and Collections'''</big>

The Science Museum's Center for Research and Collections staff maintain a collection of over 1.7 million artifacts, objects, and specimens and conduct research in biology, paleontology, anthropology, water quality, and climate change. They also conduct outreach with museum visitors, school groups, fellow researchers, and the general public. The museum’s collections are held in a storage vault. Items include dinosaurs and other fossils, preserved animals and plants, and cultural artifacts from extinct and extant civilizations. Researchers visit the vault to take advantage of the collection, but it is not open to regular museum visitors except during special events.

<big>'''St. Croix Watershed Research Station'''</big>

The St. Croix Watershed Research Station, in [[Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota|Marine-on-St. Croix, Minnesota]], is part of the Science Museum’s Center for Research and Collections.<ref>{{Cite web |title=St. Croix Watershed Research Station |url=https://www.smm.org/scwrs |access-date=2022-02-01 |website=Science Museum of Minnesota |language=en}}</ref> It is the museum’s headquarters for a team of scientists who study water around the world.