Water in the Red River Valley takes a path that may look odd on a map. That’s because the Red River flows north to Lake Winnipeg in Canada. From there, it heads for saltwater, emptying into the Hudson Bay and eventually reaching the ocean.

Somewhere along this route, lodged in a beaver dam or trucking downstream, are small wooden canoes that were decorated and launched by students from about 40 elementary schools in Minnesota and North Dakota. Each boat has a QR code and postcard instructing anyone who finds it to share the location.

For more on the program called River of Dreams, MPR News host Nina Moini talks with Taylor Lemieux and Ashley Loe. Lemieux is a watershed education coordinator for the International Water Institute, based in Fargo, and Loe is a fifth-grade teacher in Grand Forks, N.D.