SOEI 1

FALL 2013

Dear Friends,

With this issue we are pleased to begin this newsletter as a new publication of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute. The Institute has developed many exciting and critical new projects among our three focal areas of northern stewardship – woods and waters, wildlife, and wildness—some of which you’ll read about in this issue. Together, these priority areas define the natural and distinctive essence of the North Country. Solving environmental challenges, seizing opportunities, and improving the quality of life in this region is what we do. This publication is designed to keep you current with our resource stewardship projects, programs, and progress.

This issue highlights our woods and waters program. Water quality and quantity set the North Country apart from all other parts of our country. With thousands of freshwater lakes, hundreds of rivers, and ten percent of the world’s surface freshwater in Lake Superior, how our mostly forested watersheds are used and managed makes all the difference to the purity of our legendary waters. Sedimentation, shoreline use and abuse, invasive species, and habitat degradation are warning signs. For example, because of a degraded landscape, Fish Creek just west of Ashland delivers more than one thousand dump truck loads of sediment into Lake Superior every year.

(continued next page)Above: Mark Peterson, Executive Director of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute at Northland College. Top: Author and activist Sigurd F. Olson.

2 FALL 2013

(continued from previous page)

In the past twelve months, grants, contracts, and gifts from donors like you have made it possible for us to add knowledgeable and experienced professionals to our staff to address these lakes and watershed issues. Augmented by several very capable Northland College students—our future leaders—these teams will provide stewardship, science, civic engagement, and critical educational outreach on lakes and watershed issues. Our strategy includes the development of an in-house water quality laboratory, a lake management program and watershed projects. These investments represent a new and exciting chapter to the Institute’s 40-year history of advancing conservation.

As our Lake Superior Binational Forum program reminds us, “water is life.” There is no more critical horizon for us to focus our minds and spirits on than the water quality across our precious Lake Superior region.

Yours in conservation, Mark Peterson Executive Director

Watershed Program Coordinator Matt Hudson presented “Water Resources of the Bad River Watershed & Potential Ferrous Mining” along with Tony Janisch of the Bad River Watershed Association at the Iron County Citizen’s Forum in Oma, Wisconsin.

Hudson also gave the presentation at SOEI as part of Northland College’s new series focusing on issues surrounding the potential for iron mining in the Penokee Hills south of Ashland.

Hudson and student interns Kim Oldenborg and Elizabeth Alexson were featured in a Milwaukee Public Radio story “Can Streams and Mining Coexist?”

Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) interviewed Lissa Radke for a radio news story about mining in the Lake Superior basin.

Save the DateJan. 30, 2014 • Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award Winner Craig Childs presents his adult nonfiction book, Apocalyptic Planet: A Field Guide to the Future of the Earth

March 28, 2014 • Duluth, Minnesota: Lake Superior Binational Forum Open Public Meeting, “Meet Your Mysterious Neighbor—Lake Superior”

July 20, 2014 (third Sunday every July) • 11th annual Lake Superior Day sponsored by the Lake Superior Binational Forum

October 2014 • National Loon Resarch Symposium, Ashland

SOEI in the NewsRadke was the guest on the

award-winning community radio station WTIP in Grand Marais, Minnesota, on a monthly program about the lake.

Over 1,600 people from around the lake and the region submitted comments about mining as part of the Binational Forum’s public comment process.

The Binational Forum was featured on approxiamately fifteen newspaper, radio, and television stations highlighting the annual basin-wide Lake Superior Day, which the Forum founded in 1993.

WOJB community radio aired a live on-air broadcast of the Forum’s open public meeting about mining to thousands of listeners.

“At last I caught what I was listening for – the long-drawn quavering howl from over the hills, a sound as wild and indigenous to the north as the muskegs or the northern lights. That was wilderness music, something as free and untamed as there is on this earth.” —Sigurd F. Olson, The Singing Wilderness

SOEI 3

Lake Superior Stewards Honored at Big Top Ceremony

Under a white tent at the foot of Mount Ashwabay, Lissa Radke, coordinator of the Lake Superior Binational Forum and U.S. Forum Co-Chair Bruce Lindgren of Herbster, presented a plaque and lamp made of Lake Superior stones to Bad River Tribal Chair Mike Wiggins, the Washburn Marina, Bodin Fisheries, the South Shore School seventh grade art class, and the Grandmothers Gathering for Gitchigamming.

The July ceremony was part of a Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute presentation developed to accompany the new Big Top Chautauqua house show called “Stories for the Water.”

“There are lots of great stories for the water to tell tonight,” Radke told the nearly one hundred people who attended the presentation. The stewardship awards pay tribute to winners and honorable mention recipients that have demonstrated a commitment to environmental

stewardship for Lake Superior through their leadership.”

The Forum presented awards to the five Chequamegon Bay area winners at the presentation. In all the Forum recognized the exemplary stewardship of fourteen individuals, business, municipalities, organizations, and youth groups around Lake Superior in Canada and the United States. This was the tenth year the twenty-two-year-old Forum has given environmental stewardship awards.

The Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute’s Lake Superior Binational Forum presented stewardship awards in Chequamegon Bay July 13 at the Big Top Chautauqua in Bayfield. From left to right Sharon Graham, Lissa Radke, Hunter Schierman, Mike Wiggins, Ben Dodge, Jack Stewart, Michelle Shrider, Erin DeWitt, Jeff Bodin, Lorraine Norrgard and Bruce Lingren.

4 FALL 2013

Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award Winners Announced

The Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute announced the winners of its 2013 Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Awards (SONWA). This is the tenth year a book has been selected for the Children’s Literature category and the twentieth year for the Adult award.

Eliot Schrefer (pictured above) accepted his award in Children’s Literature for his young adult novel, Endangered, and spoke to students on campus in early November. Craig Childs was awarded the SONWA for his adult nonfiction book, Apocalyptic Planet: A Field Guide to the Future of the Earth. Childs is scheduled to accept his award January 29.

“Our award committees hold these two books up as the finest examples from last year that have the qualities to inspire, teach, and generate conversation,” said SOEI Executive Director Mark Peterson. “They also capture the spirit of the ongoing and evolving human relationship with our natural world in fresh and insightful ways.”

In 2010, the Chequamegon Bay Area Partnership (CBAP), in conjunction with the SOEI and Northland College, received federal funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, implemented by the EPA, to provide E. coli testing and to target, reduce, and remove beachfront contamination. The CBAP, formed in 2009, is comprised of 15 agencies, nonprofits, and governments, including the SOEI, Northland College, and City of Ashland.

In addition to the testing, during the summers of 2011 and 2012, the SOEI staff and Northland College students worked cooperatively with the City of Ashland to coordinate weekly Lake Superior beach

cleanups that included grooming the top four inches of beach sand on historically impaired beaches—Maslowski, Kreher and Bayview—to reduce bacterial density.

The grant ended at the end of last summer and the SOEI worked with the EPA on transferring the groomer to the city of Ashland. In August SOEI Executive Director Mark Peterson and College President Mike Miller handed over the keys and title to Ashland Mayor Bill Whalen.

“It no longer made sense for SOEI and Northland College to keep the groomer—but it was too good of a program to let go,” said SOEI Executive Director Mark Peterson. “This is a win-win for everyone.”

SOEI Donates Beach Groomer to City of Ashland

Mark Peterson, executive director of the SOEI (left), and Michael A. Miller, president of Northland College (second from left), present the title of the beach groomer to Ashland Mayor Bill Whalen (center), Ashland Parks and Recreation Director Sara Hudson (second from right), and City Administrator Pete Mann (right).

SOEI 5

Support SOEI.

northland.edu/give

Your support makes the work of the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute possible. It provides information for the public, support for research, and valuable hands-on experience for Northland College students —the conservation professionals of the future. Please consider making a sustained gift to the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute. Even a small monthly gift can make a big difference. For more information or to set up your sustained gift, go to northland.edu/give or call (715) 682-1234.

Connecting North to South

Recognizing that over 100 species of migratory birds depend upon the quality of winter habitat with the native vegetation of our North Country, the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and the Costa Rican park service signed a formal “sister-park” agreement earlier this year. The agreement seeks to develop projects that improve summer, winter, and stop-over sites for birds the two countries share.

To begin exploring possibilities, SOEI was host to two dozen scientists and park managers from the U.S. and Costa Rica seeking to conserve habitat for this region’s migratory birds on and near Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. This area in the southwest portion of the country contains almost three percent of the planet’s biodiversity with much of its flora found nowhere else. Many possible joint projects were identified and the dialogue continues with the goal of involving many partner groups to advance bird conservation in both areas.

Bock Foundation Awards Grant

John C. Bock Foundation in October awarded the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute a $25,000 grant to develop climate change adaptation recommendations for forest management in the Lake Superior region. Research under this grant will assess the relationship between forest age and stream

Focus on Waterhealth in order to better understand how forest structure, stream hydrology, and climate change are related. These funds will support staff time to coordinate the project, research stipends for at least two Northland College students, stream sampling equipment, travel costs, and laboratory analysis expenses. Dr. Randy Lehr, Bro professor of regional sustainable development, and Matt Hudson, watershed program coordinator, will oversee the project. This project is a component of a larger SOEI effort to assess potential climate change impacts to the Chequamegon Bay and its surrounding communities.

Stream Gage Installed on Bay City Creek

SOEI Watershed Program Coordinator Matt Hudson worked with students Kim Oldenborg and Elizabeth Alexson and U.S. Geological Survey Hydrologic Technician Eric Dantoin to install a campus stream gage on Bay City Creek. The gage will give a continuous record of water level and flow and be an important real-world learning tool for current and future Northland College students. From the data obtained, the Institute will develop recommendations on how the College can become a “zero stormwater-discharge campus.”

6 FALL 2013

Working to Improve the Health of Northern Lakes

The SOEI has been developing a water program called the Ecological Solutions Initiative with the mission of addressing local concerns that make a difference on a global scale. Recently this program took three giant steps forward with the hiring of the Institute’s first lake management coordinator, integrating ten undergraduate students into monitoring and research elements of the project, and launching the newly-formed laboratory (detailed in an article on page 7).

SOEI Lake Program Coordinator MaryJo Gingras was hired in May to oversee the lakes portion of the

program and this summer kicked-off research on six northern Wisconsin lakes with four students.

Gingras is collaborating with four lake associations interested in understanding their lake’s health and resource management. The program is collecting data on nutrient concentrations in each of six northern lakes, and researching the relationship between the lake’s biological and chemical processes. Nutrients come from applications on the land—sediment, fertilizers, and pesticides, and can remain stored in the lake bottom for years.

Gingras is also looking at lake use and watershed activities. Her task is to document existing water quality and develop a lake management plan for each of the lakes to improve or preserve lake health.

The program will also provide

experiential research applications for Northland College students to address lake management and water quality issues. SOEI employed ten students last summer and trained them in both field and laboratory procedures. Students underwent weeks of training on field equipment, research protocols, aquatic plant identification, snorkeling, habitat assessment, and motorboat certification.

They then began collecting weekly water samples to test phosphorus, chlorophyll-A, and total nitrogen. In addition, they collected weekly data on pH, temperature, and the percentage of dissolved oxygen at one-meter increments down a vertical profile in the deepest hole of the lake.

Students interacted with the Department of Natural Resources,

Northland students working for the Ecological Solutions Initiative measure stream flow in an oultet of Lake Owen in Northeastern WIsconsin.

SOEI 7

with the public—providing information on invasive species at boat landings—and with other researchers.

Sophomore Parker Matzinger thought he hit the jackpot when he was hired because of his young age. Matzinger said the experience helped confirm his interest. “My end goal is not with aquatic plants but I know I want to do research when I get older,” he said.

In fact, Gingras said that hiring freshmen is exactly what she wants to do. The intention is to have them stay with the program throughout their college careers, increase their research skills and their pay scales, and take on leadership roles in training younger students.

“The greatest reward of this project—besides spending the summer on six incredible lakes—is that these are Northland students conducting the scientific research that will be used by resource managers in Wisconsin to address local and regional resource concerns,” Gingras said. “And their work will ultimately result in long term protection of these amazing ecosystems.”

A Teaching Laboratory that Earns Money

In May, the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute and Northland College opened a commercial research and environmental laboratory. And in those first months alone the laboratory has already logged over one thousand environmental samples, incorporated sixty-two students, six faculty and four staff, three classrooms, and worked with eight federal, state, and county agencies.

The Applied Research and Environmental Laboratory (ARELab) is part of SOEI’s Ecological Solutions Initiative, a new program working to promote water quality and ecosystem health in the region.

“From a public health perspective, it’s a huge advantage for the region to have a lab here—we saw it this summer,” said Chris McNerney, an environmental chemist and director of the laboratory.

McNerney and two student interns monitored beaches in Ashland and Douglas counties this summer and seven different sites for the tribal Bad River Natural Resources Department. The laboratory is currently certified to identify “total coliform and E. coli,” or bacteria, in water.

In July the lab received state certification so the laboratory will be able to test for nutrients, phosphorous and nitrogen, as well as other important water quality measurements like total suspended solids and chlorophyll-A.

Next comes national accreditation.

The two ARELab students underwent weeks of rigorous training—a step-by-step process to ensure the quality control and quality assurance procedures were in place, McNerney said.

“This goes in line with Northland College’s strategic plan,” McNerney said. “This is a literal learning laboratory—we’re getting students ready to go out into the real world.”

Alumna Serves as New Program CoordinatorSOEI’s new Lake Program Coordinator MaryJo (Otterbein) Gingras graduated from Northland College in 2000 with a degree in Environmental Studies and Water Resources. As a student, she earned an SOEI fellowship and conducted studies on Bay City Creek and at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center. She then directed soil and water conservation projects for the Iron County Land & Water Conservation Department before returning to SOEI in May. “I’m thrilled to be back on campus and working with students as part of Northland’s team,” she said. “This is an opportunity to give back and use my passion for lakes to empower Northland students.”

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

1411 Ellis AvenueAshland, WI 54806-3999

NONPROFIT ORGU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDDULUTH, MN

PERMIT NO. 1003

“A mountain, a desert, or a great forest might serve his need of strength, but water reflects his inner needs. Its all-enveloping quality, its complete diffusion into the surrounding environment, the fact it is never twice quite the same and each approach to it is a new adventure, give it a meaning all its own. Here a man can find himself and all his varied and changing moods.”

—Sigurd F. Olson, Listening Point

CELEBRATING

40YEARS