St. Louis River Estuary Summit

This week, some of us from ESD attended the St. Louis River Estuary Summit, hosted by the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR).  It was a great opportunity to learn about the research people are doing in and around the St. Louis River Estuary and best of all, it was free and open to everyone!
There were a lot of interesting presentations at the Summit, but I think my personal favorite was given by the students from South Shore School District in Port Wing.  The students presented the monitoring work that they were doing as a part of their aquatic biology course.  I was pretty amazed at all the great things they were working on.  It was really inspiring to see how well-informed they are as high school students.  Another great thing I learned from that portion of the program was the work that LSNERR is doing with teachers.  The education coordinator, Deanna Erickson, took teachers on a field trip over the summer and they learned about many aspects of the St. Louis River.  It is a great opportunity for teachers to get their students actively involved with the outdoors. Click here to see more on the LSNERR site.
There were so many interesting presentations.  As a relative newcomer to the area, I felt as though I learned a lot about the history of the area and some water quality challenges that are dealt with here.  I'm sure even people who are involved with some of the research found it extremely beneficial and informative.  So, plan ahead to attend the summit next year!  You'll be amazed at the amount of research and collaboration that's happening in your own backyard!

Thanks to Lake Superior NERR for putting on such a great program!

-Written by Jillian Schubert Edwards