Monthly Programs

If you have an interest in the environment and would like to meet like-minded people, come to one of our Social/Educational meetings. We invite a variety of speakers on outdoor topics and conservation, so you will and learn more about what is going on in our local community and throughout Minnesota. Meetings are held at the Chapter House the 4th Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm and are open to the public.

 

We invite you to come and see for yourself.

Stay afterward for refreshments and conversation.

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​​Tuesday, March 24 

7:30 pm

Matt Norton, Boundary Waters Advocate:

Sulfate in the Rainy River-Headwaters

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Matt Norton has been an Ike since shortly after moving to Minnesota in 1999. He is Policy & Science Director for Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness (NMW) and Save the Boundary Waters, and oversees NMW’s water monitoring program. Matt has undergraduate and master’s degrees in biology and forest science from Yale University, and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School. Matt has worked since 2002 to protect Minnesotans’ air, water, and public lands, including with NMW since 2016, and previously with the Minnesota Environmental Partnership and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy.

 

Matt will discuss mining sources, background conditions in reference streams (those without mining), the impairment of Birch Lake, and downstream transport of sulfate from Birch Lake to and across the BWCA Wilderness boundary.

 

His presentation will offer a detailed look at the 2023-2025 data, and:

• describe background water quality in reference streams in the Rainy River-Headwaters;

• identify mining discharges and describe their effects on two polluted tributaries to Birch Lake;

• trace elevated sulfate concentrations from mine NPDES-permitted surface discharges to tributaries of Birch Lake, through Birch Lake, and downstream to and across the BWCA Wilderness boundary;

• quantify elevated sulfate at the Wilderness boundary in terms of both concentration and load; and

• explore the implications of elevated sulfate on the watershed and the Boundary Waters.

 

Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness (NMW) has built and operated a professional water quality monitoring program that has produced extensive water quality data since 2020. The scope of the program’s data collection has shifted occasionally as new questions arise. To date, NMW’s monitoring program has centered on a portion of the Rainy River-Headwaters watershed including Birch Lake, its tributaries, the White Iron chain of lakes, and tributaries to those lakes, including the Kawishiwi River, the largest river system in the Rainy River-Headwaters watershed.

 

NMW’s water quality monitoring staff are properly trained to follow appropriate field data and sample collection methods.  NMW follows all MPCA and EPA SOPs for QA/QC.  NMW’s record-keeping is meticulous.  The field equipment NMW uses is the same as used by the MPCA and EPA.  A state-certified testing laboratory analyzes water samples using accepted analytical methods and submits sulfate results directly to the MPCA’s water quality database, EQuIS.  The MPCA is using NMW’s submitted data in its Clean Water Act Section 303(d) determinations. MPCA’s determination in Nov., 2023 that Birch Lake (a wild rice lake) is impaired for sulfate was confirmed by EPA in spring of 2024, and is based substantially on lab results from NMW’s 2020 – 2022 sampling years.

Bruce Anderson retired from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

in July 2017. During his four years with the DNR he was Assistant Wildlife

Manager and wildlife planner where he was involved wildlife surveys, planning,

wildlife damage management, habitat assessments, invasive species

management and Interdisciplinary support to timber management.

 

Prior to this, Bruce had a 35 year career with the US Forest Service where he worked in North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho and most recently on the Superior National Forest in Northern MN. During his Forest Service career he worked in program management positions for invasive species, wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers, trails, rangeland management, wildlife, fire effects and recreation. Bruce also worked at length within five wilderness areas on wilderness related topics including fire effects monitoring, livestock and recreational grazing, wildlife damage management, invasive species control, motorized use management, and wild and scenic rivers.

 

 During my career the past 35 years as a federal and state natural resource manager across multiple states, I have been alarmed at the extent and rapidity of the loss of wild lands. The intent of this talk is to portray the extraordinary loss of pre-European settlement wildlands at the national scale and in Minnesota and factors contributing to this decline. 

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Tuesday, April 24   

7:30 pm

Bruce Carlson, Minnesota Biological Survey

History and Future Plans

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Tuesday, May 26

7:30 pm

“Cranes over Minnesota”

(International Crane Foundation)