Wisconsin Water Week Virtual: Lake Superior Events

The Lake Superior regional conference consisted of over 25 speakers, featuring Keynote Speaker Dr. Nancy Langston from Michigan Tech, speaking on Sustaining Lake Superior: Hope for the Future in a Warming World. 110 participants joined us for our regional conference, raising nearly $1,000 for the Superior Rivers Watershed Association.

10 simultaneous regional conferences on Thursday
Across all 10 conferences, 901 registrations raised over $9,000 to support regional water efforts in Wisconsin
The Lake Superior region had 110 participants, raising nearly $1,000 for the Superior Rivers Watershed Association

Recordings of the presentations are available for all to watch on the Lake Superior Collaborative’s YouTube channel.

Thursday, March 11th, 2021 Virtual Event Part of the week-long, virtual Wisconsin Water Week:

The Lake Superior conference agenda brought to you by:

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Registration proceeds for Thursday’s Lake Superior Agenda directly support the Superior Rivers Watershed Association!

Schedule at-a-glance

9:00 AM – 10:15 AM	Keynote Speaker Judith Schwartz The Art and Practice of Earth Repair: Stories from Around the World
10:30AM – 11:15 AM	Morning Concurrent Sessions
	Cultivating Reciprocity: Growing Sustainably with our Water Resources	Friends of the Water: Citizen-Led Friends Groups in the Lake Superior Basin	Tourism Futures: Adapting outdoor recreation & tourism to climate change & changing visitation in Northern Wisconsin
11:15AM – 11:30 AM	Break (Networking, Exhibitors, & Sponsors)
11:30AM – 12:30 PM	Keynote Speaker Dr. Nancy Langston Sustaining Lake Superior: Hope for the Future in a Warming World
12:30PM – 1:15PM	Break (Lunch)
1:15 PM – 2:15 PM	Afternoon Concurrent Sessions
	Building Resilience in the Lake Superior Basin: Using Green Infrastructure & Natural Management to Reduce Floor Impacts	Superior makers: A celebration of regional arts and water appreciation	Ma’iingan: Ecological and Cultural Importance of Lake Superior Wolves
2:15PM – 2:30PM	Break (Networking, Exhibitors, & Sponsors)
2:30PM – 3:30PM	Keynote Speaker Tia Nelson United, We Can Solve This
3:30PM – 3:45PM	Regional Closing (Friday events & closing remarks)

Superior Waters Story Corps: Stories of the Land to which the People Belong Thursday, March 11th at 7pm hosted by the Superior Waters Story Corps Hear live and pre-recorded stories celebrating nature’s bounty and our connection to the waters and lands of Gitchigumi/Lake Superior, and learn about the proposed Enbridge Line 5 Reroute. Register here.

Friday Events

Wisconsin Water Week is reserving Friday to promote local groups that protect healthy waters, restore waters needing help, and prevent the spread of invasive species. Meetings are independent of Wisconsin Water Week but encouraged to promote on the Extension Lakes website. Meetings may be virtual/online, or in-person, depending on the size of the gathering and the evolving public health situation. Lake Superior Collaborative 2021 Virtual Symposium: Adapting for a Healthy and Sustainable Lake Superior 8:30am-12noon on Friday, March 12

Information here and register here.

Keynote Speakers

Watch the Recordings

The Lake Superior agenda is available to watch on the Lake Superior Collaborative’s YouTube channel. Check out the Extension Lakes YouTube for other Water Week recordings.

Morning Keynote: Judith Schwartz

9:00 AM – 10:15AM

Author of “The Reindeer Chronicals and Other Inspiring Stories of Working with Nature to Heal the Earth”

Judith Schwartz is an author who tells stories to explore and illuminate scientific concepts and cultural nuance. She takes a clear-eyed look at global environmental, economic, and social challenges, and finds insights and solutions in natural systems. She writes for numerous publications, including The American Prospect, The Guardian, Discover, Scientific American, and YaleE360. Her latest book, “The Reindeer Chronicles”, is a global tour of earth repair, featuring stops in Norway, Spain, Hawai’i, New Mexico, and beyond. Schwartz’s presentation on Thursday of Wisconsin Water Week will highlight ways that communities around the world have innovated – sometimes over centuries – to advance agriculture while healing our planet.

Lake Superior Keynote: Dr. Nancy Langston

11:30 AM – 12:30PM Sustaining Lake Superior: Hope for the Future in a Warming World Langston will ask what can we learn from environmental recoveries in the Lake Superior watershed over the past century, as we face new interconnected challenges from climate change, synthetic chemicals, and forest change. In her recent Sustaining Lake Superior, Langston describes significant conservation success stories for fish, forests, and water quality, with significant consequences for Native American and working class communities. None of these recoveries are complete. Yet they offer us hope as we face new environmental challenges, trying to shape resilient strategies in the face of an uncertain future. Nancy Langston is the Distinguished Professor of Environmental History at Michigan Technological University. In addition to dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles and popular essays, she has written five books. Her fourth book, Sustaining Lake Superior: An Extraordinary Lake in a Changing World (Yale, 2017), focused on the interconnected histories of the health of watersheds, humans, and forests in the context of climate change. Her most recent book, Climate Ghosts (Brandeis University Press, 2021) examines climate change and its effects on migratory wildlife in the north. http://www.sustaininglakesuperior.com/

Afternoon Keynote: Tia Nelson

2:30PM – 3:30PM

Managing Director of the Outrider Foundation

Tia Nelson, Managing Director of Climate at the Outrider Foundation, is the daughter of Senator Gaylord Nelson. On Thursday of Wisconsin Water Week, Tia will share an inspirational story of hope, sharing the ways that conservation and addressing climate change can bridge the divides in our communities, our country and the world.

Concurrent Sessions

This event is entirely virtual. See the schedule above for the time of these concurrent sessions.

Cultivating Reciprocity: Growing Sustainably with our Water Resources

10:30 AM – 11:15 AM Small-scale agricultural practices can have a big impact on local watersheds and waterways. Learn how one seasoned organic produce farmer continues to ensure his operation works with the land and water resources to have a positive, lasting impact in his community. Also, gain insight from regional Ojibwe tribal members about sustainable manoomin (wild rice) harvesting practices. What we seed, cultivate, harvest, and protect makes a difference to our Great Lakes Region, and you can too! Speaker: Tom Galazen, North Wind Organic Farm Mike Wiggins Jr, Tribal Chairman of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

Friends of the Water: Citizen-Led Friends Groups in the Lake Superior Basin

10:30 AM – 11:15 AM Friends Groups provide local citizens with opportunities to support their parks, lands, waters, and resources. They lead projects which provide tens of thousands of hours of volunteer stewardship work in the Lake Superior basin each year. Join Alex Faber, Executive Director of the Superior Rivers Watershed Association, as she interviews leaders of Friends Groups that support the Lake Superior Reserve, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, the North Pikes Creek Wetlands, and the Gile Flowage to discuss how they involve citizens in stewardship efforts to benefit people, land and water. Panelists: Mike Koutnik, Chair of the Friends of the Lake Superior Reserve Ericka Peterson, President of the Friends of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Kathy Wendling, President of the North Pikes Creek Wetlands Cathy Techtmann, President of the Friends of the Gile Flowage

Tourism futures: adapting outdoor recreation & tourism to climate change & changing visitation in Northern Wisconsin

10:30 AM – 11:15 AM This 45-minute session will begin with an overview of climate projections for northern Wisconsin and Chequamegon Bay and a report from the Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Working Group of the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts. The panel discussion that follows will include regional tourism representatives and outdoor recreation leaders who will share their perspectives on Northern Wisconsin’s Lake Superior based tourism and outdoor recreation futures. Attendees will be able to submit questions for panelists in advance and during the live panel discussion. Speakers: Meghan Salmon-Tumas, Assistant Professor of Climate Science at Northland College Dr. Leslie Brandt, Climate Change Specialist at the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science Kristen Schmitt, Climate Change Outreach Specialist at the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science Panelists: Peggy Burkman, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Mary Motiff, Bayfield County Tourism Director & Mayor of Washburn Travis Barningham, Owner of Rustic Makwa Den

Building Resilience in the Lake Superior Basin: Using Green Infrastructure & Natural Management to Reduce Flood Impacts

1:15 PM – 2:15 PM Municipalities and communities are experiencing more frequent and often stronger extreme flood events that are destroying public and private infrastructure and natural ecosystems. In this session, we’ll hear how county departments, natural resources management agencies and NGOs, and a tribal nation are minimizing stormwater runoff impacts through innovative practices. Speakers: Matt Hudson, Associate Director of the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation at Northland College Kyle Magyera, Local Government Outreach Specialist for Wisconsin Wetlands Association Tonia Kittleson, Stormwater and Administrative Manager for the City of Superior Environmental Services Division Linda Nguyen, Environmental Director of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Allie Rakowski, Water Resources Programs Manager for the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

Superior makers: A celebration of regional arts and water appreciation

1:15 PM – 2:15 PM This 60-minute session will feature a diverse group of artists and makers whose work is inspired by Wisconsin waters. Lake Superior has inspired many people to express their celebration of its waters for centuries. Join us for a journey into cultural and artistic expressions that Lake Superior has inspired in three local makers. April Stone, Mary Dougherty, and Jamey Penny-Ritter discuss their crafts and how our waters have impacted their work and lives. Speakers: April Stone, artist and basket weaver Mary Dougherty, Founder of Words for Water Project Jamey Penney-Ritter, artist and owner of Bemused Design & Photography

Ma’iingan: Ecological and Cultural Importance of Lake Superior Wolves

1:15 PM – 2:15 PM Ma’iingan, the gray wolf, is an iconic species with important cultural and ecological meanings for the Lake Superior basin. The goal of this session is to provide attendees with information about northern Wisconsin wolves, including how local students and organizations engage with wolf research and policy. Speakers: Philomena Kebec, Policy Analyst for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission Division of Intergovernmental Affairs Abi Fergus, Wildlife Specialist for Mashkiiziibii Bad River Natural Resources Department Rick Erickson and students, Bayfield School District

Lake Superior conference agenda brought to you by:

$20 for the day! When you register, be sure to name “Lake Superior” as your water body! For “Days attending” choose Thursday and Lake Superior to register for our Lake Superior conference! (If the other days look great to you, feel free to register for more!