October 19, 2010 Meeting Notes

Welcome and Introductions

Brad Cobb of the coordinating team welcomed everyone and joked about our new venue for the quarterly meeting.

Audrey Arner started off the meeting by pointing out the original Watershed Alliance charter and how it continues to help guide our progress and activities. Everyone introduced themselves and provided an example about the nature of the Watershed Alliance or the work it has undertaken. A number of people mentioned the magnitude of the projects that have been pulled off for a non-organization.

Erik Wrede told the group how the Watershed Alliance is one of the first groups mentioned when people talk about organizations engaged in this type of citizen-based effort. He also pointed out how the Minnesota River was one of the first four water trails (originally called canoe and boat trails) designated in the state in the early 1960s.

Announcements

Brad Cobb told the group about the event being planned to honor Senator Dennis Fredrickson legislative and conservation work in the Minnesota River Basin and across the state. According to Brad, Senator Fredrickson has been a key inspirational leader when it comes to water quality and agriculture issues in Minnesota. The event will be on December 16th at the City of Redwood Community Center from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Brad will be providing more information in the future and will draft a letter expressing to the senator oru appreciation for his work on behalf of the Minnesota River. He can be reached at 320-493-4695.

Randy Thoreson of the National Park Service provided a brief summary of the ongoing work to develop a trail plan for the Minnesota River area in Redwood and Renville counties. They have done a lot on the milestone achievement section by pulling together action steps and timeline. One action step will concentrate on working to remove the Minnesota Falls Dam downstream of Granite Falls. Barr Engineering is conducting a study on the dam for Xcel Energy who owns it. Patrick Moore asked Randy if there was a document that came out of the brainstorming session and Randy said there was an overview he could provide.

Susie Carlin reported the Minnesota River Board Meeting is on November 15th (Monday) starting at 9 a.m. at the Sibley County Service Center in Gaylord. For more information call 507-389-5491. One of the presentations at the meeting will be on the Blue Thumb Program, an outreach program to meet water quality goals developed by the Rice Creek Watershed District. For more information on the program: http://bluethumb.org/


Erik Wrede mentioned the promotion of Mike Salmon of the DNR from Area Supervisor to Strategic Leader for the Southern Region DNR Division of Parks & Trails, based out of the regional office in New Ulm. Mike is still interested in what is going on in the Minnesota River Basin.

The document “Conservation in the Middle Minnesota Valley: A Blueprint and Action Plan” for the Green Corridor Project has been completed and can be found on the Tatanka Bluffs web site at: http://tatankabluffs.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Conservation%20In%20The%20Middle%20MN%20Valley.pdf

Patrick told the group that CURE has a new list of activities including two River Writers Workshops (November 4th and 8th), the Annual Fall Cleanup (November 7th) and the Annual Meeting (February 12th) featuring John Hickman and Jon Carlson who will talk about making the Minnesota River film documentary. For more information on these events and others go to: http://www.curemnriver.org/events.html

Scott informed the group that Brooke Patterson of the coordinating team and Brown County Planning and Zoning Department is leaving at the end of the month to move out to Oregon. Brooke has been a dedicated member of the Minnesota River Paddler Program and her spirit and hard work will be missed.

Minnesota River - Lake Pepin Friendship Tour

Patrick Moore with assistance from Warren Formo and Susie Carlin gave a report on the two part Minnesota River – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour. Forty-five people took part in the upstream-downstream exchange. How did it happen? Patrick gave credit to Lyndsey Weber (CURE intern), Warren Formo, Susie Carlin and Michael McKay for pulling together to make this tour a success. The dynamics that made this work had to do with who does the talking, who does the messaging. According to Patrick, all of us stood at the edge of a smaller circle and found ourselves in the middle of a larger circle.

A connector was needed and that person turned out to be Lyndsey who grew up on a farm, had communication skills and did TMDL research. She made 160 phone calls to set up this tour. Patrick said the reason for a good turnout had to do with the one-on-one contacts and how Lyndsey practiced her delivery. She had this ability and creditability to get the job done. They also worked with Action Media to have professionally crafted questions. You need to get people to answer questions like what is going right and what is good that you have done. Everyone got to weigh in with the key being transparency, openness and working together.

One of the reasons for this tour being successful had to do with concentrating on citizens and limiting any government or agency involvement along with the Media. Patrick told the group that the media likes conflict and puts things into black and white issues. As a result they didn’t include any media. You need to cultivate and develop messengers who aren’t scientists or government staff. It succeeded because people had a great time. By not using government funds they could buy alcohol, rent hotel rooms, could party, etc.

To help stimulate the conversation they had spouses sit at different tables. All of these tricks were used to get people to talk one on one and also get people to know each other as human beings. Patrick gave credit to the generous farmers of Bruce and Ann Tiffany and Brian and Michelle Hicks for opening up their operation during harvest. The fruits of this exchange is already being seen as people are already connecting. Another key has to do with no one trying to control message and the need to step back to look at it in a non emotional way.

Warren thanked Patrick for pulling all of this together and added that we need to bring together people from differ experiences to restart a different type of conversation. He brought up the speaker this morning from the Water Resources Conference to say we need to get past the hype, past the politics, past the bull to have a meaningful exchange. Susie said it was fun and a great experience working with Patrick, CURE, Warren and others. The neat thing is that people got to spend a solid day together giving them a lot of time for deep discussion. It says a lot of all these people to commit to this effort. Many of the participants have found new leaders to take the message back to others. This was definitely a success.

Now it’s time to let the results mull among people and use it as stepping stone. Susie reported that funding is an issue to continue making progress. We should make this an annual event with different people to keep spreading the word. Warren added that we need to think of doing this on different scales (build bridges between neighbors) a variation on the same theme. Patrick said we bring the power of the Watershed Alliance to move what the farmers want to do. There is a commitment to pull together one more event with the group after the harvest wraps up. We need to look at how to pull the participants into the Watershed Alliance.

For a summary on the September portion of the Minnesota River – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour” go to http://mavdisk.mnsu.edu/kudels/septemberfriendshiptour.pdf

Minnesota River Film Documentary

Scott gave an updated report on what is happening with the documentary and web site. John Hickman was unable to make it tonight due to filming down in the Lake Crystal area. The project did receive $10,000 from the Minnesota Valley Trust for the film documentary. We are hoping the Trust will be able come up with more funding for the project. John Hickman and Jon Carlson have been filming all over the basin including up in the Montevideo area on the Chippewa 10 percent Project (http://chippewa10.org/chippewa10.html), at Minneopa State Park for Ron Bolduan’s River Ranger Program and down in the Lake Crystal to shoot the effort by the MN Valley Trust to expand the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge by the Trust (http://www.mnvalleytrust.org/).

The project also received $60,000 over two years from the McKnight Foundation to update the Minnesota River Basin Data Center to bring more attention to the river and work to inspire the public to continue restoration efforts. More grants are being submitted to secure additional funding for the web site and film documentary. Jim Wolff suggested people promote the web site http://mnriver.org to anyone who might be interested in funding the project.

To check out the progress of the Minnesota River Film Documentary go to the web site: http://mnriver.org/

Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener

Lee Sundmark was unable to make it to the meeting but provided a brief summary of what is going on to Scott. Lee does plan to attend the January meeting. Right now he is working on finding a fiscal agent for collecting donations to put on a fishing opener. Two ideas are the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce and New Ulm Area Sportsmen’s Club. Prior to the January meeting Lee will touch base with Terry Sveine of the Chamber and will put together a pledge form for people to either to donate or volunteer for the event. The figure Lee threw out to put on an opener is $30,000 to $60,000.

Erik Wrede told the group about how he has tried to get the governor out paddling in the 1990s with no luck and he is thinking of trying again. With a new governor coming into the office this is the time to try since they don’t have as packed of a calendar. This might be the time to think about putting together a Governor’s Paddling Opener.

Minnesota River Paddler Program

James Fett gave a brief report on what is happening with the Minnesota River Paddler Program. The committee recently met to come up with ideas for continuing to promote the three patches/decals. At this time the biggest issue is the lack of funds/volunteers. There was enthusiasm by the group to hold a second launch of the program next summer in the Upper Minnesota River Basin with one of CURE’s river events. Patrick said we are welcome to partner with them and suggested we bring up some of the talented bands from the June 12th paddling event.

Promotion Ideas:

• Put it on the Watershed Alliance web site
• Ask the various watershed projects and nonprofit organizations to include it on their web sites.
• Create a Facebook Page (James)
• Produce a video to put on local public TV channels and You-tube
• Stock brochures at the various outdoor retail stores like Scheels, REI and Gander Mountain (Joel)
• Co-sponsor a paddling event with CURE next summer in the Upper Minnesota Basin
• Promote the program at other paddling events – Chippewa River Watershed Project, Redwood Cottonwood Rivers Control Area, Mankato Paddling and Outing Club, etc.
• Create a paddling page on the Watershed Alliance web site – list all the people who received at patch or decal
• Write up articles on paddling for the local media outlets
• Devote the spring issue of River Talk newsletter to paddling and the Paddler Program
• Develop a partnership with DNR for promotion – talk to Erik Wrede of the Water Trail Program
• Put brochures in the area DNR offices
• Talk to John Hickman about including it in the MN River Film Documentary
• Look at selling extra patches/decals to people who have earned the patch as a way to raise funds for promoting the program

Please send Scott Kudelka at scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu any ideas you may have for promoting the Minnesota River Paddler Program.

Communications Audit/Survey Project


Jenny Gieseke, a graduate student at Minnesota State University Mankato attended the meeting to present the idea of conducting a communication audit for the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance. This would be part of a class she is in. Jenny provided a brief background on how she decided to work with us and explained how this audit can be used a diagnostic tool to help us pinpoint what is working and is not working in regard to our communication practices. The group voted to move forward with the audit and charged the coordinating team to help decide what we would like to see with it.

For the full proposal go to: http://mavdisk.mnsu.edu/kudels/communicationauditproposal.pdf

What do we want to be & How we move/act/think?

Audrey broke everyone up into three groups to work on four questions revolving around three questions.

• Question 1 – What do we want to be?

The MRWA should be a group: With a watershed-wide perspective that is passion oriented and action oriented; Works together; Has multiple leaders; The Weekly Update should include more reports and stories about what is going on.

A diverse group – hope it continues, Identify common interests and opportunities for success, All members engaged in something, Many ideas and connections – spread the message, Engage in water policy conversation, Outreach for agencies.

A quasi-organization, Follow the document (Charter) or not?, Multiple items or one project?, Owe resources to former projects? A clearinghouse of MN River Projects – present an idea and look for collaboration. What is an Alliance activity? Is a thumbs up good enough? We rely on volunteers, so trust those champions.

• Question 2 - How will we be funded?

Revolving funding where different organizations take turns providing funding for meetings.

Get re-engaged – look for opportunities – focus on role, Short-term: personal and agency sources which buys time for Long-term: agency funding like PCA and DNR, Results far exceed cost – promote successes and outreach, Paddle Patch connects citizens

How to save money?, Discussion board?, List Serve?, Must pay Audrey and Scott – can give up other expenses, MRB/WRC role?, MRB delegates?

• Question 3 – What is the role of the MN River Board or the Water Resources Center (i.e. fiscal agent, funding provider, etc.)?

Create a structure where everyone is equal (currently exists in Alliance); The MRB/MSU should provide resources; The Alliance could help the Minnesota River Board by reaching out to citizens and county commissioners in an effort to help the Board.

Minnesota River Board maintain as advisory group and WRC as fiscal agent.

• What are the ground rules for authority to raise money using the Watershed Alliance name?

Final thought: Brad Cobb said we need to get reenergized, look at this as an opportunity not as a challenge. We need to find a group or agency to sponsor one of our meetings.

2011 Activities Brainstorm – Continuations & New Possibilities

Audrey had the three groups work on ideas for potential projects in 2011. The decision will be made at the January meeting. For this meeting the group came up with a list of ideas to discuss to further:

• Continue this year’s activities – Paddler Program, Film Documentary, Friendship Tour and Fishing Opener
• Expand Friendship Tour to include cities and maybe a vacation tour for tourism
• Diversify our communication tools.
• Feature use of Norse canoe and Dakota style tipi.
• Prepare now for the 150th Anniversary (2012) of the U.S. / Dakota Conflict.
• Read together: “North Country: The Making of Minnesota” by Mary Lethert Wingerd - http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/W/wingerd_north.html
• Promote the Paddler Program through another “launch” up river.
• Support the MN River Film Documentary and website development.
• Focus on the Minnesota Falls Dam Removal.
• Focus on finding funds to support the Watershed Alliance.
• Use the results of the communication audit.
• Follow up and spin offs from the Lake Pepin Friendship Tour.
• Write some operations grants for funding the Watershed Alliance
• Ask to be written into other organization/partners grants as part of an education component.
• Participate in America’s Great Outdoor Initiative (federal funds and technical support)
• Promote and support urban activities for storm water runoff issues in communities throughout the basin.
• Reference St. Cloud-based Alliance – 3 issues per year (dog poop, rain barrels, catchments, etc.)

Final thought: There is a constant evolution of the original agreement (in which we had said we would select one project per year). We can’t turn our back on the 2010 projects – we need to keep momentum for each of them.

Next Steps

• The Coordinating Team will be deciding on the location and logistics for the next Watershed Alliance meeting – January 18th (3rd Tuesday) including whether to have food or not.

• It was recommended that we ask Lee Sundmark to see about securing a free place for the Watershed Alliance to meet in January.

• Jack Lauer of the MN DNR has offered the meeting room at the New Ulm Regional Office for no charge. The room is tentatively on hold for the January 18th date.

Next Meeting:

• The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for January 18th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at a new location – the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ office in New Ulm. We will be deciding what issue or issues to focus on for 2011.



Attended:
• Patrick Moore,
• Al Odenthal,
• Jim Wolf,
• Kathleen Wolf,
• Brad Cobb,
• Larry Gunderson,
• Susie Carlin,
• James Fett,
• Warren Formo,
• Forrest Peterson,
• Franz Albert Richter,
• Erik Wrede,
• Randy Thoreson,
• Steven Dubois,
• Paul Nordell,
• Qian Jianhua,
• Jim Klang,
• Jenny Gieseke,
• Audrey Arner,
• Scott Kudelka

July 20, 2010 Meeting Notes

July 20, 2010 Meeting Notes:


The July Quarterly Meeting for the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance was held at Max’s Grill in Olivia to coincide with the Clean Water Council Meeting. We met at 5 o’clock in order to wrap our business by 6:30 to join the Clean Water Council meeting and support Scott Kudelka’s Minnesota River Basin Trends Report presentation. Participants of the Watershed Alliance felt this would be a great way to show citizen engagement in the Minnesota River Basin and give the two groups a chance to interact with each other.

Brad Cobb of the coordinating team welcomed everyone to the Olivia and provided a little background about the Minnesota River Tour for members of the Clean Water Council, Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources and Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council sponsored by Renville and Redwood SWCDs.

As the facilitator, Audrey Arner asked everyone to introduce themselves and give an example of hope or enthusiasm for the Minnesota River. The responses were varied: the River Ranger Program, more recreational use of the river, no longer ignored, more new people experiencing the area including young people, more news coverage of the environment, folks paying more attention, leaving things better than we found it, High Island Lake being renovated, we can do things before tipping point (climate change, etc.), dialogue with ag community, able to go swimming without getting sick, new bike trail at Big Stone Lake, “kayaking with Kate” program for women, more young farmers involved in water quality, more canoe access points, greater communication effort upstream and downstream, more people getting educated on the river, folks in this room, cooperation is making the river better for everyone, and number of proposals to the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council.

Minnesota River Paddler Program

Scott Kudelka provided the report on how the launch of the Minnesota River Paddler Program and Blue Earth River paddle went on June 12th. Despite the weather not cooperating, everyone involved felt the event went off very well. The rain came down the hardest at the ribbon cutting ceremony for designating the Blue Earth River as Minnesota’s new state water trail and right before the 25 to 30 paddlers headed downstream to Highway 90. On the river we stopped at Dead Man’s Gulch and Triple Falls to give people a sense of the Blue Earth River’s unique beauty. For the afternoon portion of the event somewhere between 100 and 120 people showed up through out to hear four different bands play. We were fortunate to have such high caliber of music with everyone volunteering to perform for free. The paddler committee awarded 21 patches/decals including a MN River 335 one to Tim Krohn and John Cross of the Mankato Free Press who paddled the entire river in 1998 and 2008.

Next the paddler committee plans to come up with ideas on how to continue to promote the program in order to award more patches/decals. One idea they have been kicking around is to hold another paddle next year only a different part of the basin like the Chippewa River. Right now the biggest hurtle has to do with funding. The June 12th event cost around $1,000 with expenses including port-a-potties, PA system, and shuttle service. The paddler committee will be meeting before the October 19th quarterly meeting to brainstorm a list of ideas for continued promotion of the program.

Minnesota River Film Documentary

John Hickman reported on the ongoing progress of producing a one-hour documentary on the Minnesota River Basin. John and Jon Carlson the videographer have been going out across the basin shooting scenes of the effort to improve water quality. There is a new highlight reel including interviews with Chris Domeier of the DNR, Audrey Arner at her pond on Moon Creek and former Governor Arne Carlson discussing why the an improved Minnesota River is important. The video made its debut on July 16th at the Mississippi River Forum sponsored by the National Park Service and the McKnight Foundation thanks to Larry Gunderson. John talked about their trip down the Le Sueur River with Carrie Jennings of Minnesota Geological Survey who provided an overview on erosion sources and what is happening to the stream banks. One of the best parts of that trip is how Jon and the camera survived without going into the water. John Hickman and the Water Resources Center continue to search out funding for the project including the development of the web site: http://mnriver.org/

Lake Pepin Friendship Tour

Patrick Moore, Michael McKay of the Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance and Lyndsey Weber, a CURE intern reported the on the plans to bring together citizens from the Minnesota River Basin and Lake Pepin area to discuss water quality issues. The first part of the tour will take place on August 23rd and 24th with a group of farmers and citizens from the Minnesota River Basin traveling to the Lake Pepin area to view firsthand what is happening to this lake as it fills up with sediment from the Minnesota River and other water quality issues including too much nutrients. They are working with Warren Formo of the Minnesota Agricultural Water Resources Coalition to recruit farmers who want to participate in this exchange. A second tour will take place in September or October with Lake Pepin resident making the journey over to the Minnesota River Basin to get a better understanding of what is happening here when it comes to effort of installing conservation practices and working on other water quality improvements. Patrick said they need help with coming up with ideas for people to participate in this exchange tour from the basin and will be looking for a diverse selection of people to attend a reception for the second tour most likely to be held in New Ulm.

Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener

Lee Sundmark wasn’t able to attend tonight’s meeting. Instead he sent an update for the group. “In terms of a future Governor’s Fishing Opener on the Minnesota River, what I need next is a fiscal agent. Someone that can handle money that would be donated through various venues supporting the cause for the next few years. I can’t in my capacity as a state worker. Once that’s ironed out, I intend to pass-the-hat to have more pass-the-hats hats made. Sounds like a Dr. Seuss line doesn’t it? I’ll be following up with the New Ulm Convention and Visitors Bureau to see that they are still interested. We do need a community champion able to accommodate all the participants. Assuming they are still interested . . . I’ll need to get the rest of my committee together for a bit more comprehensive planning. I’ve not forgotten Tim’s encouragement to broaden the scope of involvement to all folks who have a vested interest in a Minnesota River Opener, not just New Ulm folks.” To help Lee out with this initiative by serving on the committee both Ron Bolduan and Tony Miller volunteered to serve on it along with Jesse Anderson and James Fett. Scott Sparlin was also brought forward as someone who could be on the committee along with Terry Sveine of the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce.

Next Steps

• All paddlers are encouraged to get the word out about the Minnesota River Paddler Program and the three patches/decals. If you have ideas for other ways to promote this program please contact one of the paddling committee members (Susie Carlin, Joel Wurscher, Jesse Anderson, Brooke Patterson, Chantill Kahler-Royer, James Fett and Scott Kudelka).

• Log onto the http://mnriver.org/ to see what is happening with the Minnesota River Film Documentary.

• Contact Patrick Moore at 320-269-2984 or patrick@cureriver.org to submit participant suggestions for the Lake Pepin / Minnesota River Friendship Tour.

• Contact Lee Sundmark at 320-234-2550 or lee.sundmark@state.mn.us if you want to help out with planning for a MN Fishing Opener.

Next Meeting:

• The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for October 20th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at a new location – the Minnesota Water Resources Conference at Saint Paul RiverCentre (175 West Kellogg Boulevard) in St. Paul. The coordinating team felt this would be a great way to attract new people to the quarterly meetings and a chance to connect with other groups engaged in citizen action. For those who want to attend the conference go to: http://wrc.umn.edu/waterconf/



Attended:

• Patrick Moore,

• Al Odenthal,

• Katharine Plowman,

• John White,

• Duane Ninneman,

• Kay Eggers,

• Jim Wolf,

• Lyndsey Weber,

• Ron Bolduan,

• Gary Lenz,

• Darby Nelson,

• Clint Knorr,

• Brad Cobb,

• Dave Czech,

• Dee Czech,

• Megan Ulrich,

• Larry Gunderson,

• John Hickman,

• Robb Collett,

• Jeff Nielson,

• Tony Miller,

• Dwight Swanson,

• Cory Netland,

• Tom Kalahar,

• Karen Flom,

• Rob Sipp,

• Michael McKay

• Audrey Arner,

• Scott Kudelka

April 20, 2010 Meeting Notes

April 20, 2010 Meeting Notes:

Participants of the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance gathered for their April quarterly meeting to talk about the various projects they are involved in. The group discussed the upcoming Blue Earth River Paddle and Minnesota River Paddler Program Launch on June 12th. This event will kick off with a paddle down the Blue Earth River from the Rapidan Dam County Park to Highway 90 at 9 o’clock and a Post-paddle Ceremony with music starting at 2 p.m. back at the park. Other topics of discussion at the meeting included the ongoing progress of the Minnesota River Film Documentary, development of a Minnesota River Waterway Trail, Minnesota River Valley – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour for late August and the possibility of a Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener to be held somewhere in the Minnesota River Basin.

Chantill Kahler-Royer welcomed everyone to the meeting by reading a note from Justin Kolander – “Wow, I just got done reading some of your group’s plans and goals and I must say Bravo!!! I really like to see people getting together to help out the area. You guys really interest me and I will be keeping my eye on your progress and hope to help some day.” After Chantill introduced Audrey Arner as tonight’s facilitator, Audrey had everyone talk about something that motivated them to go down the path of being advocate of the river or the natural environment. This was a great way to set the tone for the meeting.

Minnesota River Paddler Program
Joel Wurscher provided an overview of the official launch of the Minnesota River Paddler Patch Program for June 12th (Saturday) at the Rapidan Dam County Park:
*We will paddle the Blue Earth River starting at 9 a.m. from the county park to the new landing at the Highway 90 Bridge. This stretch is around 9.5 miles featuring a combination of fun Class I rapids, dramatic rock outcrops, high wooded bluffs, and a pair of tributary waterfalls. Depending on water levels it should take 3 to 4 hours.
*If the Blue Earth River receives a designation from the Legislature as a Minnesota Water Trails there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony before the paddle starts. We will know more from the Erik Wrede, DNR Coordinator hopefully in May. For more information on this program, http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/watertrails/index.html
*The plan is to have people drop off their canoes or kayaks at the put-in point and park their vehicle at the take-out point. We will shuttle people back to the park for the paddle.
*After the paddle there will be a Post-paddle ceremony where the first patches/decals will be awarded. The highlight of this program will be to give Tim Krohn and John Cross of the Mankato Free Press both a Minnesota River 335 Paddler patch and decal for their 1998 and 2008 paddles where they wrote a series of articles on the Minnesota River Basin.
*The afternoon activities will also include music from Dick Kimmel and Co, Depot Creek and Lhotse. There will be information booths for area conservation, water quality, environmental, and outdoors groups and businesses. The Mankato Paddling and Outing Club will be providing canoe rides on the reservoir. The Rapidan Dam Store will be serving up their famous burgers and pie.
*Volunteers will be needed to help park cars, direct traffic, shuttle people, get people in and out of the water and other tasks. Please contact Scott Kudelka at scott.kudelka@mnsu.edu or 507-389-2304 if you want to volunteer.

Minnesota River Waterway Trail
Loran Kaardal updated the group on the effort to develop a Minnesota River Waterway Trail. According to Loran, Randy Thoreson of the National Park Service (NPS), who is helping develop a plan for the trail, thanked everyone for participating in the earlier planning meetings. There will be additional meetings in the future. Randy will also be meeting with the Renville Parks Committee since three of their parks are found on the Minnesota River. Mary Vogel of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Changing Landscapes is developing individual trails plans for each of the counties and agreed to submit a Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) trail planning grant. This planning grant will incorporate all of the regional trail plans (hike, bike, horse, Scenic Byway, etc) and plan an extensive waterway trail system from the Lac qui Parle Dam to Mankato focusing on existing public resources. This grant will “piggy-back” the initial work being developed by the Green Corridor’s NPS Waterway grant.

Tom Kalahar of the Renville SWCD has invited members and staff of both the LCCMR and the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council (LSOHC) for a July 21st bus and waterway tour of the Minnesota River Valley. More details to come.

The Parks and Trails Legacy planning effort will be hosting 16 regional workshops across the state to gather input from citizens on how state monies should be spent for trail development in the state. The MN River Valley stakeholders need a strong showing and voice at these regional workshops/meetings especially at the Mankato and Marshall locations. Most people are only interested in hiking and biking. These workshops will provide a great opportunity to promote waterway trails. Please share this information with others.
· May 20th (Thursday) from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the McColl Pond Environmental Learning Center (13550 Dakota Avenue South) in Savage
· June 8th (Tuesday) from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Bryant Lake Park (6800 Rowland Road) in Eden Prairie
· June 9th (Wednesday) from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Southwest Minnesota State University (1501 State Street, Room 117, Conference Center) in Marshall.
· June 17th (Thursday) from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at South Central College (1920 Lee Boulevard E119 and E121) in North Mankato.

Loran wrapped up by talking about how Minnesota River Valley horse trail planning and implementation efforts are gaining momentum. Horse riding groups are some of the oldest organized groups in the state of Minnesota going back some 60 plus years. We ask of your continuing support of this Minnesota River Valley tradition/activity as these groups continue their efforts to secure a place at the table for future trail planning and development funding.

Minnesota River Film Documentary
John Hickman wasn’t able to attend tonight’s meeting and in his place, Scott Kudelka provided an update on this initiative. The Water Resources Center (WRC) agreed to serve as the official sponsor of the Minnesota River Film Documentary with Scott and Kim Musser from the WRC helping John Hickman and Jon Carlson the videographer coordinate the project. Filming has already begun with the segments from last week including Dr. Bryce Hoppie installing a monitoring station on Lake Titloe, the WRC staff in action and the landscape of the Minnesota River Valley. This week filming will focus on Carrie Jennings of the Minnesota Geological Survey talking about the valley’s geology. John Hickman and Shannon Fisher of the WRC will be attending the Minnesota Valley Trust meeting on May 5th present a funding proposal for the documentary and companion web site. The web site will strive to include all research done in the Minnesota River Basin - http://mnriver.org/. A partnership with the U.S. Corps of Engineers is being pursued as they launch a Minnesota River Integrated Study. The idea would be to incorporate ours and the Corps’ web site into one showcasing all the research conducted in the basin.

Audrey led the group in an exercise to identify possible subject ideas for filming. Ideas included:
*DNR Gateway Proposal that purchased 6 canoes and a trailer to be used for getting people out on the river – especially youth.
*The Lutheran Bishop Paddle on the Minnesota River sponsored by CURE.
*The LCCMR and LSOHC bus and waterway tour being organized by Tom Kalahar of Renville SWCD.
*The annual Belle Plaine River Fishing Contest that draws hundreds of anglers to that area of the Minnesota River.
*Franklin Catfish Days that draws people from all over the country.
*The New Ulm Sportsmen Club’s annual Youth Fishing Derby at Riverside Park
*Riverblast in New Ulm over Labor Day Weekend at Riverside Park which includes the Regional River History Center.
*The new Belle Plaine Wastewater Treatment Plant that uses a “reed bed” technology, a natural filtration system to treat sewage before entering the river. It was awarded MPCA’s Treatment Facility Award in 2008.
*Success stories of producers installing conservation practices – MPCA put together a series of videos called Water Success Stories.
*How CREP has been a major effect on water quality with this year’s flooding and sediment – restored an important ecosystem.
*CURE’s annual History Weekend and seeing exchange students paddle the river for the first time.
*Construction and impact of rain gardens on water quality.
*Shakopee Mdewakanton, Lower Sioux, Upper Sioux and their connection to the MN River.
*Wetland Restorations
*The story of commerce on the river like the steamboat Freighter who made it as far as 8 miles downstream of Big Stone Lake before becoming stuck. Or the mussel industry.
*Eagle nests up and down the Minnesota River including the one at Riverside Park across from the Regional River History Center in New Ulm.
*Other wildlife found in the MN River Valley
*June 12th Blue Earth Paddle Event and Lake Pepin Conservation Tour

Lake Pepin Conservation Tour
Patrick Moore wasn’t able to attend tonight’s meeting. Susie Carlin reported what she knew from working with Patrick on this initiative. No date has been finalized – they are looking at the end of August and it will most likely be a two-day event. Because it is being targeted toward citizen engagement, Friday and Saturday would be the logical days of the week to hold it on. A bus (maybe two) will pick up citizens from the Lake Pepin area to come over to the Minnesota River Valley to tour what is happening with water quality efforts. Most likely there will be a stop in New Ulm to spend Friday night with a social event to include folks from the Watershed Alliance and others. The big push is to get these two communities of river advocates together and have this as a positive kick-off for both groups to work together to improve water quality. We want to show the Lake Pepin folks there is a lot of cooperation among the two groups. Some people from the Minnesota River Valley will be invited to ride on the bus during the tour.

Minnesota Governor’s Fishing Opener
Lee Sundmark talked to all the DNR Regional Information Officer’s about this idea and all of them thought hosting a Governor’s Fishing Opener in the Minnesota River would present some unique challenges but no barriers they could see. Lee has also been talking to Terry Sveine of the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce who initially expressed a lot of skepticism but after talking it out feels it could happen. In order to make it happen it will cost between $120,000 and $300,000, which Lee feels we can easily collect by asking people to donate $1 to see the Governor fish the Minnesota River. Terry said it’s a unique way to raise money and it could be done that way. We would need an organization to handle the money and have a backup plan to spend it in case the fishing opener doesn’t happen.

Lee stressed we have a large geographic region with the Minnesota River being the only large body of water to raise money from and also get volunteers to help out. New Ulm would probably be the most logical place to hold it at with the convention center, motels and other facilities like Schell’s Brewery. Terry is willing to help out as long as we look at it as a 3 to 4 year project. A question about water levels was raised since the opener will be happening in May – potential for flooding. According to many at the meeting, it would have to be an exceptional year not to have access by the middle of May. Lee stressed, how could the Governor turn down hosting an opener where the money was raised one dollar at a time?

To raise the money Lee came up with the idea of producing MN River Governor’s Fishing Opener hats to give out to people who agree to help raise the money. Down the road we will be looking for letters of support along with commitments to donate time and resources. It was suggested to get the New Um Park and Recreation on board. Lee said, ultimately this event is to get more people connected to the river to build a passion among people for the river.

Tatanka Bluffs
Loran Kaardal told the group how the Tatanka Bluffs was selected as one of 16 nonprofit organizations to get a web site overhaul by the Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge. This organization specializes in creating websites for lawyers. Loran encourages the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance to apply next year to get a website overhaul, saying only one of the people from Nerdery knew about the Minnesota River. They had to pull an all-nighter, something Loran hasn’t done in years. Tatanka Bluffs’ web site: http://www.tatankabluffs.com/ . Loran also mentioned the Dakota Wicohan web site at http://dakotawicohan.com/ that was part of this Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge. The mission of this organization is to preserve Dakota as a living language. On the web site you can learn a new Dakota word every day.

Tatanka Bluffs is also working to develop a Minnesota River Valley Learning Center by acquiring the old Morton School. As part of this project they are working with the DNR to acquire the rock outcrop on the south side of the school. The Green Corridor Project has closed on 3 out of the 4 properties in the Cottonwood River near Lamberton with the 4th one being near Vicksburg Park in Renville County. For the new LCCMR proposal they are looking at purchasing ecologically sensitive areas in the Minnesota River Valley – granite outcrops, rare plant life, etc. Loran told the group if you know of any landowners who are interested in leaving their land as a legacy for the public to contact the Green Corridor Project

Next Steps
Scott reported to the group about the Water Resources Center pledging funds to pay for the upcoming October and January meetings. The Minnesota River Board is covering the cost for the April and July meetings. In October the group will need to start discussing how to continue to cover the costs for the meetings – facilitator, meeting space, food, and mailings. The group also briefly discussed the idea of holding the October quarterly meeting in St Paul in conjunction with the Water Resources Conference.

Audrey pointed out how everyone can help with the various projects the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance is involved in. You can volunteer to help out with the June 12th Blue Earth Paddle, provide ideas for the Minnesota River Film Documentary, attend one of the Regional Trail Workshops being put on by the MN DNR, come out for the Minnesota River Valley – Lake Pepin Friendship Tour’s social in August and help collect donations to put on a Governor’s Fishing Opener in the Minnesota River.

Next Meeting:
The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for July 20th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the Hutchinson Event Center in Hutchinson. We will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. with food and drink and begin the meeting right at 7 p.m. and strive to wrap things up in two hours.


Attended:
Chantill Kahler-Royer,
Al Odenthal,
Jesse Anderson,
Forrest Peterson,
Lee Sundmark,
Mike Lein,
Jim Wolf,
Kathleen Wolf,
Ron Bolduan,
Susie Carlin,
Loran Kaardal,
Joel Wurscher,
Mary Borstad,
Randy Bullert,
Jack Laur,
Tim Lies,
Duane Niinneman,
Brooke Patterson,
Gene Jeseritz,
Skip Wright,
Marv Breitkrentz,
Deane Dietel,
Audrey Arner,
Scott Kudelka

January 19, 2010 Meeting Notes

January 19, 2010 Meeting Notes:

The New Year has arrived along with a new focus for the Minnesota River Watershed Alliance. Thirty-four people attended the first quarterly meeting of 2010 to choose a “Clean Up the Minnesota River” issue for the group to focus on. Patrick Moore welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Audrey Arner as evening’s facilitator. After reviewing the agenda, each person briefly introduced themselves and offered a personal connection to the Minnesota River.

Green Corridor Project
Brad Cobb shared with the group about the effort to connect public land along the Minnesota River on a 45 mile stretch from Upper Sioux State Park to Fort Ridgely State Park (Green Corridor Area). A total of 240 acres has been purchased through an Environmental and Natural Resource Trust Fund grant. Recently, the group received a recommendation for $1.65 million in funds to continue buying land in this corridor from the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, which still needs to be approved by the State Legislature. They are also looking at submitting another funding proposal to the Legislative-Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) for 2011 to focus on key environmental areas.

Minnesota River Waterway Trail
Before the Watershed Alliance meeting, Randy Thoreson of the National Park Service facilitated a meeting to start the process for developing a waterway trail plan for the Green Corridor area. The Green Corridor Project received a technical assistance grant from the National Park Service to complete this plan. Both Brad and Randy felt it was a good initial meeting with a lot of input from the various stakeholders. A series of meetings will be held to continue the process over the next two years. Randy is really excited about this project, telling the group how the Green Corridor Project has already received an award from the Mid-America Trails and Greenway Conference for what they have accomplished. They will be identifying various elements including public access, facilities, how it connects with the land trail, actions and set some timelines.

Minnesota River Paddler Program
James Fett and Jesse Anderson of the paddler committee gave a report on what has been happening with one of the issues chosen in 2009. The patches and decals are done and ready to be awarded to those who meet the outlined criteria. To officially launch the program, the committee is planning a Blue Earth River paddle from the Rapidan Dam to the new public access point at County Road 90 for a total of 8 miles from approximately 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dates have been picked with June 12th (Saturday) as the primary one and June 19th as the alternative in case of bad weather like lightning. The facilities include a park, campground and restaurant called the Dam Store at the put-in point. Blue Earth County has expressed interested in partnering with us to hold the event and they have a special events person who would help out with planning. People will be on their own to provide a canoe or kayak for the paddle. We are hoping to entice some of the local canoe and kayak rental businesses to have their own vessels on hand for people to rent. Patrick said CURE might be able to help out by bringing their canoes and kayaks (it could also be the same weekend at Butch Halterman’s high school paddle). Our plan is to invite organizations like Mankato Paddling and Outing Club, CURE, Blue Earth SWCD, Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway, etc. to have a booth at the put-in point. After the paddle we will go back to the park to award the paddler patches/decals to people who have successfully met our criteria. We are hoping to get Tim Krohn and John Cross there to highlight their two paddles down the entire Minnesota River. Patrick mentioned how a number of people have also paddled the Minnesota River as part of the high school trips. There will also be music with one band already committed and other possibilities being pursued.

The group provided a number of suggestions for the launch including piggy-backing on an event that has already been taking place at the park. In the past there has been an event called Day at the Rapidan Dam. Lee Sundmark suggested we get the DNR conservation officers involved as someone who could provide safety tips. Invitations will be sent out to dignitaries. Other ideas include a fishing contest, kid’s activities and elementary safety course/refresher. A question was asked on how many people we expect to come out with Patrick saying if we get 100 that would be a good turnout and also a little scary to think about that many on the river at one time. There was another question about how many people could camp at the park – 20 primitive sites. The event should be advertised as a basin-wide activity. Mark Schnobrich told the group about Schell’s Brewery celebrating its 150th Anniversary and is focusing on the Mankato area including a tree planting project on April 30th. We hope to get the DNR’s Minnesota Water Trails program involved in the June 12th event. Over the next couple of months the committee will continue to work on event planning.

On a final note, the committee decided to add another river – Little Cottonwood - to the Extreme Patch/Decal to make it a total of 24 different stretches. In addition, some form of documentation will be required to be awarded the Minnesota River 335 Patch/Decal.

Region IV Conservation Focus Area
Lee Sundmark of the DNR did a presentation on the Region IV Conservation Focus Area created as a GIS tool to assist with decision-making when it comes to focusing limited financial resources. The DNR hopes citizens, sportsmen groups and others will also use this tool to help with their efforts to protect and enhance conservation areas. The darker the green color means the higher priority for conservation efforts. Each of the DNR disciplines – parks, ecological services, rare & threatened species, fisheries (except for law enforcement and lands & minerals) had input on the map, which is a blending of all the different focus areas of the different divisions. It showcases the areas the DNR wants to spend time and money on. This will always be a work in progress – continue to submit revisions – a living document. Right now it is still an internal document with the DNR planning to make it an external document for anyone to use.

For more information on the project contact Cathi Fouchi at DNR, 507-359-6034; cathi.fouchi@state.mn.us

2010 Focus
To start the discussion on choosing a “Clean Up the Minnesota River” focus for 2010, Audrey pointed out the original Watershed Alliance charter drafted back in 2005. Patrick, Ron Bolduan and Jim Wolf each read a passage from this declaration of inter-independence to the entire group. Audrey offered a number of thoughts for people to think about when picking what to focus on for the next year:
How do we feel about the work load – the idea of juggling a number of issues? How many do we feel we can take on at one time?
Broad enough to accommodate more than one in order to continue with the worthwhile initiatives.
The ongoing maintenance issues with the Paddler Program and Waterway Trail initiatives.

A number of people expressed a desire to have more than one focus for the year in order to give people an option on something they have a passion for.

Audrey outlined criteria for people to use in picking a focus for 2010 including:
Is this something we can get behind?
What is the likelihood of success (1-2 years, funding, does it need us?)
Does it have broad geographic application?
Is there leadership to move it forward?
Will it require ongoing maintenance?

The group reviewed the initiatives from 2009 – MN River Paddler Program, MN River Waterway Trail and MN River Friendly Label – to discuss their viability over the next year. Susie Carlin mentioned how it will take someone handling requests / applications for the patches and decals. At this time Scott will be taking care of it in his role at the Water Resources Center. Patrick pointed out that the Paddler Committee of James, Chantill, Jesse, Joel, Brooke and Scott – have shown a lot of leadership with moving this program forward. The group also felt the same is happening with the MN River Waterway Trail through the efforts of Loran Kaardal and Brad Cobb.

Focus Possibilities for 2010:
Continue with the Minnesota River Friendly Label:
Audrey mentioned how the effort to launch of this dropped by the wayside and asked if there was anyone here who wanted to take on the leadership role for 2010. No one volunteered and Ron Bolduan mentioned how the Minnesota River Scenic Valley Byway also looked at a label but didn’t get a lot of response.

The group suggested the label initiative go into the idea orphanage for now in case someone wants to take it on in the future.

Compare and study land use types for 50 feet setback along waterways and county enforcement process:
Dodge County was brought up as an example of local government taking on this type of an effort. Susie Carlin reported this issue has been discussed at a Minnesota River Board meeting in the past and the staff from Dodge County coming to the March meeting to tell the board how it has worked for them. Darby Nelson gave a brief rundown on the Dodge County effort, saying it was really encouraging. Instead of enforcing this state law, they notified the farmers to ask them if they were willing to do this and 2/3rds of the farmers did it on their own. Darby credits the success to the county not being hard-nosed on the issue. The law only applies to DNR waterways, not ditches. It is a law on the books but rarely enforced. Cannon River Partnership created a GIS layer to help identify these buffer areas. Patrick Moore mentioned how the Lake Pepin folks are working to enforce this law in their own watershed before asking those upstream of them to do the same including the Minnesota River Basin. Jim Schafer said the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) has done a study on this issue and Renville has done a lot of this in their own county. It is great for keeping the banks intact. The group agreed this focus will need time and money and suggested it might be an issue for the Minnesota River Board to concentrate on.

Assemble local groups on guided canoe trips:
Other groups are already doing this type of effort including CURE, Mankato Paddling and Outing Club and various watershed projects. It was suggested by the group to put it into idea purgatory.

Mark bridge crossings with signs and identification along with other water courses including ditches and awesome spots:
Gary Lentz mentioned how with the stimulus money becoming available to replace unsafe bridges this would be a great opportunity to have DOT plan in watercraft access points as part of these projects. This is a safety issue for people trying to get down to the river channel and it would eliminate people parking on the roads. There has been some effort by watershed projects and other groups to mark bridge crossings. With no champion the group moved onto the next issue.

Keep meeting quarterly – networking and speakers:
Yes – the group wants to keep holding these quarterly meetings.

Host a Familiarity Bus Tour of Minnesota River Conservation Practices to help communicate what is happening with the Lake Pepin TMDL – to act as a bridge between landowners and Lake Pepin folks:
For some background, Mike Lein explained a TMDL stands for Total Maximum Daily Load and he describes it as a single-lane road where you have some traffic that moves at a good flow but the more vehicles you add to the road the slower things go and soon it can no longer handle all the traffic. This is the same thing that happens to a river when it comes to pollution and how much can the river handle. As the champion of this issue, Patrick Moore explained there is too much sediment flowing into Lake Pepin from upstream and as a result of the upcoming TMDL, it is time to tackle this problem. Core studies have been done in Lake Pepin that shows since 1945 the amount of sediment has increased 10 times the normal rate that would have happened naturally. A huge portion – something like 80% comes from the Minnesota River. MPCA will be coming up with a number in order to slow the amount of sediment entering Lake Pepin from upstream. It looks like it could be as high as a 50% reduction which is huge. A group of citizens from the Lake Pepin have come together to research and plan on how to improve water quality in their area. They have started by taking care of their own backyard first and will be looking at citizens in the Minnesota River Basin to do the same thing. A diverse group of environmental organizations in the Metro area have gotten behind this effort because it affects 2/3rds of water in Minnesota.

Patrick said it is important this get communicated to the Minnesota River Basin citizens to frame it in a way that will move our society forward toward clean water. He suggested we offer to put on a bus tour to invite the Lake Pepin people to see all the good things that are being done in basin to reduce sediment loss. To develop a relationship - partnership between the two groups as a cross-culture thing to avoid an “us against them” stance. To cooperate with a familiarly tour for the Lake Pepin people on all the things the MN River is doing to reduce sediment. This cooperation got started somewhat during the Minnesota River Mixer at the Lake Pepin Conference in September of 2008.

Roll out the Paddler Program:
The group agreed this is already happening to continue moving forward with the Blue Earth River Paddle and program launch.

Carry one another’s messages:
Again with no champion, the group decided we already do this and it was dropped from it from being one of the issues to be picked from.

Promote the National Heritage Area status:
No champion stepped forward to talk about this issue. The Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway has been involved with the discussion of a National Heritage Area for the Minnesota River.

Drinking water – keep it clean:
The group decided this was too big to tackle at this time.

Participate with Minnesota River documentary and interactive web site:
John Hickman explained this is a one hour documentary to be hosted by Ron Schara covering the geology and human history of the river along with problems and solutions including Lake Pepin and the Dead Zone. To highlight projects that have made a difference for water quality. They expect the film to be shown on Kare 11. The videographer has won awards for his work including that with WCCO TV and has extensive history with the Minnesota River. In terms of funding the project, Ron Schara has put up ½ and John is working on raising the rest. He said there is a good indication of support from Bob Finley, MPCA Southeast Region Manager and the St Paul Office communication staff. The manager from the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge has applied for a grant. The director of the Minnesota River Board has expressed enthusiasm for the project and said there would be funds available. They are also looking at the various foundations with deep pockets. John showed a 4-minute promotional piece recently put together to the group. In addition to the documentary, a web site – www.mnriver.org has been created to serve as the gateway for everything dealing with the Minnesota River. It will be a central collection point along with a web 2.0 site allowing people to participate in discussions about the basin. Advocating this for project, John Wolf told the group that he would be disappointed with us if we didn’t pick it as the 2010 focus.

Host Governor’s Fishing Opener:
Lee Sundmark told the group that the fishing opener has never been held on a major river, including the state’s namesake river. He asked wouldn’t that be cool to have it on the Minnesota River. There was a discussion on what it takes to host a Governor’s Fishing Opener including enough lodging for all the press and a place to launch a big boat for the Governor. People identified a number of cities that might be able to host it including New Ulm, Mankato, and Redwood Falls. Joel Wurscher recommended a place near the Cities which has the infrastructure to host the opener. It is a very competitive process with support needed from legislators, chamber of commerce’s, among others. A question was raised, what happens if the river is at flood stage on the day of the opener?

Next Steps
At the end of the meeting, the group identified four items to choose from: 1. Host a Familiarity Bus Tour of Minnesota River Conservation Practices to help communicate what is happening with the Lake Pepin TMDL – to act as a bridge between landowners and Lake Pepin folks; 2. Roll out the Paddler Program; 3. Participate with Minnesota River documentary and interactive web site; 4. Host Governor’s Fishing Opener.

Before the voting could take place, Patrick offered an alternative issue to choose from: Working together to promote, celebrate and communicate the Minnesota River Paddler Program launch on June 12th, Endorse the making of the Minnesota River Documentary, a Lake Pepin Bus Tour of Conservation Practices in the Minnesota River and advocate holding the Governor’s Fishing Opener on the Minnesota River. The group unanimously chose to go with Patrick’s suggestion. All four of the initiatives will put together committees for those people interested in working on them, with at least one coordinating team member serving on each one.

Next Meeting:
The next quarterly meeting is scheduled for April 20th (3rd Tuesday) starting at 6 p.m. at the Hutchinson Event Center in Hutchinson. We will start with a social hour at 6 p.m. with food and drink and begin the meeting right at 7 p.m. and strive to wrap things up in two hours.

Coordinating Team Committee Assignments:
Lake Pepin Bus Tour – Patrick Moore, Forrest Peterson, Susie Carlin
Paddler Program – Brooke Patterson, Susie Carlin, Joel Wurscher, Jesse Hanson, James Fett, Patrick Moore, Chantill Kahler-Royer
Minnesota River Documentary – James Fett, Joel Wurscher, Chantill Kahler-Royer, Ron Bolduan
Governor’s Fishing Opener – Brad Cobb, Lee Sundmark, Jesse Anderson, Tom Kalahar

Attended:
Chantill Kahler-Royer,
James Fett,
Al Odenthal,
Brad Cobb,
Jim Schafer,
Jesse Anderson,
Patrick Moore,
Forrest Peterson,
Lee Sundmark,
Mike Lein,
Dwight Swanson,
Jim Wolf,
Kathleen Wolf,
John Hickman,
Darby Nelson,
Ron Bolduan,
Susie Carlin,
Loran Kaardal,
Tom Keaveny,
Joe Michel,
Ronald Otto,
Mark Schnobrich,
Joel Wurscher,
Mary Borstad,
Penny Purtzer,
Julie Conrad,
Gary Lentz,
Dale Redetzke,
Grant Britkreutz,
Randy Thoreson,
Jay Krienitz,
Edwin Dumalag,
Audrey Arner,
Scott Kudelka