Lake Superior Celebration is TONIGHT, April 11, at Great Lakes Research Center

 Poster courtesy Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative.

HOUGHTON -- All Are Invited to the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative (LSSI)11-Year Celebration from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 11, at Michigan Tech’s Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC). The event is FREE, family-friendly, and open to all.*

The Lake Superior Celebration will highlight the work of the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative (LSSI), which brings schools and communities together in the stewardship of Lake Superior and its watershed. Displays and presentations by Barkell Elementary School, Washington Middle School, Dollar Bay-Tamarack City High School, and Copper Country ISD, in addition to informative displays by community organizations, local growers, and non-profits will be offered. Jerry Jondreau and Katy Bresette of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community will have traditionally harvested and processed maple sugar and manoomin (wild rice) products.

At 6:30 p.m., LSSI school teams will offer presentations (Washington Middle School, Dollar Bay High School, CCISD Special Education). At 7 p.m., Dr. Valoree Gagnon, director, University-Indigenous Community Partnerships at the Great Lakes Research Center and Research Assistant Professor, Social Sciences, and Rachael Pressley, assistant regional planner, Western UP Planning and Development Region, will present on the Western UP Food Hub. Presentations are in 202 GLRC.

Students will get in on the fun and learning with a variety of hands-on activities including Tomato Planet, Making Butter, Posy Poetry, How Trees Grow.

The event will also feature LIVE Music with Handful of Humans with Sue Ellen Kingsley, Eric Munch, Norm Kendall and Shawn Oppliger, and the World Water Day art exhibit "Wilderness" featuring artists Daniel Hill, Josh Jaehnig and Jonathan Soper.

Light refreshments, including snacks, cake, lemonade and coffee will be provided.

The event is sponsored by the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative, Michigan Tech Center for Science and Environmental Outreach, and the WUP MiSTEM Network with funding from the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative.

For more information: contact:  Emily Gochis, Director, WUP MiSTEM Network at the Copper Country ISD at 482-0331 or egochis@copperisd.edu or Joan Chadde, Director, Michigan Tech Center for Science and Environmental Outreach, at 906-487-3341 or jchadde@mtu.edu .

Visit the Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative on the web here or on Facebook.

*Editor's Note: Joan Chadde has confirmed that this event will take place definitely in hopes that the winter storm waits.

Michigan Tech News: Michigan Tech researchers receive two Great Lakes restoration grants

By Jennifer Donovan, Michigan Tech Director of Public Relations

Posted on Michigan Tech News May 21, 2013

Reprinted in part with permission

Undergraduate Faith Lambert samples Hills Creek water upstream of the main stamp sands restoration site. Located northwest of Calumet and Ahmeek, Hills Creek eventually drains into Lake Superior. (Photo courtesy Michigan Technological University)

HOUGHTON -- Two Great Lakes restoration research projects by Michigan Technological University researchers are among 12 selected for funding, the University of Michigan Water Center announced today. Fifty-four research teams from universities near the Great Lakes and beyond submitted proposals for nearly $570,000 total funding.

"Michigan Tech should be very proud of its Great Lakes researchers," said Guy Meadows, director of the Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) at Michigan Tech. "These grants are a recognition of their outstanding abilities, and their work will produce critically needed data to improve our restoration efforts on the Great Lakes."

A team led by Amy Marcarelli, assistant professor of biological sciences who also works with the GLRC, received $50,000 to study the impact of remediation of stamp sands along Hills Creek, northwest of Calumet and Ahmeek on the Keweenaw Peninsula. David Dean, assistant research scientist at the Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI) in Ann Arbor, heads another Michigan Tech team that received a $50,000 Water Center grant to develop a geospatial database to inform response plans for dealing with oil or chemical spills in the Great Lakes.

Marcarelli’s co-investigator is Casey Huckins, associate professor of biological sciences who also works with the GLRC. Dean’s co-investigators are Colin Brooks and Arthur Endsley, both research scientists at MTRI in Ann Arbor.... Click here to read the rest of this article on Michigan Tech News.

Environmental sociologist to offer lectures, book signings at Michigan Tech Oct. 18, 19

HOUGHTON -- Tom Heberlein, an environmental sociologist, will be giving lectures and book signings at Michigan Tech University Thursday, Oct. 18, and Friday, Oct. 19.

Heberlein is professor emeritus in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology and the Gaylord Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is currently a visiting professor in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies in the College of Forestry in Umeå, Sweden.

From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday he will present "A River Runs through it: Lessons from Rivers and Lakes," at the Great Lakes Research Center 202. This will include a book signing and informal discussion, with refreshments to follow. Open to the public.

At 7 p.m. Thursday evening, the Green Lecture Series will feature Heberlein speaking on "Navigating Environmental Attitudes: Lessons from Wolves," in Hesterberg Hall, Forestry Building G002. Again the presentation will be followed by a book signing and refreshments.

At Noon on Friday, Oct. 19, Heberlein will present "The Role of the Social Scientist in Environmental Research and Management" in Michigan Tech's Academic Office Building 201. This is a Department of Social Sciences Brown Bag discussion, and all are welcome.

Heberlein's visit is cosponsored by the Department of Social Sciences' Environmental and Energy Policy Program, Great Lakes Research Center, Lake Superior Stewardship Initiative, Keweenaw Land Trust, Michigan Tech Center for Water and Society, and Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.

The Green Lecture Series program is partially funded with a grant from the League of Women Voters of the Copper Country, Friends of the Land of Keweenaw, and UP Environmental Coalition. 

UPDATED: Celebrate Lake Superior Day: Listen, volunteer, enjoy the Lake!

EDITOR'S UPDATE:  Keweenaw Now received incorrect information on the date of the radio interview listed below. The broadcast of the interview was actually on Sunday, July 7 in preparation for Lake Superior Day. Click here for part 1 of the interview. Click here for part 2 of the interview described below.

HOUGHTON -- On Sunday, July 15, Lake Superior Day, listen to "Copper Country Today" Interview with Michigan Tech Scientists at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. -- a program on "Health of Lake Superior and the new Michigan Tech Great Lakes Research Center": 8 a.m.  Sunday on WCCY 1400 AM; 9 a.m. Sunday on WHKB 102.3FM.
  
Citizens and visitors are responsible for protecting and maintaining the beauty of Lake Superior's waters, shores and wildlife. Celebrate Lake Superior!

Michigan Tech scientists interviewed: Dr. Marty Auer, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Dr. Noel Urban, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Joan Chadde, Michigan Center for Science and Environmental Outreach.

Topics discussed:
1. How each is involved with Great Lakes or Lake Superior research and education
2. How do scientists assess the health of the Great Lakes? Describe what is sampled and why: oxygen, temperature, light penetration, benthic organisms, plankton.
3. Are all of the Great Lakes healthy?
4. Describe Michigan Tech's new Great Lakes Research Center -- How will it enhance Great Lakes research and education?
5. What can citizens do to protect the Great Lakes?

Lake Superior Day was established by the Lake Superior Binational Forum as an annual day all around the basin to celebrate our connections to the world's largest freshwater lake. Everyone is invited to do something special on (or near) Sunday, July 15, to connect to the natural and human environment in the watershed, such as:

•   Clean up litter on a beach or pull invasive species.*

•   Take a photograph of your favorite spot in the Lake Superior basin and email it to  binationalforum@northland.edu. They'll share it on their Facebook pages and website.

•   Attend a special event **

•   Attend a special church service at a house of worship

•   Fly a kite, which is a symbol of clean energy. Clean air means clean water.

•   Bring educational materials to your family picnic, like the Forum's free paper placemat supported by a grant through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Forum members and volunteers have distributed almost 300,000 placemats to about 200 businesses all around the lake this year.

•   Get on the water! Kayak, sail, canoe, motor boat, personal water craft--whatever vessel you prefer! Or swim in the lake!

Editor's Notes:

* See our article on pulling spotted knapweed.

** Celebrate Lake Superior Day at Save the Wild UP's WATERPALOOZA in Marquette.

Visit the Lake Superior Binational Forum Web site to learn more about Lake Superior Day and their work.