15th Annual St. Louis River Summit

An Estuary Mosaic: Understanding the pieces, appreciating the whole

March 4-6, 2025 • UW–Superior Yellowjacket Union



Call For Abstracts: Open now!

The call for abstracts for oral presentations, networking sessions, posters, and artwork submissions is now open.

Oral & Networking Session submissions are due December 5.
Poster & Artwork submissions are due January 27.

2025 Summit Cost & Registration

Registration opens in January 2025

  • Cost to attend the Summit: $60 per person.
  • Student registration is free.
  • Online registration will close in late February. The cost for same-day on-site registration is $90.

Registration provides access to live presentations about current St. Louis River work, a choice of networking sessions, an evening Poster and Art session, and the opportunity to attend a field trip. Lunch and refreshments are provided to registered guests.

Overview

What is the St. Louis River Summit?

The Summit is a multi-day opportunity to learn and share about the St. Louis River.

Like an estuary, the St. Louis River Summit is a place where people meet and mix. It provides a diversity of solutions and strategies for a healthy St. Louis River watershed and nourishes the community with education and outreach opportunities. Since 2010, the St. Louis River Summit has brought together key audiences working in the region.

The Summit provides many learning opportunities.
Join us in learning about the following:

  • The status and findings of current research
  • The results of implementing projects
  • Ideas and discussion of future work
  • Ways that people are connecting with the river

Agenda at a Glance

Tuesday, March 4

Check In

Afternoon
Welcome
Oral Presentations

Evening
Poster and Art Session

Wednesday, March 5

Morning
Keynote
Oral Presentations

Lunch

Afternoon
Oral Presentations
Networking Sessions

Thursday, March 6

Morning
Oral Presentations
Closing

Afternoon
Field Trips

Session Descriptions

ORAL PRESENTATIONS

At the St. Louis River Summit, we encourage speakers from across disciplines to share their knowledge in a space where everyone learns together. It is tradition at the Summit for oral presentations to be featured as the main program in a single track. This event clusters submitted talks on a variety of river-related topics into sessions across multiple days. Session talks are  delivered live in-person at the Yellowjacket Union on the UW–Superior campus.

The full session schedule will become available in early February.

A woman presenter at the podium in front of a projected slide giving her talk entitled, "Charting Progress: Purple Loosestrife Biocontrol Impact After 5 Years"
NETWORKING SESSIONS

People with shared interests and unique knowledge have a lot to talk about when they come together! The Summit strives to support collaboration on timely topics to the St. Louis River community by creating space for networking sessions. These sessions are established through the submission of an abstract indicating interest in hosting a conversation or smaller work session during the Summit. This year, networking sessions will be held concurrently during the program in small rooms at the Yellowjacket Union.

Session topics will be announced in early February.

A man and two women next to a wall chart during engage in a lively networking session on storytelling.
POSTER AND ART SESSION

All registered Summit attendees are welcome to attend the event’s poster and art session, where presenters highlight updates from new and ongoing projects connected to the St. Louis River area. Back by popular demand, we will also be issuing a call for artist submissions at the poster session! Art and poster submissions will be featured alongside each other. This session is an opportunity to connect with colleagues and community members. This year, the poster session will be hosted downstairs in the atrium of the Yellowjacket Union  in the early evening of March 4. Light refreshments will be served.

A table display with buttons and signs on it
FIELD TRIPS

The Summit is once again offering an opportunity for attendees to get out and experience this amazing place! Enjoy exploring different parts of the estuary Thursday afternoon morning. Please select your preferred field trip option when you go to register for the Summit. Advance registration for field trips is required.

Request Accommodations

The Lake Superior Reserve strives to make programming accessible and accommodating to all in attendance. We invite you to make our event planning team aware of accommodations and/or accessibility requests that will allow you to participate fully in this event. Please reach out to Karina Heim at karina.heim@wisc.edu or (715) 399-4089 with any requests or questions about accommodations at this year’s Summit. We ask for requests to be made at least two weeks prior to the event so that we may do our utmost to meet them.

March 4, 5, and 6 events at the Yellowjacket Union

The Summit main session, networking sessions and the poster session will be held in-person at UW–Superior’s Yellowjacket Union (YU) on March 4–6. The YU is located on the UW-Superior campus. Get directions to YU. All sessions will be held on the second floor of the YU. An elevator is available to reach the second floor of the YU and accessible parking is available. There will be signage to help you find your way to the YU’s Great Room and adjacent rooms where events are being held.

PARKING

Parking is available at no charge in select UW–Superior parking lots 2 and 11, shown on this map. You may park in either of these lots without requiring a pass or payment. Please do not park in any space with a Yellowjacket symbol or a sign indicating it is reserved for another use.

RESTROOMS

Restrooms are located on the same floor just down the hall from the rooms where Summit events are taking place.

COVID-19

Currently, the Yellowjacket Union is not requiring the use of masks inside their building. Summit attendees are encouraged to monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 and for the safety of all please do not attend if there is reason to believe you may have COVID-19.

SUMMIT SPONSORS

The Summit is made possible by the generosity of event sponsors who help cover the costs of putting on this multi-day event. Organizational sponsors may be eligible to receive a number of complimentary registrations. To become a Summit sponsor or donor, please email summit.sponsorship@folsr.org.

DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SUMMIT?

Contact:
Karina Heim, Coastal Training Program Coordinator
karina.heim@wisc.edu

FIND INFORMATION ABOUT PAST SUMMITS

The proceedings of all past Summits have been summarized and made available in a downloadable PDF format. View past summit proceedings.


A NOTE ABOUT ADVOCACY AND THE ST. LOUIS RIVER SUMMIT

The St. Louis River Summit is intended to facilitate shared community dialog related to socio-ecological issues and natural and social science in the St. Louis River estuary. The Summit is organized and financially supported by the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve, with help from many generous sponsors. As a part of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension and the NOAA-led National Estuarine Research Reserve system, the Reserve itself does not engage in advocacy and as state employees, staff follow clear guidelines. The views of presenters and sponsors who participate in the Summit are theirs or their organizations and do not represent the views, mission or work of the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve.