An Estuary Mosaic: Understanding the pieces, appreciating the whole
March 4-6, 2025 • UW–Superior Yellowjacket Union
The 15th Annual St. Louis River Summit will be hosted once again at the Yellowjacket Union on the campus of UW–Superior. The Summit is a multi-day event that features a single main session track of speakers as well as an evening poster and art session and one breakout networking session.
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. You can view the proceedings of all past Summits to see what has been presented over the years.
The Summit provides many learning and connection opportunities for river enthusiasts and curious minds.
Join us during the program to engage with:
- The status and findings of current research connected to the St. Louis River estuary
- The results of projects that have been implemented
- Ideas and discussion of future work in and around the estuary
- Ways that people are connecting with the river
2025 Summit Cost & Registration
Registration is now open
- Cost to attend the Summit: $60 per person.
- Student registration is free.
- Online registration will close on February 26. 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.
The full program including a complete schedule of talks and events is now posted.
Call For Abstracts
The call for all presentations and artwork has now closed.
Is your organization interested in having tabling space at the 15th Annual St. Louis River Summit?
Please fill out this form to request a table at this event. Requests will be considered and approved on a rolling basis. Requests will be considered until tabling spots are filled or until the deadline of February 21.
NEW: Guidance for Summit presenters
If you are giving an oral presentation, hosting a networking session, presenting a poster or showing art, make sure you read through the Information for Summit Presenters page here: https://lakesuperiornerr.org/summit/presenter-info/.
This page contains guidance for developing your presentation as well as important deadlines to meet in preparation for the Summit.
Agenda at a Glance
Keynote Event
Water, We Respect You: Tribal Sovereignty in the watershed of Chigami-ziibi
March 5, 2025, 9:00-10:30am in the Yellowjacket Union Great Room
Chigami-ziibi (the St. Louis River) sprawls across the Ceded Territory of Ojibwe people and forms the eastern border of the Fond du Lac Reservation. Treaty rights and the efforts of Tribal Nations staff have played a central role in stewarding the river and the estuary, from the restoration of name (nah-meh, lake sturgeon) and manoomin (wild rice) to the Area of Concern delisting process to water quality protection. These efforts are underpinned by Indigenous Knowledge and by sovereignty, the authority to self-govern in order to protect and enhance the health, safety, and welfare of tribal citizens. As the river heals and faces a mosaic of new challenges, how can Tribal Sovereignty illuminate ways we can all care for the river?
Presenter and panelists include: Nancy Schuldt, Water Projects Coordinator, and Thomas Howes, Natural Resources Manager, of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa; Darren Vogt, Resource Management Division Director at the 1854 Treaty Authority; Jason Schlender, Executive Administrator at the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, and Joseph
Bauerkemper, Director of the Tribal Sovereignty Institute at University of Minnesota Duluth.
Featured Event
Climate Resilience is Every Day
March 6, 2025, 10:20-11:00am
Embedding climate resilience into communities and the landscape is certainly a matter of innovative techniques and know-how, but it is also a mindset that takes opportunities to build resilience whenever they are available across the mosaic of infrastructure, community development, and landscape restoration along Lake Superior’s shores.
What can environmental professionals learn from organizations along the St. Louis River working to embed climate resilience into their every day work? How can we consider the built environment and natural spaces when imagining our resilient future? This discussion shares new, timely perspectives on creating a sustainable future across our region.
Hosted by Lake Superior Reserve, with featured panelists:
Mindy Granley, Supervisor – Climate Assistance Unit, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency;
Karola Dalen, Sustainability and Capital Planning Manager, St. Louis County;
Dr. Natalie Chin, Climate and Tourism Outreach Specialist, Wisconsin Sea Grant
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 is now available in the posted program.
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.
Select your preferred session when you register for the Summit.
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 full list of posters and artwork will be posted when it is finalized.
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 & community on Thursday afternoon. This year, there are four different field trips being offered:
- Perch Lake Habitat Restoration Project Tour
- Gibiskising minis Azhe-dibinaweziwin (Planning for the Restoration of Wisconsin Point)
- Putting the Voice of People in Your Projects – A Field Trip into the Landscape of Community
- Great Lakes Aquarium: Aquarium Exhibits are More than the Sum of Their Parts
All field trips begin at 1:30pm on March 6. Please select your preferred field trip option when you go to register for the Summit. Advance registration for field trips is required. Attendees are responsible for coordinating transportation to field trip sites.
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.
The Yellowjacket Union venue
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.
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.
Thank you to our awesome 2025 sponsors.
Watershed
River
Tributary
Nonprofit
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.