14th Annual St. Louis River Summit

Braiding Visions for an Enduring Future

MARCH 6-8, 2024 • UW–Superior Yellowjacket Union


2024 Summit Cost & Registration

Registration opens in January 2024.

  • Cost to attend the Summit: $60.00 per person
  • Student registration is free
  • Online registration closes February 28, 2024. The cost for same-day walk-in 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 is provided to registered guests on March 6 and 7

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

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6

Morning
Welcome
Oral Presentations

Lunch
Student Networking Session

Afternoon
Oral Presentations

Evening
Poster and Art Session (in Swenson Hall, next door to the Yellowjacket Union)

THURSDAY, MARCH 7

Morning
Networking Sessions
Oral Presentation

Lunch

Afternoon
Keynote Address
Oral Presentations

FRIDAY, MARCH 8

Morning
Field Trips

Keynote Presentation

Visions: Stories for an Enduring Future

March 7th, 2024 at 1:00pm in the UW-Superior Yellowjacket Union

Telling stories helps us reflect on the past, share thrills and laughter, and transmit important knowledge to future generations. The St. Louis River has seen some wild tales- historic, ecological, adventurous, and personal. In this very special keynote session, storytellers invited from the community share short personal stories connected to the river on the theme of Visions.  Hosted by Mary Fox and Blake Thomas of the live radio broadcast Take it With You and Zeitgeist Arts in the format of a non-competitive story slam (think a local version of The Moth podcast), this event connects research, restoration and education efforts to the oh-so-human lives on the shores of one of the greatest rivers in the Great Lakes.

A man with red hair and beard wearing dark rimmed glasses and a plaid flannel shirt

BLAKE THOMAS

Blake Thomas is the Artistic Director, head-writer, and podcast editor of Take It With You. He has been working in the arts for over twenty years as a performing songwriter, composer, playwright, actor, and teacher. He has co-written two musicals: Stay Tuned (Yellow Tree Theatre, 2013), Jonah and the Whale (7th House/Guthrie Dowling Studio, 2014), has released four studio albums, and is the audio producer of the Duluth Story Project podcast.

A woman with shoulder length blonde hair wearing a blue patterned shirt

MARY FOX

Mary Fox is the Producing Artistic Director at Zeitgeist. She Graduated with a BFA in Theatre from the U of M Duluth and has worked across the country as a professional artist for 15 years working with Comedy Central, The American Theater of Actors, Manhattan Theatre Source, The Minneapolis Children’s Theater, Theater Latte Da, The Guthrie, Yellow Tree Theatre, and The Playwright’s Center. She is the co-founder of Take It With You, Live Radio Theatre from Duluth MN and creator of Duluth Story Project. She is dedicated to supporting local art in Duluth Minnesota.

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. This year, session talks will be delivered live in-person at the Yellowjacket Union on the UW-Superior campus. The session full schedule will become available in early February.

A woman speaking in front of a projector screen
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 listening to a speaker
POSTER & 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 are also 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 in-person in the large open foyer space of Swenson Hall (next door to the Yellowjacket Union)  in the early evening of March 6. 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 Friday morning. Please select your preferred field trip option when you go to register for the Summit. Advance registration for field trips is required.

“YOU’VE GOT THE SKILLS!” STUDENT CAREER SESSION

MARCH 6 from 12:00 – 1:15PM
YELLOWJACKET UNION Room 204

The Reserve has teamed up with the UW-Superior Link Center to offer this lunchtime session to students who would like to practice navigating job descriptions with confidence!

This event is free to students, and lunch is provided. Registration for the Summit is encouraged but not required.

Students who attend this event will:

  • Learn to recognize your own accomplishments!
  • Examine real job descriptions for opportunities to highlight skills.
  • Hear from professionals in land and water careers.

“You’ve Got the Skills!” Student Career Session event flyer

A panel of four women sitting at a table answering questions from a group of people sitting in chairs

Call For Abstracts

You can still submit posters and artwork, until January 30

We are now accepting submissions for posters and artwork until January 30. The deadline for oral presentations and networking sessions has passed. To submit, please use the forms linked below.
Note the earlier deadline for oral presentation and networking session descriptions this year.

Two men looking at a poster display

Poster Presentations

Submissions Due: January 30, 2024
Acceptance on a rolling basis beginning January
Submit an Abstract for a Poster

Poster presenters share their work in an evening session on March 6.

A table display with buttons and signs on it

Art Submissions

Submissions Due: January 30, 2024
Acceptance on a rolling basis beginning January
Submit Your Artwork for Display

Art and science, together! River-inspired artwork is displayed alongside posters.

Is your organization interested in having tabling space at the
14th 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 22.

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 6 and 7 events at the Yellowjacket Union

This year, two days of the Summit main session, networking sessions and the poster session will be held in-person at UW-Superior’s Yellowjacket Union (YU) on March 6 and 7. 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, except for the poster session which for the first time is moving to Swenson Hall which is the building next door to the west of the YU. It takes about 5 minutes to walk from the YU second floor to the poster session venue in Swenson Hall. 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 parking in any space with a yellowjacket symbol or a sign indicating it is reserved for another use.

RESTROOMS

Restrooms, including a gender neutral bathroom, 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. We encourage Summit attendees 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 would not happen without 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 graphic with twenty five sponsor logos on it

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SUMMIT?

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


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.