May 28, 2003 at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in Duluth, Minnesota

Co-Chair Phil Monson called the meeting to order.

Lynelle introduced guests to Charlene Catherine Johnson, an M.S. Candidate from University of Minnesota who presented her research on: Predicting The Early Vegetation Of A Wetland Created From Dredged Material In The Duluth-Superior Harbor In 1999. MN Sea Grant had a copy of a proposed development of a new wetland habitat in the Duluth-Superior harbor using dredged material. Upon review, it was noted that no plans were included to actively vegetate this new wetland. In her thesis, Charlene proposed an environmentally controlled method for investigating the contribution of the seed bank of both dredged material and an inoculum (soil from an active regional wetland) to the first-season vegetation of a wetland created from dredged material. Samples were collected from routine dredging operations performed by the Army Corp of Engineers. Three samples were obtained in 2000 and one more in 2001. Samples were split with some being placed in a saturated environment and some in a flooded environment, some were inoculated with soil from a wetland on the waterfront trail and some were not. To evaluate the differences between the samples, both shoot density (the number of stems emerging from the samples) and taxonomic richness (the number of different plants) were recorded. Included in the numbers were plants that emerged but died off during the experiment as they do make a contribution to the biological activity present in the samples, although identification then became difficult. The results of the uninoculated samples showed 5 seedlings and four different taxa growing in both the saturated and the flooded samples. The inoculated samples had 158 seedlings and 17 taxa in the saturated samples and 139 seedlings and 8 taxa in the flooded samples. Conclusions drawn from this experiment are that seeding the new wetland with inoculum from an active regional wetland would more likely result in a wetland meeting the Army Corp of Engineers¹ criteria of having vegetative cover after the first growing season. A model is being developed that will allow wetland developers to perform a series of experiments that could be used as an indicator for whether seeding would be necessary.

Piping Plover: Lynelle showed a video on the development of a Piping Plover nesting habitat. The area is designated as a bird sanctuary on Wisconsin Point. With the help of students from Woodland Hills, MN DNR, and USF&W, three acres of willows were mowed down and landscape fabric was laid and covered with sand and gravel to simulate a beach area. The last nesting of Piping Plovers was in 1986. Piping Plovers have been spotted in the area and the hope is that the Great Lakes population of Plovers has expanded enough for them to need new nesting grounds.

Business Meeting:

Minutes of the Mar 26, 2003 meeting were approved as distributed.

Habitat Workgroup Report: Group has not met since last meeting. Still no official chair for the committee.

Stewardship Group: The cleanup at Grassy Point on May 10 was very successful. Approximately 25 people collected 3/4 of a dumpster full of materials and 27 tires. The canoe trip is on August 9 is going to be an adventure! We will be canoeing the Nemadji this year, putting in at Hwy 23 in Minnesota and coming out at Hwy W in Wisconsin. Will probably be a little bit longer trip than in the past and a little more difficult.

Financial Report: We are still not in the best shape financially. Currently projections show a $1,100 deficit for this year. Have not heard anything yet on requests to MN Power and US Bank. We still have a cash flow problem as the grants require spending the money first then requesting reimbursement.

Director's Report:

We have signed the papers on the 24K grant from Great Lakes Basin to disseminate the habitat plan. Work can start on that grant July 1. This is the grant requiring 50% match so keeping track of volunteer hours is extremely important. The GLNPO grant received favorable review at the state level but no further word as of yet. This grant would be for infrastructure.

The annual AOC/RAP workshop will be on June 6&7 in Detroit. Lynelle will be attending with the costs covered by a scholarship from them. The focus of the workshop will be to set restoration targets that when met can be used for delisting. There are some AOCs that are strongly in favor of delisting, regardless of the status of the cleanup efforts. It is extremely important to be heard and not let someone else decide when and under what criteria the St. Louis River AOC can be delisted. Dorothy Anway made a motion, seconded by Ted Smith to draft a resolution from the group for Lynelle to take with her to the workshop expressing our views. The resolution reads as follows: We, the members of the St. Louis River Citizens Action Committee, resolve that although progress has been made in cleaning up our estuary, there is still significant work to be done to protect, restore and enhance our harbor and estuary, to oppose delisting the St. Louis River AOC until our restoration goals have been accomplished. Lynelle will also present a copy of this resolution to Steve Hopkins.

The IJC Report has just come out. It appears to be a report that says progress is being made and things do take time. If interested it can be found at www.ijc.org. It seems in contrast to the GAO report earlier this year that stated the federal government has failed to coordinate cleanup programs on the Great Lakes with states and regional groups. The GAO report is available at www.gao.gov.

Dorothy Anway will be trying to conduct a study on the effects of development on the biodiversity in the Lake Superior Harbor. Anyone with information that may be applicable is encouraged to contact her.