Duluth City Center West, 5830 Grand Ave., Duluth, MN

Minnesota Co-Chair Phil Monson called the meeting to order.

Rain Barrel Workshop
Diane Thompson of the City of Superior Wastewater Treatment Plant gave an informative talk about the purpose and uses of rain barrels. After going through the steps of how to build a rain barrel, twelve interested participants then built rain barrels to take home after the meeting.

Business Meeting:

Minutes of the May 26, 2004 meeting were approved as distributed.

Beneficial Use Impairment Restoration Goals and Milestones:
The BUIs have been sent to Brian Fredrickson at MPCA and Nancy Larson at WDNR. They've received them both in paper and electronic versions. Both states are considering adopting these recommendations in some form.

Resolution for MN Lake Superior Coastal Program Grant Proposal
A resolution was passed to allow Lynelle to develop a grant proposal for MN Lake Superior Coastal Program to Host a Rain Garden Tour and Workshop. There is a 25% match for grants under $20,000. Concern was expressed that this not be a burden on the executive director. This will be taken into consideration as the proposal is developed.

Approval of WI Coastal Program Grant Proposal Submission
This is a similar proposal to the one submitted but not funded last year. A critical missing piece of information is Wisconsin data. Judy Crane would be doing this work. Since the unproductive application last year several letters of support for this project have been submitted and the chances for success are better this time.

Funding Opportunities
Lynelle is asking everyone to keep their eyes open for funding opportunities, especially ones that can be used for federal match.

Habitat Workgroup Report
The habitat workgroup spent the bulk of their time on development of the beneficial use impairments restoration goals, including the ones on fish consumption and fish tumors. Phil Monson and Rick Gitar also worked on a project to re-establish wild rice beds in the St. Louis River. This year three plots, approximately 25' by 75', were chosen. Two locations, Weasel Bay and Sunset Bay, are just upstream of Boy Scouts Landing and one is adjacent to the Oliver Landing. All three sites showed promising characteristics for the rice to flourish. In the spring after ice out all sites will be divided into three sections. One section will get no treatment, one will be covered with mylar strips and the third will be completely enclosed with a storm fence. This will help determine if predators are a major factor in the loss of wild rice beds. Rice was purchased from the local watershed, primarily the Aitkin area. 200 pounds of rice was spread fairly thick on each area, as not all rice is viable. This project is being funded by a grant from the Great Lakes National Program Office.

Finance Workgroup Report
Ted explained the Year to Date summary of finances shows $5000 more in than out, even though this will be $0 by years end it indicates that Lynelle and Jessica are doing a good job of managing the organizations funds.

Stewardship Workgroup Report
The annual awards ceremony is coming up at the next quarterly meeting. Mailings and e-mails will go out to request nominations soon. The annual clean up is scheduled for mid May. The canoe trip scheduling is being evaluated to determine if a September date would be doable. This would allow us to include the Wild Rice Project sites as part of the trip and would avoid some of the conflicting summer events that draw people away.

Director's Report
BUI Restoration Goals have been submitted and we are one of only a few AOCs that have completed them. Both states are interested, Wisconsin is considering making them part of the Basin Plan.

Rain garden tour project could possibly be done as part of the Regional Stormwater Protection Team. It would probably be in 2006 and could include the Great Lake Aquarium, MN Horticulture Society, Superior WWTP, etc. Will pick 5 or 6 sites and bus people around.

Watershed festival is being planned with WLSSD taking the lead. They are looking for "watershed friendly products" and entertainment.

String of Pearls 2 is done and will be available soon. It is an excellent video covering 16 estuaries from Chequamegon Bay to the St. Louis River. Lynelle is featured in the video, which captured the sincerity of the concern for the estuaries extremely well. The video, produced by WI Extension, Great Lakes Visitors Center and WI Nature Conservancy will be used to help secure the National Estuarine Research Reserve System designation for one of the area estuaries. There is a lot of footage available that was not in the film. If we can secure funding or expertise in this area, we could produce a video on the St. Louis River.

Diane Thompson, secretary