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2024 Highlights

The St. Louis River is more than just a body of water; it’s a lifeline for our community, a sanctuary for wildlife, and a source of connection and recreation. During our Fall Membership Drive, we invite the community to commit to helping the St. Louis River Alliance continue our important work of protecting, restoring, and enhancing this essential resource.

Below are a few of our 2024 highlights and accomplishments, and just a few reasons to support our work by becoming or renewing your membership.

Stewardship + Recreational Events

The more people who experience the St. Louis River, the better it will be taken care of. In 2024, SLRA hosted a dozen stewardship and recreational events to help connect hundreds of community members of all ages back to the water.

Some of these events included:

St. Louis River Estuary National Water Trail Management

This year we hired Mikayla Erickson as our new National Water Trail (NWT) Coordinator, in addition to two Neighborhood Leaders to help implement the Master Plan and build awareness of the trail. In partnership with the City of Duluth, we will be hosting four Water Trail events per year, printing another round of maps summer of 2025, and will continue to work with the NWT Advisory Council to grow the trail.

We are building community partners to help pool resources and expertise to connect more folks to the Trail, including water safety and paddle courses with UMD Recreation Sports Outdoor Program (RSOP). Here are some photos from our Dwight’s Point Paddle earlier this summer.

Manoomin/Wild Rice Restoration at Kingsbury Bay

In September, we planted 280 pounds of manoomin/wild rice in Kingsbury Bay on the St. Louis River. This was the 8th year SLRA has had the opportunity to participate in these restoration efforts in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

During this time volunteers learned about manoomin ecology, cultural significance and restoration in the St. Louis River and reseeded the wetlands in Kingsbury Bay for reestablishment. In the past, seed has been replanted around Clough Island.

Learn more about the restoration efforts here.

Area of Concern Project Updates

The St. Louis River Alliance’s initial roots were planted as the Citizen Advisory Committee formed to assist Minnesota and Wisconsin state agencies in the St. Louis River Area of Concern (SLRAOC) process. Since 1996, SLRA has worked to foster better communication between agencies, tribal entities, and community members.

This legacy lives on as we continue to provide monthly progress updates (sign-up here), River Connection community events, and by helping facilitate the annual Area of Concern Celebration of Progress event. In 2024, in partnership with the SLRAOC Coordinators, we helped co-create and promote a fun and interactive ‘St. Louis River Virtual Scavenger Hunt’ to help connect the community to the many recreational opportunities on the river.

Piping Plover Monitoring + Habitat Maintenance

This year we celebrated our 13th year of Piping Plover monitoring during migration season April to July. Though we didn’t have a mating pair, much habitat work was done at the Wisconsin Point Bird Sanctuary. Mikayla Erickson, Piping Plover Project Leader, welcomed multiple groups, SLRA members, and staff to help remove and bag invasive plant materials, reducing the seed bank for next year’s shorebird season. During these events, Mikayla also led the groups on a tour highlighting the 2024 site improvements including the newly planted dune grass and increase to the nesting area. Thank you to everyone who joined us and keep an eye out for future volunteer days so you can experience this beautiful site!