President’s Letter

by Jeré Mohr

Greetings from Duluth, where there is snow on the ground and a chill in the air. Winter is here, and I’ve been out enjoying the trails on my cross-country skis and fat tire bike (I’m reminiscing about this past summer with the photo above). As the seasons change, the scene out my window closely resembles that of my first president’s letter, and my time as MGWA president is quickly drawing to an end. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve MGWA and the experience I’ve gained over the last year. It was gratifying to see the unwavering support of the membership this year as we (thanks to science!) came out of the depths of the pandemic but continued to navigate change. Thank you for your enthusiastic support of MGWA through it all!

It was a true pleasure to preside over the fall conference on November 17^th, MGWA’s first in person conference in three years! For those who weren’t able to make it, the conference theme was “Minnesota Mining and Water Resources.” We had an excellent lineup of speakers on a variety of topics related to understanding, predicting, and managing the potential impacts from mining on the state’s water resources. Presentation slides and audio recordings are available on the MGWA website conference page. The Heritage Center of Brooklyn Center served us well and, assuming in-person meeting are again the norm, will be a great venue for future conferences. I am glad that we were able celebrate MGWA’s 40^th anniversary in person with social time after the conference. Thanks to your generous support, we were able to raise enough money to fund a $1,500 student scholarship!   

Over the last year, I’ve really come to appreciate the efforts of the numerous people who generously contribute their time to keep MGWA moving forward. In particular, I’d like to express my appreciation to MGWA board members Tony Runkel, Sandeep Burman, Vanessa Baratta, and Michael Ginsbach and to the MGWA management team Sean Hunt and Jennie Leete. The Education committee of Cathy Undem, Bryce Hoppie, Bruce Olsen, Jeff Stoner, Kate Pound, and Jared Trost was instrumental in putting together a letter submitted by the MGWA board to the Minnesota Commissioner of Education stressing the importance of including earth science in Minnesota’s academic teaching standards. In addition, the Education committee continued to collaborate with the Minnesota Well Owners Organization to coordinate well water quality screening clinics across the state this summer and fall. The Foundation, guided by Stu Grubb, Kara Dennis, Jarrod Cicha, Scott Alexander, Eric Mohring, Katrina Marini, and Julia Steenberg, continued their service, which this year included funding Gabanski Student Scholarships for five students – with the goal of increasing their interest in the professions of hydrogeology, groundwater, geology, and related programs. The Foundation also continued its efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) by revising the scholarship application to make it more inclusive and developed a DEI-based application evaluation rubric for committee use. The White Paper committee of David Crisman, Carrie Jennings, Jared Trost, Rebecca Higgins, and Jim Lundy saw MGWA’s fifth white paper “The 1989 Ground Water Protection Act: Legacy and Future Directions” to completion. Work on the next white paper on groundwater data is already underway. Last, but not least, the Newsletter committee of Sherri Kroening, Matt Meyer, Sophia Vaughan, Jane de Lambert, and I worked to keep the membership informed. I’m excited to announce that the Newsletter committee has two new members, Emily Berquist and Dylan Evans, who have recently joined the team.

Finally, I would like to welcome our 2023 MGWA president, Sandeep Burman. I look forward to serving with you on the MGWA board, and I hope you find the experience serving as MGWA president as rewarding as I did.

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