President’s Letter

By Jeré Mohr

Greetings, everyone! The scene out my window in Duluth is much greener than it was when I wrote the March edition of the president’s letter, and I am excited that summer is finally here. The stubbornly slow arrival of warmer weather this year makes me appreciate it even more now that it’s here. Time seems to be flying by and it is hard to believe that my time “at the helm” as MGWA president is already half over! With the spring conference under my belt, I am feeling energized for what is to come the for the remainder of the year.

Thanks to a terrific group of speakers and support staff, the spring conference on April 28^th was a success. With a welcome dose of good fortune from the technology gods, we managed to pull off a virtual groundwater tour of Minnesota (and a bit beyond) without a hitch. We had nearly 250 virtual attendees at the meeting and received many positive comments from attendees. Thank you all for your continued interest in our conferences and your support of MGWA even when circumstances prevented meeting in person. For those of you who were unable to attend or could only attend parts of the conference, videos of the presentations are available on the MGWA website.

I am happy to report that we are currently making plans for two in person events in November! Please mark your calendars for Tuesday, November 15^th for an evening event to celebrate MGWA’s 40^th anniversary and Thursday, November 17^th for the fall conference. More details on both events will be coming soon. We understand that the membership has a strong desire to re-connect in person and I am hoping that we will be able to do that soon (barring unforeseen changes in the trajectory of the pandemic, of course).  

I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the White Paper committee on the forthcoming paper “Minnesota’s 1989 Ground Water Protection Act: Legacy and Future Directions”. The MGWA board is currently reviewing the final draft and expects to approve it for publication soon. The paper presents a comprehensive summary of the political and environmental conditions leading to passage of the Act in 1989, describes the accomplishments and progress that have been made because of the Act, and identifies opportunities to continue to sustain, restore, and improve groundwater for the future. Special thanks to the following for your efforts on this publication: authors Jim Lundy, Gretchen Sabel, and Jim Stark; work group members Kara Dennis, Kristine Klos, Laurel Reeves, and Brian Stenquist; and committee liaisons David Crisman and Carrie Jennings. The White Paper committee has already started working on the next paper focused on groundwater data. A centralized repository of groundwater data was a key outcome of the Act and the white paper will characterize the current state of the groundwater data economy in Minnesota and develop forward-looking ideas for improvements and enhancements.

I hope that you are all able to enjoy your favorite summer activities over the next few months. I’ve been getting out on bike rides as often as I can and, after checking off a long list of maintenance projects, have my sailboat in the water and ready for some adventures on Lake Superior this summer. I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events this fall!

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