We will be kicking off the year with a series of talks focused around rivers and other water-related topics.

Check out the schedule below and mark your calendar! Each talk will take place at Mississippi Gateway on Sundays from 2–3 PM. Registration required at least 24 hours in advance.

January 18—Fishers in Southern Minnesota: History, Ecology, and Use of Riparian Habitat

Speaker: Michael Joyce

Fishers are a native carnivore in the weasel family that were removed from southern Minnesota in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Fishers have recolonized many areas in southern Minnesota over the last two decades, including the Twin Cities Metropolitan area where they are occupying a very different landscape from historical times.

This presentation will focus on the history and ecology of fishers currently occupying this region, with an emphasis on the important role of forested rivers in their recovery and movements throughout the Twin Cities.

Registration required at least 24 hours in advance. Register online.

February 1—Freshwater Mussels in the Mississippi River: A 100-year Roller Coaster Ride

Speaker: Jordan Holcomb, Malacologist, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Learn about the important role of freshwater mussels, threats to their livelihood and efforts to rebuild their populations with Jordan Holcomb, Malacologist at the Minnesota Department of Nature Resources.

Jordan studies mollusks and works with partners to facilitate conservation efforts that improve mussel populations and habitat.

Registration required at least 24 hours in advance. Register online.

February 22—The Immortal Plastic Bottle

Speaker: Dr. Mary Kosuth, Researcher, University of Minnesota

Learn about the history of plastic, its current impacts and recommendations for the future with Dr. Mary Kosuth, University of Minnesota Researcher.

Mary helped develop a Minnesota-based citizen science project that involves testing local surface water for microplastics.

Registration required at least 24 hours in advance. Register online.

March 1—The Mississippi: Through Time and to the Sea

Speaker: John Sheppard, Associate Professor & Assistant Director, Center for Global Environmental Education Hamline University

In its 90-day run from source to sea, America’s magnificent Mississippi River transforms itself from a cheerful, clearwater stream to a roiling, muddy anaconda that runs 200 feet deep and floats ships from around the world. She spans a continent and its history, gathering sediment as well as stories.

This presentation will offer highlights from the river's journey through a series of short videos and vignettes drawn from decades of interpretive storytelling by John Shepard and Hamline University’s Center for Global Environmental Education.

Registration required at least 24 hours in advance.

March 8—80 Days to the Arctic

Speaker: Abby Cichocki of Hudson Bay Girls

Learn about the Hudson Bay Girls’ groundbreaking 1,300-mile canoe journey from Lake Superior to Hudson Bay, where they retraced a historic Voyageur Fur Trading Route and championed environmental stewardship, outdoor education and gender equality in outdoor spaces.

Registration required at least 24 hours in advance.

March 22—Mississippi Flyway

Speaker: Sharon Stiteler (aka The Birdchick)

Sharon Stiteler is a local author and bird expert known online and on air as The Birdchick. She worked on the Mississippi River as a park ranger for 13 years doing bird surveys, documenting the metro heron rookeries and eagle nests and flying over it for fall migratory bird surveys. Even when she lived in Alaska, she found ways to connect with the river through birds.

Registration required at least 24 hours in advance.

April 12—Peep Light: Stories of a Mississippi River Boat Captain

Speaker: Lee Hendrix, Pilot & River Boat Captain

Learn about the exciting and dangerous work that accompanied a five-decade career of working on America's river with Lee Hendrix, pilot and former river captain in the US Army Corps of Engineers. Lee piloted commercial towboats and the last three overnight passenger steamboats on the Mississippi: the Delta, Mississippi, and American Queens.

Through engaging storytelling, Hendrix sheds light on his rare experience along one of the most powerful and important waterways in the world.

Registration required at least 24 hours in advance.

April 19—Big Rivers, Big Bears, Big Time Conservation Success Story

Speaker: Andrew Tri

From an era of persecution to conservation and management, Minnesota’s black bears are truly a conservation success story. We’ll discuss bear ecology, management, conservation, how to coexist with these amazing critters and why rivers can be corridors for range expansion.

Registration required at least 24 hours in advance.