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KinniKeeper
April 2019
Spring Edition
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We work with the community to conserve and protect the beauty and health of the
Kinnickinnic River and its watershed.
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Spring has finally sprung and the Kinni is bursting with energy! We begin this season
with gratitude and thank you for your continued support! The first four months of 2019 have proven to be busy as we plan for new restoration projects, continuing landowner dialogue and dreaming of what is possible in the year ahead. Spring is known as a time of change, especially after such a stark and memorable winter. As you read on, you'll learn that the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust is in transition in many ways. We say hello to a new Office Manager and a new Conservation Land Management Intern.
Thank you for your on-going support through your financial gifts and volunteer hours that are so vital to our mission. Your support helps ensure the Kinni remains cold, clean and free...forever. See you soon. Enjoy the Spring season by visiting Trumpeter Swan, Kelly Creek or Drewiske Preserve as they are glorious this time of year!
Charlene Brooks
Executive Director
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This years R4F event was a hit! Because of your generous contributions, KRLT received over $25,000 to help continue the work of keeping the Kinni and it's watershed beautiful and healthy. We want to thank all of the vendors, sponsors and volunteers that made this event possible.
A special acknowledgement goes out to the R4F team. Thank you guys for all of your hard work and planning, you make this event extraordinary!
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KinniCleanUp
Saturday, April 27th
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Join us at Veterans Park in River Falls, WI at 9 AM. We will be there bright and early, ready to give the Kinni a spring cleaning. WE Co-op will be handing out free coffee! Following the clean-up at 11 am we will have lunch available for all you hard working volunteers at the United Methodist Church in River Falls, WI. Interested in volunteering to help?
Sign up ends on Monday
April 22nd
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This year we are excited to be working with giveBIG St. Croix Valley, you can be part of 24 hours of giving on April 30th. It is a great opportunity for us to share our story and connect with people who want to help us make a difference in the community. Your donations will allow us to continue our mission to keep the Kinni river and its watershed a beautiful place for generations to come.
Click the link below to donate!
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Drewiske Preserve Conservation Plan
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Dr. Kevyn Juneau of University of Wisconsin- River Falls (UWFR) and his Forest Restoration and Management course students started work in January 2019 to update and enhance the management plan for KRLT’s Drewiske Preserve. Located in the Kinni’s lower canyon in Clifton township, Pierce County, WI, this preserve is critical in the watershed. The students will be unveiling their collective vision for review by the KRLT Board of Directors in May 2019.
KRLT also continues to participate in the Kinni Partnership lead by UWRF to implement the Kinnickinnic River Watershed Strategic Action Plan adopted in June 2016.
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Moving Restoration Forward at Trumpeter Swan
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The Trumpeter Swan Preserve is a 48-acre multi-habitat in the headwaters of the Kinnickinnic River. Building from the forest restoration plan developed by UWRF students in 2018, KRLT is working towards logistics planning and restoration of the preserve. Currently, the property is over run with invasive species like boxelder and buckthorn and is considered a Red Pine plantation compared to its original condition as an Oak savanna. With support from donors and new foundation partners, KRLT will help restore the Trumpeter Swan Preserve to a healthy ecosystem by reducing the impacts of excess nutrients and increasing habitat quality. Public access currently serves as a primary focus! A portion of this process is funded by the Laird Norton Family Foundation is based in Seattle, WA. The goal of the Watershed Stewardship program is to create enabling conditions for long-term social and ecological health and resilience in places of importance to the Laird Norton Family.”
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Tropical Wings Supports KRLT with $1000 Grant
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We are excited to announce a partnership with Tropical Wings, who has provided $1000 to invasive species management at KRLT’s Trumpeter Swan Preserve. Tropical Wings is a non-profit 501c3 organization composed of volunteers supporting education and conservation for Neotropical Migratory birds through the Sister Parks Agreement between National Parks in the Upper Midwest and Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. Come see us celebrate on May 10
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at the Phipps Center in Hudson, Wisconsin.
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New Waders for the Biology Club
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KRLT, in partnership with the River Falls Fly Fishing Film Festival (R4F) that was held in early March 2019, donated $1,000 to River Falls High School Biology Club led by teacher Nicole Feldmeier. These funds will go a long way replace leaking and irreparable waders and repair kits. Thanks to Lunds Flying Fishing Shop in River Falls, WI, for helping making these dollars stretch even further. Here’s to exploring the Kinni and its watershed!
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Siri Doyle- Conservation Land Management Intern
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KRLT is thrilled to announce that as of March 4th, 2019, we have a new conservation land management intern, Siri Doyle. Siri will be working on restoration planning for our KRLT Trumpeter Swan Preserve. Siri was part of Dr. Kevyn Juneau’s Forest Restoration Management course at UW-River Falls where she worked as a team on a restoration plan for the property. We are excited to bring her expertise to the Kinni river watershed and ultimately to you. Stay tuned to learn more!
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"I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust and to help preserve the Kinni river watershed. I am a recent graduate from University of Wisconsin-River Falls majoring in Environmental Engineering Technology with a minor in Conservation. Growing up, I have always had a love for the outdoors, and I want it to be a part of future. My favorite past times are going hiking during the spring, summer and fall seasons and cross-country skiing during the winter. I am originally from Hayward, Wisconsin, and my whole life I was doing something that relates back to nature. During the summer I would going canoeing, kayaking, and fishing on the Chippewa Flowage and that is where my love and interest for watersheds began. I find it fascinating how much life and beauty a small body of water can hold not to mention a full-scale watershed. When I first arrived at UW-River Falls, I went straight to the waterfalls near Glen Park, because I heard about the breathtaking Kinni river was. From there on out, I have walked every trail near the Kinni in River Falls and have been kayaking down it quite a bit. Even while studying, I would find the Kinni peaceful and relaxing at my favorite quite spot. My dream is to help preserve ecosystems and restore pieces of land to what they were centuries ago and I feel this position will be a great fit for me to help fulfill that vision. I could not be more excited to begin my journey as a member of the KRLT team."
-Siri Doyle
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Molly Barritt- Office Manager
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KRLT is excited to announce that as of February 18, 2019, the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust has a new Office Manager, Molly Barritt.
We look forward to introducing Molly as the year continues. She will be very involved in our day-to-day operations, serve as the primary contact for the office, and will lead KRTL outreach events, volunteer engagement, and marketing communication. She will be an active part of our goal to support and foster the relationships that drive our successful mission. Molly joins us after a management position at the River Market Coop in Stillwater, MN. She has extensive experience with employee management, delivering on customer needs, and implementing projects to meet the co-op’s larger mission.
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"I am honored to be the newest member of the KRLT family. I have a passion for preserving natural landscape and the want to educate more people about the beautiful Kinni river. I was lucky to be able to grow up with parents that instilled an importance of respecting nature. They both encouraged my brother and I to explore and not be afraid to play in the dirt. We spent most family outings being surrounded by plants and trees at local State and County Parks. My Father was the first person to teach me about the beautiful waters of the Kinni. He had been kayaking on the Kinni may times and knew the river well. He took me out for a paddle one day, it was early summer. I remember going around a bend and there in front of us was a mother deer and her baby fawn standing in the cool blue water. It was incredible… I felt like I had just floated into a storybook. It was at that moment that I knew that this was a very special place. As we paddled further down the river the weeping cliffs came into view, it was another spectacular sight. The cliffside was covered with bright green moss and ferns with water slowly flowing over the plants. I never imagined that one day, I would be able to be part of a wonderful group of people that shared the same love and appreciating for the Kinni that I did. I am looking forward to helping KRLT continue its preservation of land and the watersheds."
-Molly Barritt
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Richard Magnuson
August 25, 1925 — March 16, 2019
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Richard was born in Willmar, Minnesota in 1925. In 1943 after graduating from Montevideo High School, he enlisted in the
U.S. Navy
and served as a navigator on a LCT landing craft in the South Pacific. After World War II, he attended undergraduate school on the GI Bill at Gustavus Adolphus College, the University of Oregon and the
University of Minnesota
, from which he graduated. In 1952, he earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Minnesota Law School. Richard married Finette Love in 1952. Together they raised a family of four children. Richard became an expert in agricultural cooperative law and served as General Counsel to Farmer's Union Central Exchange/Cenex. In 1970, Richard was hired as General Counsel to Land O' Lakes, Inc. where he set up their legal department and eventually also became their Senior Vice President of Government Relations. Richard provided legal services to Group Health Plan (now HealthPartners) in its fledgling years, helping the organization get established and serving as its board president. In 1983, he joined the Doherty, Rumble and Butler law firm. Beginning in 1991, he was asked to provide agricultural legal services to several countries of the former USSR. In that capacity, he traveled to Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Russia. Similar work brought him to the Kirghiz Republic and Eritrea. In 2000, Richard was the first lawyer inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame. Richard served on the boards of Northern States Power Company, the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute at Northland College, as well as on the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board. He loved traveling, hunting, skiing, canoeing and spending time with his family and friends at his cabin on Lake Owen in Cable, Wisconsin. He is preceded in death by his father William, mother Ruth and brother William. Survived by his wife of 67 years Finette; children Marcus (Gina), Scott, Nettie and Leif (Sushma); grandchildren Christina (Michael), Caroline (Tony), Eleanor (Mason), Neil, Nina, Noah and Selene; and great-grandchildren Sofia, Lucia, Finn, Stella and Thomas.
Published in Pioneer Press on Mar. 24, 2019
Richard and Finette donated a conservation easement on their farm to the KRLT.
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Donations
Your contribution helps us keep the Kinni cold, clean, and free ... forever!
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