As the one-year anniversary of the Twin Ports area’s worst flooding approaches, two conservation groups are sponsoring workshops in Duluth on how the Northland can adapt to increased floods spurred by a warmer climate.
The St. Louis River Alliance and W.J. McCabe Chapter of the Izaak Walton League are holding climate-change adaption workshops June 19-20 in Duluth.
The official title, “A Flood of Options: Adapting to a Changing Climate,” is a nod to climate and engineering experts who say that changes that already have occurred in our weather patterns — more large storms interspersed by more dry periods, all with gradually higher temperatures and more water vapor — create a need to change how we deal with rainwater.
The free workshop is set for 6:30-8:30 p.m. June 19 at the EPA’s Mid-Continent Ecology Division laboratory at 6201 Congdon Blvd. and will be repeated from 1-3:30 p.m. June 20 at Lincoln Park Middle School near West Third Street and 32nd Avenue West.
The workshops will give an overview of recent changes to local and regional climate, effects on local waterways and ideas on how residents can help protect area streams and the St. Louis River during extreme weather events.
Featured speakers include Mark Seeley, University of Minnesota climatologist and a Minnesota climate history and
climate-change expert; and Chris Kleist, city of Duluth stormwater and stream restoration program coordinator.
And while engineers are working to make public infrastructure for increased flooding — culverts, roads, bridges, etc. — people also can take action in their own yards to help local streams handle the bigger load.
Julene Boe, executive director of the St. Louis River Alliance, said that while the exact implications of future climate change may remain uncertain, the Northland already has seen documented changes in its average temperatures and precipitation patterns.
“There are some people who are skeptical, who think this is just happening by chance. But for people who had a wakeup call with the flood last year and who may want to do something to help — we want to give them the tools to do that,” Boe told the News Tribune. “People can take a look at their own property and the impact it has on the watershed they live in, and maybe they want to do something to keep the water on that property, to slow the turnoff and mitigate flooding, things like planting trees or creating rain gardens, landscaping techniques that all of us can do.”
Participants will have an opportunity to sign up for follow-up workshops that will assist interested residents in taking future actions towards climate-change adaptation in their communities. In addition, the Regional Stormwater Protection Team will have a display and materials to share. Attendees at each workshop will be able to register for a free drawing, which will include a rain barrel to capture rainwater for gardening use.
The workshops are funded by grants from the Coastal Management Act, by NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, in conjunction with Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program and Climate Change Adaptation grants from Freshwater Future.
People are encouraged, but not required, to RSVP at slrcac@stlouisriver.org or by calling (218) 733-9520.
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