Free and open to the public!
Photo by Deanna Erickson
Speaker: Deanna Erickson, Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve
The estuaries along the south shore of Lake Superior are some of the most productive ecosystems on the Lake. Home to diverse wetlands, flocks of birds, manoomin (wild rice) and fisheries, the river mouths that meet the lake are one of the best kept secrets for paddling, fishing and exploring. Where are these places and how do they relate to the largest Lake on earth?
Deanna Erickson serves as the Reserve Director of Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve. Deanna Erickson served as Interim Manager from April to November 2020 and as the Education Coordinator in the nine years following the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve’s 2010 designation. During that time, she initiated the impactful Rivers2Lake Education Program, which has provided extended mentoring in place-based and outdoor education for over eighty teachers in partnership with regional schools, the Great Lakes Aquarium, Fond du Lac Resource Management and many others. In 2017, she led the development of the Lake Superior Estuarium exhibit hall and the Confluence Room meeting space on Barker’s Island in Superior. She holds a bachelor of science in Natural Resource Management from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point and a master of education from the University of Minnesota Duluth and has provided leadership in conservation, natural resource management and environmental education since 1998. Deanna was the winner of the 2014 Lake Superior Stewardship award for the development of the Rivers2Lake program and has earned nearly $1.7 million in grant funding to support the community and the Reserve. She deeply values the vast importance of the St. Louis River Estuary at the Great Lakes headwaters and spends her free time paddling and exploring these remarkable waterways.
