2024 Watershed Forum Proceedings Report – Get Your Copy Now!
The Proceedings Report of the 2024 International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum is available for download at the Foundation’s website: lowwsf.com/forum-proceedings. Held March 6-7 in International Falls Minnesota, 142 researchers, resource managers, policy makers, and members of the public put Lake of the Woods and its watershed under the microscope.
The Forum featured a moderated panel discussion on “From Science to Action” and 26 presentations in themes of: watershed governance, ecosystem modeling, contaminants and mining, ecological interactions, nutrient dynamics as drivers of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxin production, nutrient and sediment load tracing, and updates on the major monitoring programs of the MPCA and ECCC.
Fred Desjarlait, spiritual advisor from Miskwaagamiiwi – Zaagaiganing (Red Lake Nation), joined by Métis Senator Karen Cederwall, helped open the Forum, followed by addresses from Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary and Special Advisor on Water to the Prime Minister and by US Consul Marilyn Gayton.
2025 Watershed Forum Proceedings Report – Get Your Copy Now!
The Proceedings Report of the 2025 International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum is available for download at the Foundation’s website: lowwsf.com/forum-proceedings. Held March 12-13 in International Falls Minnesota, 100 researchers, resource managers, policy makers, and members of the public put Lake of the Woods and its watershed under the microscope.
2024 Wilson Stewardship Award – Paul Anderson
Paul Anderson is the 2024 recipient of the Gerry Wilson Stewardship Award. Paul was honored with this international award in recognition of his lifetime of environmental advocacy work on behalf of the Rainy Lake Conservancy, Voyageurs National Park and Voyageurs Conservancy and his service on the Community Advisory Group of the IJC International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Board.
The Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation presented the award to Paul on behalf of the community of scientists, resource managers and water stewards from the United States and Canada at the 2024 International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum in International Falls, Minnesota.
Paul personifies the best of citizen engagement in conservation and protection. A life-long lover of Rainy Lake and the Rainy Lake watershed, Paul has been an active leader and contributor to initiatives to protect the watershed, including participating in oversight of hydropower and mining projects, advocating for emergency preparedness and response planning, reviewing the past two State of the Basin Reports, and advocating for improved land use and development planning.
Congratulations to Paul on this well-deserved recognition of his volunteer contributions to our waters!
The Foundation presents the Wilson Stewardship Award annually to recognize individuals, groups, or projects that are making significant contributions to environmental stewardship in the Rainy-Lake of the Woods watershed. For more information about the Wilson Stewardship Award see: www.lowwsf.com/wilson-award.
2025 Wilson Stewardship Award – Doug Franchot
Doug Franchot was awarded the 2025 Wilson Stewardship Award.
The Wilson Stewardship Award is presented by the Foundation to individuals, groups, or projects that have made significant contributions to environmental stewardship in the Rainy-Lake of the Woods watershed through:
- Education, outreach, civic engagement and participation in stewardship initiatives or program development.
- Projects or programs focused on protection, restoration, preservation or reduction of environmental impact and development of sustainable practices.
2025 Kallemeyn Award – Kayla and Shane Bowe
Shane and Kayla Bowe from the Red Lake Department of Natural Resources were recipients of the 2025 Larry Kallemeyn Award, presented the award on behalf of the community of scientists and resource managers from the United States and Canada working in our watershed. The Kallemeyn Award recognizes outstanding scientific contributions to the watershed.
2026 Kallemeyn Award – Cary Hernandez
Cary Hernandez, a watershed project manager and long-time employee of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, received the 2026 Larry Kallemeyn Award, presented the award on behalf of the community of scientists and resource managers from the United States and Canada working in our watershed.
The Kallemeyn Award recognizes outstanding scientific contributions to the watershed.
For more information on the Kallemeyn Award:www.lowwsf.com/kallemeyn-award
2024 Kallemeyn Award – Caren Binding
Dr. Caren Binding, research scientist in aquatic optics and remote sensing at Environment and Climate Change Canada, is the 2024 recipient of the Larry Kallemeyn Award. The Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation presented the award on behalf of the community of scientists and resource managers from the United States and Canada working in our watershed.
Massive algae bloom covers nearly 70% of Lake of the Woods, September 30, 2023. Panels (left to right) show sentinel satellite image, derived chlorophyll-a, and derived annual Bloom Severity index, Environment and Climate Change Canada (2023). EOLakeWatch 2023 Algal Bloom Report – Lake of the WoodsThe Kallemeyn Award recognizes Dr. Bindings outstanding scientific contributions to the watershed, including leading her team that developed the EOLakeWatch tool that uses satellite imagery to track algae blooms in Lake of the Woods (and other “Great Lakes”) and derives indices of bloom extent, intensity and severity that will likely be foundational to long term monitoring for progress assessment as plans are implemented to cut phosphorus loads to the lake.
A heartfelt thanks and congratulations to Caren from the Foundation and the researchers gathered at the Forum for a well-deserved accolade!
2023 Lake of the Woods Fall Algae Bloom Most Severe Since the Early 2000s
The view from space is compelling and confirms what we have seen firsthand on Lake of the Woods at the end of September. The cyanobacterial bloom (aka blue-green algae) on Lake of the Woods is tracking towards being one of the most severe since 2002.
By late September, a massive bloom extended across 2,800 km2 or 73% of the lake’s surface. The bloom was extremely intense with satellite-derived measures of chlorophyll-a concentrations exceeding 60 µg/L over most of the southern and middle basins of the lake.
IJC Watershed Board Public Meetings Report
The IJC’s International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Board held its annual meetings with the public in Baudette, Minnesota on August 16 and Kenora, Ontario on August 17.
The IJC watershed board presented an update on its activities during the past year and key priorities for the coming year. The board’s Aquatic Ecosystem Health Committee is leading several projects this year, including: focus on international water quality objectives and core monitoring design, studies of erosion at the south shore of Lake of the Woods, and reporting of exceedances of water quality criteria.
The board hosted guest updates from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Environment and Climate Change Canada on these agencies’ work to address the phosphorus loading that feeds the excessive algae blooms on Lake of the Woods.
EOLakeWatch: Satellite Earth Observations for Lake Monitoring – Enhanced version coming soon!
We’ve all seen the compelling satellite pictures of blue green algae blooms covering Lake of the Woods. As part of the Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Lake of the Woods Science Plan (2016-2020), Dr. Caren Binding developed a system to harness these images for near real-time tracking of algae blooms and computation of indices of bloom severity, intensity and extent across the lake. At that time, Dr. Binding launched an online tool, ECCC’s EOLakeWatch, for public access to this information. I highly recommend you check it out!
Coming soon is a “version 2.0” of the EOLakeWatch interactive visualization and data portal for the satellite image processing system. I’ve had an opportunity to view the beta version and am very impressed. It provides ability for the public to display and download maps, charts and data on bloom indices that can be customized to visually show daily values, 14-day averages, and current year blooms compared to the historical values from 2002 and on.