The Foundation presented Kat Rühland, Kevin Peterson and Gail Faveri each with the Kallemeyn Award, recognizing their outstanding professional achievements and contributions to research and resource management in the Rainy-Lake of the Woods basin.
For the first time, the selection committee decided to make more than one award this year, recognizing excellence in different aspects of the Kallemeyn Award criteria. The committee decided that a “shoot out” like the end of the Canada-USA Women’s Hockey Olympic Goal medal game was not the way to settle a tie!
The 2018 Kallemeyn Award recognized:
- Kat Rühland, of Queens’s University, for over a decade of scientific excellence and collaboration on studies that have significantly advanced our understating of how recent warming has shaped the type of algae blooms that plague Lake of the Woods. Kat has also had an important role as an academic supervisor and mentor of the next generation of graduate student scientists working on Lake of the Woods.
- Kevin Peterson, of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, for excellence in managing and restoring the fish and fisheries of some of the major lakes in our watershed, including Rainy Lake, Namakan Lake and Kabetogama Lake to name just a few. Kevin was also recognized for his leadership in major habitat restoration projects, key roles in fostering inter-agency collaboration and coordination between Minnesota, Ontario, the U.S. National Parks Service and the IJC and for his effectiveness in outreach and engagement with the public in natural resource management.
- Gail Faveri for her outstanding contributions as an engineer to the water management of the Rainy-Namakan Lakes reservoir system and Lake of the Woods. The selection committed noted among other things, her efforts during the 2014 flood, to meet with affected stakeholders and to incorporate their concerns in decision making to balance extreme conditions and conflicting values across the upstream and downstream waters in the watershed.
With the Kallemeyn Award, the Foundation and the international research community at the Forum thank Kat, Kevin and Gail for their outstanding professional contributions and efforts to foster collaborative and cooperative approaches that truly carry forward the Kallemeyn "legacy" and which are contributing immensely to our ability to protect and restore the water quality and natural resources of the Rainy-Lake of the Woods watershed.
A resounding congratulations and thanks from all of us to Kat, Kevin and Gail! More information on the Kallemeyn Award is at the Foundation’s website: www.lowwsf.com/kallemeyn-award.