Welcome to another issue of the newsletter. There are a few notes from the January board meeting and this issue covers the January 8 and 15, 2025 meetings.
Mark your calendars
Tom Moore President announced that the April District Conference has been canceled and rescheduled for October 24 -25, 2025 in Duluth. Please make note of the change.
Fletcher Freeman has offered to do the club tax filing for 2024.
New Rotary Foundation Paul Harris Fellows are Kathy Udovich and Cathy Coombe. The club has 19 fellows. Eighteen of our members made donations this year.
Rotary International is still reviewing the Dominican Republic water project.
The movie 'Join or Die' is a documentary that examines the decline of civic engagement in America. Rotary is mentioned in the film. Ely for Ely sponsored a free movie night in January, and the movie is available on Netflix. Ely is fortunate to have a vibrant and active civic community network.
January 8, 2025 Meeting Notes
Lindsay led an open discussion about a few things from our Visioning Session. She presented three questions for feedback. Tom and Lindsay welcome further input from members who were not at the meeting based on the questions below or other feedback you may have for the club. Contact them with your input or questions. Contact information is available in ClubRunner.
Responses will be gathered by Lindsay for further follow up.
Questions:
What would you like to see for different meeting times, days, socials, etc.?
What would you like to see for more volunteer options?
How would you like to see the club help with leadership development?
Lindsay noted she will be sending the email she receives from the Ely Foodshelf that outlines volunteer opportunities to club members. We can volunteer as our schedules allow.
The next meeting will be Kate Severson with Voyageur National Park via Zoom. (Notes below)
January 15, 2025 Announcements:
The members celebrated Lisa Ledel's birthday by singing happy birthday to her at the meeting. Happy Birthday Lisa!
Tracy, outbound Youth exchange student to find out on Friday, the 17th where she will be going. (She found out she will be going to Italy) Exciting news!
The club still welcomes applicants for hosting the inbound Youth Exchange Student. Please let Susan know of any potential interest. Ideally we would like to have more than one all year.
Joe Weise reported that he contacted Ann Oelke at the High School on life skills classes to get the ball rolling for interest.
Tom reported on a club in Ohio that published a book based on the Four Way Test for second and third graders. He ordered the book for the club to consider for students in Ely based on the vision discussion. Stay tuned.
Speaker - Kate Severson - Voyageur's National Park - January 15, 2025
Kate joined the National Park Service as the Program Manager for Interpretation, Education, and Public Affairs at Voyageurs. Prior to this, she spent nearly four years working on Pikes Peak in Colorado as the Ranger Supervisor.
She attended college at Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter, MN, majoring in English and Japanese Studies. After graduation, she moved to Japan and taught English for two years.
Upon returning from Japan, she joined the Conservation Corps, beginning with trail-clearing work in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. She worked AmeriCorps, traveling across the U.S. at Lake Tahoe and Texas.
Kate shared information about Voyageurs National Park and the work her team is doing. They are involved in interpretation, education and partnerships. They are not involved in the law enforcement side of the park operations.
Speaker Highlights:
There are six national parks and what are called units or monuments in Minnesota. This does not include the BWCA which is Forest Service land.
Portage National Monument
North Country National Scenic Trail
St. Croix National Scenic Waterway
Mississippi National River and Recreation Area
Pipestone National Monument
Voyageur's National Park was founded in 1975 and is located on the border of Canada
The park is 218,000 acres with four main lakes, Rainy, Kabetogama, Namakan and Sand Lake
Named after the French-Canadian Voyageur fur traders
Visitation averages 230,000 annually
The best way to see the park is to get on the water.
The park is in the 1866 Treaty area of the Bois Fort Bank of the Anishinaabe oe Ojibwe people which is of historical significance
Draws to the park include:
Rich history of those who traveled, lived and depended on the lakes for livelihood such as the fur trade
Boat tours or canoeing to view the park
Geology - rocks are some of the oldest exposed rocks on the planet
Wildlife
Dark skies
Book lodging at Kettle Falls
Over 300 campsites
The park offers summer programming to learn more about the park, the cosmos, northern lights, and visitors see wildlife on boat tours
Kate recommends the book, "Fur Trade Nation" to learn more about the area and Ojibwe knowledge
There are stewardship conservation programs such as removing invasive cattails
Outdoor education programs for children to learn about fishing and wildlife
February 10 - 17th Stargazing week that also has some livestream events available on the website
In the process of developing winter programs in March
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