On October 21 and 22, Board of Regents Chair Janie Mayeron and Regents Mike Kenyanya, James Farnsworth, and Tadd Johnson visited several University of Minnesota Research and Outreach Centers in northeast Minnesota to get a better sense of the U of M’s presence and programming in the region.
At the Cloquet Forestry Center (CFC) near Cloquet, the Regents heard once again from Kyle Gill, Keri Cavitt, and several other regional educators about different initiatives in the region. The Regents then transitioned into a facilities and forest tour, where Gill focused on the amenities available for the six U of M courses taught at the CFC, the recent prescribed burn work in the Camp 8 Unit, and the Continuous Forest Inventory project which gathers long-term data on forest health to better understand changes in forest ecosystems. The Regents also met with Karen Diver, the Senior Advisor to the President for Native American Affairs to learn more about the U of M’s efforts to return a majority of the acres on which CFC resides to the Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe (FDL).
At the Hubachek Wilderness Research Center (HWRC) near Ely, the Regents heard from Kyle Gill, the Director of Operations and Forest Stewardship at the HWRC and CFC. Taking them through a tour of the buildings and grounds, Gill highlighted the important teaching and research opportunities at the HWRC, such as the U of M course Parks and Protected Area Management and the B4WarmED project which is an internationally recognized experiment to understand the impacts of climate change on forests. HWRC also serves as a launching point for Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness research.
At the North Central Research and Outreach Center (NCROC) in Grand Rapids, the Regents spoke with Dan Braaten, the Director of Operations, and several other regional leaders from partnership organizations. Keri Cavitt, Northeast Extension Regional Director gave an overview of Extension’s activities in the region and Jennifer Behm, Statewide Youth & Family Programs Coordinator for the Bell Museum, gave an overview of the Bell Summer Camp program that has been so successful at NCROC, the Bell Museum has decided to host similar camps at other ROCs across the state. The Regents also toured NCROC’s land and facilities which include a USDA Hardiness Zone 3b/4a horticultural testing site and Minnesota’s oldest red pine research plantation. The tour ended with a discussion about the beef research completed at NCROC, unique amongst the ROCs in the state.
In addition to the ROC tours, the Regents also visited the Deep Winter Greenhouse near Finland, which was developed by U of M Extension in a Regional Sustainable Development Partnership with the Organic Consumers Association, and met with UMN-Duluth Chancellor Charlies Nies while in the area.
Staff at the ROCs and regional leaders provided the Regents with a high-level overview of the varied and numerous activities that take place in northeastern Minnesota. These initiatives support rural economies through applied research and education, rural health through outreach and program support, and rural youth development through educational and support programs. The University of Minnesota is an involved partner in these communities, as demonstrated by the work completed at these sites across the area.
