GSS Assists with Wetland Training for Tribal Staff

In July, GSS Analysts Elise Rosengren and Kathy Allen assisted the Region 5 Tribal Wetland Working Group (TWWG) with one-day wetland plant identification training sessions for tribal staff in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. The northern Minnesota session took place on the Fond du Lac Reservation near Cloquet, while the Wisconsin session was on the Lac du Flambeau Reservation near Minocqua. The trainings were planned through a partnership between the TWWG, the National Association of Wetland Managers (NAWM), and Saint Mary’s University, with funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Staff from 10 different tribes attended the two sessions combined. The trainings were led by botanists and wetland scientists from the Minnesota and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

The Region 5 TWWG is a tribally-led collaborative that includes Tribal wetland staff from across EPA Region 5 (including Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Indiana). The mission of the group is to facilitate collaboration and networking among Region 5 tribes to build tribal program capacity and staff expertise related to wetland management, monitoring, restoration, and conservation. The TWWG hopes to grow as a venue for information sharing and knowledge transfer, and to provide even more training opportunities for its members!