Ely Climate Change

Ely Area Emergency Preparedness Meeting      June 9^th  2025      

Hi Folks,

The next meeting of the Ely Climate Group will be on Monday June 9^th at 4pm at the Ely Senior Center. This month we are all thinking about wildfire and smoky air. We have assembled an impressive list of local speakers to tell us about how we should prepare for emergencies should they occur in our area. This is related to climate change! The 10 hottest years on record have all occurred during the last 10 years. The hottest was 2024, the second hottest was 2023. What are your predictions for 2025? Of course these are global averages and this does not mean that Minnesota will have an especially hot summer. But we should be paying attention, the trend is clear.  We need to become a more resilient community.

As usual this meeting will be in person and by zoom. Here is the zoom link:

Topic: Ely Area Emergency Prep

Time: Jun 9, 2025 04:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84762869113?pwd=lmM3qmiGIXFjwh26Oa0q9FE3tCF444.1

Meeting ID: 847 6286 9113

Passcode: 102467

Our speakers are:

Aaron Kania                       USFS Ranger Kawishiwi District

Brad Roy                             Ely Emergency Management Director and Police Sergeant

Gloria Erickson                 Firewise

Mike Ostlund                     Eagles Nest Director of Emergency Management

There will be a lot of useful information on preparations we can and should all make to be ready, just in case. We will cover the systems that have been put in place by the USFS, the City of Ely, and St Louis Co to help us stay safe. Many of us are familiar with the advice and help including community grants from Firewise. In addition to handouts at the meeting we plan to post materials to our website elyminnesota.com/elyclimate and to our “Ely Climate Group” YouTube channel.

All are welcome, bring your questions.

Barb

 

Useful links:

Air Quality (wildfire smoke):

How bad is the smoke, where is it coming from? What can I do about it?

Search for “airnow.gov”   https://fire.airnow.gov/  skip “geolocate”

This is a map of color coded readings from air quality monitors and covers USA and Canada. It shows fire incidents and fire perimeters. There is a data point from Ely (Treehouse at Chapman and Central). Product of EPA, USFS, Airnow, Purple Air and others. See also map.purpleair.com

More resources at https://www.wildlandfiresmoke.net/ In particular see the flyer “Are You Smoke Ready” with instructions for a DIY indoor air filter.

Information Specific to Ely:

Search for “Ely MN Emergency” to find Ely’s site https://www.ely.mn.us/emergency

Create an account in Northland Alert “Get notified about emergencies and other important community news by signing up for our regional emergency alert program”

Within Ely know your evacuation zone (A through G). Outside of Ely see the St Louis Co info.

Ely’s website also links to the St Louis Co site, the Red Cross, the National Fire Protection Association and Firewise. Sgt Bradley Roy is Ely’s Emergency Manager.

Information from St Louis County:

Search for “St Louis Co Emergency Services Hub”

https://sheriff-slcgis.hub.arcgis.com/

On their home page, at the top, click on “wildfire” for the evacuation map and READY/SET/GO information. This gives fire locations and perimeters. If you click “returning to your property after a fire” you arrive at this page https://www.stlouiscountymn.gov/residents/emergencies/2025-spring-wildfires  This site includes info on planning, making a “go bag” and more.

For Lake County Search for “Lake county MN wildfire”. Their webpage closely resembles the St L Co page.

US Forest Service

Search for “Ely Forest Service” or similar to get to the Kawishiwi Ranger District page. Look at the “Alerts and Fire Danger Status” for local info, and “inciweb” pages. Then scroll down to get to “Fire Mitigation and Prevention” https://www.fs.usda.gov/r09/superior/fire/prevention Sections on Planning and Funding, Hazardous Fuels Reduction, Presscribed Fire, Good Forest Management, and an excellent page on Wildfire Crisis Strategy including this 9 page document https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/fs_media/fs_document/WCS-making-difference.pdf

Firewise

The Minnesota DNR Firewise program is funded by Federal funding, https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/firewise/index.html . The objective is to work with homeowners and communities to be more wildfire resilient, specifically focusing on the 0 – 100 feet around structures and the structures themselves.  Gloria Erickson is the contracted St. Louis County Firewise Coordinator and lives in the Ely area. The contracted St. Louis County Firewise position is under the St. Louis County Sheriff’s office under Emergency Management. This position is partially funded by the Secure Rural Schools Act Title III. The amount allocated per year varies and is determined by the Board of County Commissioners.  Additional funding is variable depending on Federal grant funded awards applied for by the County.

Firewise best practices is one tool private property landowners can do to help their properties be more wildfire resilient. It also increases the safety and efficiency of firefighters and emergency responders in a wildfire event.

A Fire Adapted Community involves many entities that work together to identify the wildfire risk and works collectively on actionable steps to reduce the risk of loss in the event of a wildfire. This FEMA website describes the basic steps in this process: https://www.usfa.fema.gov/wui/communities/

A Minnesota Arrowhead Fire Adapted Communities website: https://minnesotafac.org is a one stop shop for all wildfire related information in the area.

Eagles Nest Community:

This is a recognized Firewise Community USA with 10 years of planning. Google “Minnpost Eagles Nest” to reach a July 2024 Minnpost article on their project. Here is the link: https://www.minnpost.com/other-nonprofit-media/2024/07/northern-minnesota-ely-community-works-together-to-prepare-for-wildfires/

Wildfire Protection Systems (and others) sell roof top sprinkler systems https://wildfiresprinkler.com/exterior-wildfire-sprinkler-systems-grand-marais/

Ely Fire Department: https://www.ely.mn.us/fire

WELY 1450 AM, 94.5 FM Their AM station will have local news as soon as they resume operation.

Minnesota Incident Command System (MNICS)  https://mnics.org/wpress/header-menu/about-mnics/

The Minnesota Incident Command System (MNICS) is an interagency group of state and federal partners that cooperate to manage wildfire and all risk incidents while developing standard procedures, practices and guidelines to support incidents and resource mobilization.

Superior National Forest Sea Plane Base: (Shagawa Lake) During fire season, which generally runs from April through October in northern Minnesota, the pilots focus on wildland fire support. Prescribed burns undertaken by Forest Service firefighters lower the potential for high-intensity wildland fire by reducing hazardous fuels.

Information on Canadian Fires: You can find statistics, maps and more at the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center https://ciffc.net/

General Info at Tuesday Group:  Visit https://www.neminnesotansforwilderness.org/tuesday-group or YouTube and look for talks by Lee Frehlich “Forest Fire Behaviour and Tree Mortality” also Henny Jungemann on “USFS Beaver Plane Program”

Here are the slides:

empower march 24 2025

Ely Climate Group     EMPOWER Meeting Mar 24^th 2025      RESOURCES

 

To join the email list for upcoming meeting information contact Barb Jones, b2jonesmn@gmail.com

We meet in person and by zoom on the second Tuesday of each month at 4pm in the Ely Field Naturalists Resource Center above the local NAPA store

On YouTube search for “Ely Climate Group” for recordings of past meetings

More information on meetings and a copy of these slides visit https://elyminnesota.com/elyclimate/

For the “Solar for Schools” program visit

https://mn.gov/commerce/energy/industry-government/solar-schools/

For GreenStep information visit

https://greenstep.pca.state.mn.us/

For Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) visit

https://www.cleanenergyresourceteams.org/

For some details on the Inflation Reduction Act visit

https://www.whitehouse.gov/cleanenergy/inflation-reduction-act-guidebook/    OR

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1830

For rebates and incentives to “Go Electric” in your home through the IRA, google “Rewiring America”

For Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate visit https://hpforhc.org/about/

For Citizens’ Climate Lobby https://citizensclimatelobby.org/

For Minnesota’s Climate Action Framework visit

https://climate.state.mn.us/minnesotas-climate-action-framework

For local climate change effects in NE Minnesota visit

https://climate.umn.edu/climate-change-northeast-minnesota

For MN DNR pages on climate visit

https://files.dnr.state.mn.us/natural_resources/climate/change/climatechange-factsheet.pdf

For the Minnesota State Climatology Office visit

https://climateapps.dnr.state.mn.us/index.htm

For NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) climate information visit

https://www.climate.gov/

For a record of the CO₂ in the atmosphere visit

https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/mlo.html

For FEMAs risk index by county for the USA visit

https://hazards.fema.gov/nri/map

 

February 5^th 2025

 

Hi Folks,

The next meeting of the Ely Climate Group will be on Tuesday February 11^th at 4pm at the Ely Field Naturalists Resource Center above the NAPA store.  As usual this meeting will be in person and by zoom.

This month we are joined by Anna Farro Henderson. Anna is a geologist, climate policy expert, author, artist and mother. Her recent book “Core Samples – A Climate Scientist’s Experiments in Politics and Motherhood” is a collection of personal essays exploring the intersection of science, politics, and society. Through her experiences, she offers a unique perspective on how science is conducted, debated, and envisioned both locally and nationally. Her writing reflects on the human endeavor to harmonize health, family, creativity, and career aspirations within the context of scientific inquiry.

Anna has worked as an advisor to Mark Dayton and Al Franken. She is a fellow at the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, teaches at the Loft Literary Center, and works in climate advocacy.

She does more than write, see her free zines here: https://annafarrohenderson.com/science-art/

Here is the zoom link:

Topic: Ely Climate Group with Anna Farro Henderson

Time: Feb 11, 2025 04:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85484193607?pwd=tpk6rKuONnHQEUGHEoZp8cq79ajWPV.1

Meeting ID: 854 8419 3607

Passcode: 172555

 

For those of you who may have missed the January meeting with Hudson Kingston on Solar Energy, the recording is now available on YouTube. Either go to YouTube and search for “Ely Climate Group” or use this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJGgaehfohU&t=1778s

 

December 6^th 2024

Hi Folks,

The next meeting of the Ely Climate Group will be on Tuesday December 10^th at 4pm at the Ely Field Naturalists Resource Center above the NAPA store.  As usual this meeting will be in person and by zoom. We apologize for the cancellation of last month’s meeting, emergencies happen, let’s hope they are rare.

We still plan TWO meetings on solar energy for the home. December’s meeting will feature Rickey Sipila who runs “Sisu Solar” a local solar energy installer. This will be followed in January by a discussion led by Hudson Kingston who has solar on his home and is in the process of installing more. This series will cover costs and savings, timescales, estimates, batteries or grid connected, and other topics. Here is the December zoom link:

Topic: Climate Meeting on SOLAR

Time: Dec 10, 2024 04:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87408295867?pwd=6Nb0ChvxJS2lSan3wvsVMdQHuFUx0l.1

Meeting ID: 874 0829 5867

Passcode: 994778

If you have solar on your home already you are welcome to report on your personal experience. Are you pleased? Did it work the way you planned? What problems or frustrations do you have? What do you wish you had done differently?

If you are eager to get started there are some excellent resources available on the CERTs (Clean Energy Resource Teams) website. This is a good place to start: https://www.cleanenergyresourceteams.org/simple-steps-solar .

Another comprehensive CERTs video “How to Speak Solar” is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llw_SyCti9A&t=827s

For a particular address you can get an estimate of the suitability of the site here: https://www.cleanenergyresourceteams.org/assess-site-solar-suitability  But also watch how much sun/shade your site gets, especially in the summer.

Finally we have a recording posted from October’s program on electric vehicles. You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuSTty3BwgU&t=297s

Hoping to see you on Tuesday December 10^th

Barb

4pm June 11 2024 Climate Meeting at Ely Field Naturalists Resource Center

 This is a summary of the ideas presented. We had a lot of interactive discussion making it hard to attribute ideas to individuals except for a couple of instances.

Intro from Barb: It’s nice to see everybody here. The May meetings went well, congratulations everybody.

Present by zoom: Doug Lande, Max Dann, Jodi Chaffin, Anne Stewart Uehling. Present in person: Celia Domich, Mary Louise Eisenhower, Angela Campbell, Frederica Musgrave, Cathy Vanderboom, Brian Dahlin, Catie Clark, Elton Brown, Andrea Pike, Betsy Flaten, John Flaten, Kess Ebbs, Bill Tefft, Abby Dare, Hudson Kingston, Barb Jones.

On the table there are print copies of materials you may find of interest:

• There are 3 items from Grand Marais, their Community Vision Plan, Climate Action Plan and Appendices with lots of technical detail.
• We also have the Morris strategic plan that they put together in 2018. It is useful to know what items they thought were important early in their work.
• There are 2 printouts from Climate Generation who generate first class resources for teaching climate issues in K-12 schools. One copy is “Becoming a Climate Educator” and is aimed at teachers who don’t think of themselves as climate experts and who haven’t taught this material before. “How do you do it? How do you start?” Another is a curriculum for grades K-2 and deals with “Where does our food come from. What’s on my plate that gets grown around here? How do we support sustainable food in our school?” These are 2 of many files of curriculum materials at all grade levels. All the Climate Gen material is available online, you have to register with the site but then it’s all free to download. Climate Gen was created by Will Steger.

We all know how important it is to have students involved. In Grand Marais a couple of student activists petitioned the city council which got their sustainability movement started. This topic generates plans to contact our K-12 Ely school, details below.

At the May 29^th “Open Conversations” meeting we were also tasked to write a paragraph of your ideas of how to proceed. This is Anne’s contribution:

Ask City Council to create an ad hoc committee tied to the City Plan Update group to explore sustainability

It should include:

-faculty/staff/student representative from VCC

-faculty/staff/student from Ely Public school

-city council members

-housing authority member

-township/county level representation

-members from area organizations: CURE, CC group, arts, business

The charge should be look at ways to enhance livability of our community, look at costs and savings of switching city vehicles to electric, encouraging more energy efficient building and reducing waste. They should also research what grants would be available. 

-Involve high school students in planning a sustainability event like the annual EARTH DAY with help of the Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability

Several positive comments were made on Anne’s text including the need to specifically mention the importance of Earth Day types of events, the environment, and plant and animal habitats. Thanks Anne, it is good to have this in writing.

Looking at how the Morris effort was started, they set a couple of big goals and a lot of specific actions. Their big goals were:

1. Produce 80% of the energy consumed in the county by 2030
2. Reduce energy consumption 30% by 2030
3. No land-filling of waste generated within the county by 2025

Here in Ely we cannot produce a lot of energy, that goal is not relevant to us. But we can aim to reduce energy consumption and waste generation. We have not yet decided what our Big Goals will be. We need to do that.

We can also look at the individual projects they attacked in the start back in 2014 and 2015, some of these can give us ideas. This list of what they accomplished was made in 2017:

The first comment on this list was “We remember Troy said don’t use the word climate, but here they are using it.” It seems that we have to be careful about where and when we use the term.

Here are comments on specific items:

#1 is “Rural Climate Dialogue” in 2014. This is a partnership with IATP (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy). Hudson offered to ask their climate person to talk with us. They specialize in adaptation, e.g. dealing with storm water surge and flooding which would be relevant to us in Ely.

#2, Extreme Weather is also relevant. We get derechos and winter storms, ice storms, hail etc. that can cause damage. We need to be resilient to these events as well as to heat, drought and fire.

#3 Community Education showing the video “Chasing Ice”. Troy described how they recruited a city leader to talk before the film about sustainability issues and followed the video with a general discussion. It opens up the discussion to a wider community.

#4 By 2016 Morris has a grant from the MPCA. It likely takes about a year to decide where/how to apply, write the grant and wait for the award.

#5 Also 2016, they started the “Morris Model” website. ECG does not have a website, but we have a blog and a YouTube channel. Should we upgrade?

#6 Morris creates a financing plan and gets another grant. This time from CERTS (Clean Energy Resource Teams – part of UMN extension).

#7 LED lights are installed on Main Street

#8 Already Morris is linked with Saerbeck Germany, that was fast. We know Jessica Hellmann at UM’s Institute on the Environment (IonE) who organizes such collaborations. We need to get something rolling in Ely before taking this route. Any application would have to come from the City of Ely.

#9 in 2017 Morris shows another video “Beyond the Flood” (Note there is later discussion about how/where to show videos in Ely, we can do this too).

#10 Outreach to schools was a natural in Morris as they have a teacher education program. Our group recognized the importance of this and the topic was picked up again later.

Another aspect of the Morris initiative is the huge amount of outreach. They have small meetings with subgroups but their large meetings have 30 or more participants from all parts of the community.

The table shows attendance at a 2018 retreat. It includes the Mayor of Morris, the City Manager, County Commissioners, School Board members, attorneys, UM Morris faculty and staff, Otter Tail Power Company representative, CERTS, GreenCorps member, retired scientists and community members. This is the result of a lot of consultation and team building. Anne spent several years at UMN in Morris, she comments that they have reached out to create committees that had specific goals from the start of the program.

The rest of our meeting went into details of how to make our own effort to reach out to communities in Ely who we hope would be supportive of local sustainability efforts.

The major areas covered were

1. Showing films/videos at the State Theater or at MN College North, Vermilion Campus (Vermilion for short)
2. Finding staff/student collaborators at Vermilion
3. Finding staff/student collaborators in the K-12 school system
4. Exploring the process and structures setup in Grand Marais

Subgroups with connections or particular interest volunteered to take the lead to make contacts and report to the larger group before the next meeting on July 9^th.

Film/Video group: Hudson, Jodi and Frederica (and others?) will explore what videos are inspiring and relevant. They will also advise on how and where to show them, advertise, and recruit local speakers to discuss how Ely is involved.

Working with Vermilion: Kess, Bill and Hudson will contact their friends and colleagues to invite them to participate in our work and find out how we can work together. What student orgs may be relevant?

Finding Collaborators in K-12 schools: Adam and Frederica will contact teachers and staff with offers to help with curriculum materials, summer courses, and strengthening climate education as best we can. Should we also contact Vermilion Country School? Frederica will contact the MN Science Teachers Assoc.

Grand Marais: Angela and Barb (and others?) will contact both the City and Schools in GM. Betsy has a link to the school superintendent. If possible they will visit to talk directly, otherwise zoom. Should we ask a GM representative to come talk with us directly?

Many names of potential contacts and collaborators were mentioned both in the K-12 system and at the college.  Since these people have not yet agreed to work with us (although we hope they will) their names are not copied here.

There are many important items not yet addressed. These include how to involve the hospital and clinic. They are big employers, large energy users and a critical part of the community. Several potential contacts were mentioned but I did not note who (if anyone) volunteered to talk to them.

We should also have outreach to the local camps, guides and outfitters? Many camps offer serious environmental and wilderness training from day trips to advanced technical explorations. Abby suggested this idea. Thank you, we should move on this soon.

We also have an obligation to let our City Manager – Harold Langowski – know what we are planning. As an engineer he appreciates detailed plans and we must work to formulate them. He is one of the most important and influential people with knowledge of the practical aspects of any changes that our group might recommend.

Our group members should consider getting involved with any open positions on city commissions. Some of these slots require Ely residency and some do not. In particular, when there is a rewrite of the City’s long term plan we should contribute.

Doug (Lake County District 2 Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor) suggested that we try to get a Federal Climate Corps intern.  He also reports that the Soil and Water Conservation District (SWDC) are in the process of incorporating climate change wording into their documents. That is good news. Note that SWDC was active helping the Morris effort.

Here are some useful web links:

Google “City of Grand Marais” to get their general website. On the left hand side bar look at the tabs for “Sustainability” and “Community Vision Plan”

https://www.ci.grand-marais.mn.us/

Google “Climate Generation” to reach https://climategen.org/   Go to the “Educators” tab then to “Resource Library” to see some of the variety of their materials. There is a lot on this website, including their summer courses.

Troy’s talk in Ely on May 19^th is on YouTube with 2 versions. On YouTube search for “Ely Climate Group” to find our channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFYEXa0qx5p9Nb25QBXhgbg

Or search for CUREMN to get the CURE version https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=curemn

The Q&A is available in text form at https://elyminnesota.com/elyclimate/ and in video format on the CUREMN YouTube channel.

The City of Ely’s website is here: https://www.ely.mn.us/

Commissions and Boards are under the “Government” tab which includes OPEN positions available to residents and non-residents.

 

The Comprehensive Plan is on the EEDA website (Ely Economic Development Authority”

https://eeda.ely.mn.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ely_Land_Use_Comprehensive_Plan_2016.pdf