Amber Rappl, Maggie Stahley, and Judie Babcock provided an update on the Kinni Corridor Collaborative sponsored work monitoring stream quality and non-game wildlife populations along the Kinnickinnic River.  Amber Rappl and Maggie Stahley are paid interns with the Kinni Corridor Collaborative. The Kinni Corridor Collaborative (KinniCC) is a community-led, non-profit organization working with the city and other stakeholders to implement the Kinnickinnic River Corridor Plan (KRCP).

 

Their work focuses on the River Water Quality monitoring plan adopted and implemented by the joint efforts of Kiap-TU-Wish, UWRF, and KinniCC.  Maggie has connected with other volunteer organizations monitoring non-game wildlife in the Kinni watershed, and she told us about recent birding and pollinator events as examples. The non-game species she monitors include snakes, birds, frog and toads, salamanders, turtles, small mammals, and pollinators.

 

Amber monitors the water quality by measuring pH, temperature, alkalinity, hardness, nitrates (NO3), nitrites (NO2), turbidity, phosphorus and environmental conditions such as fish kill, algal bloom, and pipe/drain outflow.

 

Michelle Farner, Director of Dairy Production at UWRF, spoke to Rotary  about the pilot plant renovation at the university.  Unfortunately, our club's reporting staff were all out of town for the meeting.  The paragraphs below are a summary of an article in the Pierce County Journal, July 26th edition.

 

The dairy pilot plant renovation project is nearing completion after about 10 years since the need was recognized and the planning began.  Farner and Chancellor Gallo both emphasized how the pilot plant will create hands-on learning experiences for students, and they emphasized the positive impact on Wisconsin's dairy industry. In the Journal article, the increased capacity of the new pasteurizer was emphasized.  The previous dairy plant had been decommissioned five years ago because the equipment wasn't functioning as needed.  Replacing key equipment has taken much longer than originally anticipated.

 

READER CHALLENGE - Add your to those below! [I'll put a couple of new ones in each week -- in bold]

 

Lawyers get disbarred and clergy defrocked.  So doesn't it make sense that ballplayers would be debased, politicians devoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, Calvin Klein models debriefed, organ donors delivered, and dry cleaners depressed, decreased and depleted -- and Rotarians detested?