Sunday July 4^th, 2004

Our schedule for the 4^th of July included meeting the Audubon Ark at the Fort Snelling State Park Interpretive Center to meet with stakeholders. The crew of the Ark put on another open house with an additional Audubon Society instructor on board. In addition to Erin Ida, Bonnie Koop, the Education Director for the Audubon Society Upper Mississippi River Campaign was available to teach people about the Mississippi River and its watershed. Many enthusiastic conservation minded people came to visit with the crew and talk about clean water and other river and watershed management issues. Both Dick and David had excellent conversations with fellow Izaak Walton League member Jerome Wagner from the Breckenridge Chapter. A fish seining demonstration was also put on by Kao Tao of the Fort Snelling Interpretive Center. This demonstration was attended by more than a dozen adults and children who were very enthusiastic about the hands on demonstration. Jon Stravers also collaborated with the Doug Hanning Trio, a local jazz trio consisting of Steve Blons: guitar, Greg Peterson: bass, and Doug Hanning: clarinet, for a rousing performance of several songs about river and conservation issues.

After 10 days on the road, Dick and David were finally able to head home for Winona to catch up on sleep and get started compiling and interpreting the results of the Grand Excursion outreach effort.