Join us for a BookClub co-hosted by the Glacial Lakes Conservancy and Kohler!
The Great Lakes—Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Superior—hold 20 percent of the world’s supply of surface fresh water and provide sustenance, work, and recreation for tens of millions of Americans. But they are under threat as never before, and their problems are spreading across the continent. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.
The center of this discussion will be The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan. It will be led by Samantha McLelland, Program Manager-Water at Kohler Company. Samantha graduated with her bachelor’s in civil engineering, specializing in water resources, from Texas A&M University and received a master’s degree in Sustainable Water Management from Tufts University. She has an engineering background in planning and designing watershed projects and conducting hydraulic and hydrologic analysis for water and climate scenario planning. She has managed WsSH engineering projects in diverse locations such as Haiti, Honduras, and on the Navajo Reservation.
Samantha’s passion for water and commitment to sustainable water solutions on a global scale drive her goal to inspire and support others to embrace and embed sustainable practices, fostering a culture of environmental stewardship within our operations and the communities where we live and work.
Jennifer Rutten, Glacial Lakes Conservancy Executive Director, and Peter Pittner, Board Vice President at Glacial Lakes Conservancy, will be on hand to spark local comments. Natalie Miller, GLC’s Willow Creek Preserve Manager, will join Samantha in relating the concepts discussed to GLC’s Willow Creek Preserve, a tributary to the Sheboygan River, a Wisconsin Great Lakes Area of Concern.
Glacial Lakes Conservancy (GLC) is a non-profit land trust based in Sheboygan with a mission “To permanently preserve and protect land and water resources for future generations”. A land trust is a non-government community-based organization that actively works to permanently conserve land. GLC is one of over 43 types of land trusts in Wisconsin. Established in 1996, they serve five counties: Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Calumet, and Kewaunee, and have permanently saved over 2,200 acres of land from development. GLC owns and manages five preserves and holds 29 conservation easements on private lands. Conservation easements are legal contracts with landowners to permanently protect their property from development.
You will have an opportunity to meet environmental journalist and author Dan Egan at the Glacial Lakes Conservancy’s event, Flowing into Our Future, on September 28, 2024. A conversation with GLC and Dan will highlight the perils of the Great Lakes and also spark questions about water quality and the concerns about phosphorus in our waters. To learn more about the event and purchase tickets, click here.