Walter Mondale to Lead Conversation about the Future of the St. Croix River

Via Friends of Washington County:

The Honorable Walter Mondale

Some things have changed on the Wild & Scenic St. Croix River since it received its official designation by the federal government in 1968. Is there a new vision for the St. Croix River? Do we have the legal protections, the resources and the political will to protect it in the 21st century? These and other questions will be addressed at a special conversation about the future of the Wild & Scenic St. Croix River at 7 p.m. on May 21 at the Water Street Inn in downtown Stillwater.

The Honorable Walter F. Mondale, co-sponsor of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act as a U.S. Senator in 1965, is the evening’s featured speaker. Also participating are representatives of the National Park Service, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Legislature. They are:

• Christopher Stein, Superintendent, St. Croix National Scenic Riverway, National Park Service
• Keith Parker, Director, Central Region, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
• Sen. Karin Housley, District 39, representing Marine on St. Croix, May Township, Scandia, and all of Stillwater
• Sen. Katie Sieben, District 54, Assistant Majority Leader, representing Afton and Denmark Township
• Mayor Ted Kozlowski, Stillwater, MN, who will provide a welcome to the event
• Don Shelby will act as master of ceremonies

The audience will have the opportunity to ask questions of the speakers. The event is open to the public, and there is no charge for admission.

The event is co-sponsored by the Friends of Washington County, the Friends of the St. Croix Boom Site and the St. Croix River Association.

For more information, visit www.friendsofwashingtoncounty.com.

Mondale was recently interviewed by Mary Divine of the Pioneer Press:

“I always say, ‘What would you want most for your grandchildren? What would be the greatest gift you could give them? Another bridge? Another dock? Or something that God left for us that is magnificent and beautiful and not able to be experienced in any other way?’ I come down hard on the latter.”

He also says “it wasn’t a big struggle” to pass the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act in 1968, he doesn’t want to dwell on the exemption signed by President Obama that exempted the new Stillwater bridge from the Act, and that he calls his boat “the African queen, the oldest pontoon in Western society.” Read the interview here.

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