The Great Minnesota Icebreaker

Join us for The Great Minnesota Icebreaker, celebrating ice-out season in the Land of 10,000 Lakes!

About the event
The Great Minnesota Icebreaker is a celebration and networking event to mark the annual ice-out season in Minnesota. We welcome Freshwater members and all champions of water conservation to join us for an evening of camaraderie, food and drink along the banks of Lake Minnetonka, not far from where Freshwater was originally founded.

This year’s event will be held Monday, April 14th, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Back Channel Brewing in Spring Park, Minnesota.

Panel discussion: Lakes, wetlands and water quality
Enjoy an informative discussion as we explore various facets of lake science and management, wetland conservation, shoreline health, invasive species, and sustainability practices. Our guest panelists will be:

Jeff Hanratty – Managing Director of National Sustainability Programs at Ducks Unlimited and partner of Freshwater on the Minnesota One Water Delegation. Jeff works at the intersection of regeneration, conservation and corporate stewardship and is a key connector in aligning DU’s conservation efforts and ecosystem services to corporate sustainability needs. He’s passionate about sustainability, relentlessly promotes that it’s value must be part of business deals and is a conservationist and avid outdoorsman. Jeff raised his family on the shores of Lake Minnetonka and has been a youth mentor in the local community helping create trap shooting teams in area schools. Jeff holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in EHS management from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Steve McComas – Owner of Blue Water Science is a columnist at Outdoor News and occasionally checks in on Joe Soucheray’s Garage Logic podcast as the Lake Detective. Steve has written two books on lake management topics and published over 1,000 journal articles and reports in the last 40 years. He has worked on lakes conducting surveys and lake improvement projects in various parts of the world including every bay in Lake Minnetonka.

Schedule

• 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.  Doors open, social hour
• 7 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  Welcome and panel discussion
• 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.  Networking and wrap-up

Admission
General admission is $20, which includes access to networking happy hour, hors d’oeuvres buffet, and a complimentary drink token. Admission is free for Freshwater members (contact us for details).

Register here