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This is the latest communication from a new group of individuals that is interested in the future health of the Kinnickinnic River.
 
Greetings and a big “thanks” to those of you who were able to join us at our meeting on March 4 in the River Falls Library.  We had 22 people attend, and are very encouraged by the turn-out and the constructive conversation that ensued.
If you know of others who are interested in this issue, please forward this email to them and ask them to contact us at:  friendsofthekinni@gmail.com .   We are monitoring this email address and will acknowledge their interest, adding them to our contact list.

The result of our first meeting was a consensus that we have a two-fold mission:

  1. Stop the renewal of the license for the River Falls hydroelectric facility.
  2. Achieve eventual removal of our two dams on the Kinnickinnic River.

There are two important upcoming meetings:

  1. March 17, 2014 at 6:30 p.m., the Utility Advisory Board will be meeting at the City Council Chambers of City Hall; and
  2. March 24, 2014 beginning with a site visit at 3:30 p.m. and a tour at 4:00 p.m. (River Falls Power Plant on Winter Street), and then a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the Training Room of City Hall (222 Lewis St, River Falls 54022).

It is very important that we have large numbers in attendance for both meetings, so please do what you can to attend and encourage others to do the same. You don’t need to speak at the meeting, just having a strong turnout is our goal. If each of us who were at the Library meeting can bring 2 other people with us, we can have a significant impact.

We have had several helpful conversations with Denny Caneff, Executive Director of the River Alliance of Wisconsin. That organization is solidly in support of our efforts.  The bottom line of Denny’s input:  a big turnout for the March 24th meeting will help our cause.  Let’s make that our priority.
At our meeting on March 4 we created an Action Team:  Bob Diesch, Garry Horvath, Kent Johnson, Peter Dahm, Rob Chambers, Hal Watson, and Keith Rodli.  We want as much expertise as possible on this team, so if you know of others who are experienced with any aspect of dam re-licensing or dam removal, please let us know.  Feel free to reply to this email.
The action team will meet soon and report back to you regarding focus and strategy.  In the meantime we are putting together a website with information to help you have conversations about this issue with your friends and neighbors:  http://www.friendsofthekinni.org
We look forward to working with you towards the goal of a healthy, free flowing river,

Yours,

Keith Rodli
Peter Dahm
Rob Chambers
Hal Watson

P.S.  You are receiving this note because one of us (listed above) knows you and we think you might interested in this issue. If you’d like to be removed from our email list, please just reply with “No Thanks” in the subject line and you won’t hear from us again. 🙂