Our informal “River Talks” for 2015-16 begin in October and will be held monthly through February at the Barker’s Waterfront Grille at Barker’s Island Inn in Superior, Wis., then will move across the estuary to the Vikre Distillery in Duluth, Minn. The series will end for the year in May.

The first River Talk, “Bringing Climate Change Home: Implications for the Twin Ports,” is scheduled for Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at Barker’s Waterfront Grille (Barker’s Island Inn, 300 Marina Dr., Superior, Wis.) Hilarie Sorensen with Minnesota Sea Grant will discuss the effects of climate change on the St. Louis River.

Our David Hart and three co-investigators successfully submitted a proposal to NOAA to conduct a pilot workshop about ecosystem services in the St. Louis River watershed and western Lake Superior region, spanning the border of northwestern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota.

For the first time ever, Wisconsin has lent its expertise to certifying a marina as clean in a neighboring state. Iowa does not have its own Clean Marina Program and turned to the Badger State for some assistance. Now, there’s a Dubuque clean marina.

The 12-minute video, produced by Wisconsin Sea Grant, contains important tips and resources for businesses that deal with water gardens.

President Obama announced in early October that a new National Marine Sanctuary, the first 15 years, is moving forward in Wisconsin. The announcement is based, in large measure, on the shipwreck work Sea Grant and the Wisconsin Historical Society have long collaborated on.

Erica Young set out to show that Lake Michigan Cladophora could be used to bioremediate wastewater effluent. Her research ended up in an unexpected place.

Lake Michigan real-time rip current and wave conditions will be available through a NOAA Coastal Storms Program grant, Sea Grant expertise and other partners.

A website that blends personal stories with scientific information about the St. Louis River Estuary in Minnesota and Wisconsin earned an Outstanding Programming Award from the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network. The award was presented to Sea Grant staff from Minnesota and Wisconsin during the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network Conference in Burlington, Vt.

Fisheries Specialist Titus Seilheimer is working on a conference for coastal leaders to capitalize on past, present and future fisheries as a tourism opportunity.

Although 15 teachers went aboard the R/V Lake Guardian to learn last month, at least one group of them ended up helping the instructors who were there to teach them more about aquatic research, and they aided a Wisconsin Sea Grant project to boot.