Past Emails

From Megan Weber (mmweber@umn.edu)

Hello 2025 Starry Trek Local Coordinators!

Thank you for offering to host a local training site for Starry Trek on August 9th this year!  We're working on getting registration set up this week and should have that link for you soon.  In the meantime, we have a few items for you:

• Please check the location of the pin for your local training site on THIS MAP and confirm we have it placed in the correct location. We'll share this map with participants both to help them find the local training site nearest them AND to help them navigate to you when they register for your site.

• Save these dates:

  • July 16 @ 2pm -- local coordinator webinar (we'll also be recording if you are busy at that time)

  • August 9 - Starry Trek event day!

  • August 10 -- Rain day (if necessary)

• Review the local coordinator handbook/website. Both of these can be found at z.umn.edu/StarryTrekCoordinators -- it has all the resources you need.  We'll be populating with the updated emails for 2025 and updated promotional resources soon as well.

Let us know if you have any questions along the way!  You can expect regular emails from me with updates as well and as registrations come in, I'll be sending out registration updates for your sites as well (they'll get more frequent as we get closer to event date, but if you ever need a between email updated list feel free to just reach out).

From Megan Weber (mmweber@umn.edu)

Hello Local Coordinators!  

Registration for Starry Trek will open up tomorrow (yay!).  The link is currently live for anyone with the link and then at 8:00am tomorrow it becomes publicly searchable on Eventbrite as well.  Here's the registration link:

z.umn.edu/StarryTrekRegistration

We also have some advertising tools to help you out.  See attached for the 2025 flyer, press releases, social media graphic, etc.  There are two versions of both the flyer and the press release. One is just a generic one about the event as a whole, the other has places for you to fill in information about your local training site, so be sure to check the carefully before printing/submitting so that you have the templates filled in if using either of those.  I'll also get these uploaded to the local coordinator site soon. 

If you see anything on the registration page that needs to be corrected, feel free to shoot me an email. Also a reminder that if you haven't yet checked the pin on the local training site map to be sure we have your location in the correct spot, please do that and send me any corrections.

Thank you!

From Megan Weber (mmweber@umn.edu)

Hi there!

I'm just sending over a couple reminders about Starry Trek today.  Here's the list:

1. Coordinator training webinar is TOMORROW at 2pm (it will be recorded if you can't make it). You can join with this link: https://umn.zoom.us/j/95389403232?pwd=TdB6UTbgQSo5kfT8lCWNvEIUARLTSZ.1

2. We're at 83 people registered for Starry Trek so far this year!  Keep up the great work spreading the word and remember we have resources available on the Starry Trek coordinators website. I've copied the current registration list for your site at the end of this message. All folks who register have gotten details about the local training site and your contact info, but we also encourage you to reach out to participants as needed to specific details for your site and/or to virtually introduce yourself.

3. If you would like access to pull registration for your site in between my email updates, Eventbrite now has some features that make it easier for me to add guest viewers into specific events. Please let me know if this is something you'd like access to and I can give you additional details and get you added.

4. We've finished assigning all routes and some of our colleagues are currently helping to turn all those into maps. Watch for an email later this week or early next week with your final route maps for your site.

Please reach out with any additional questions you may have along the way!

From Megan Weber (mmweber@umn.edu)

Hello Starry Trek Coordinators -

Thanks to those of you who were available to join us live for the coordinator training webinar yesterday! The recording of that webinar is now available for you to view if there are any parts you would like to review or for those of you that were not available and need to see the recording. We made some changes to the webinar this year, so even if you've hosted before you might find some new and/or helpful information in the recording. You can access the recording at: https://umn.zoom.us/rec/share/ccrem3rlrhFcWvUpxHIi8_qHrEUTxktq2bmZh51VPMZPPqLQ4X4Z0oQpSTBMxtXQ.KgBT5C1wiabGlJi_

It is also now linked on the Starry Trek Coordinator website on the "Video Resources" tab: z.umn.edu/StarryTrekCoordinators

Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have.

Best,

From Megan Weber (mmweber@umn.edu)

Hi there and Happy Friday!

Route maps for your location are READY!  I have attached PDF files of each route map as well as a table for your location to show all the data we used to make the route decisions for your site.  Here is what you need to know:

1. Please review each route carefully! Google was being a little grumpy this year with some of the inputs as our admin colleagues helped create the maps for you, so we want to be sure they get a good second set of eyes on them. Please review the following and let us know if there are any corrections that need to be made (see note below about where to send those)

   1. Stops are in correct order

   2. Any known construction/road closures

   3. Routes start at "clean" or "cleanest" stops and end at the "dirtiest"... ie: routes should not go to a lake listed as an infested water before going to an unlisted lake. You should be able to see this play out in the "infested water status" column of the worksheets we sent you too.

   4. Any other issues you may have noticed.

2. We added a cover sheet for each route this year. It has some additional tips for participants to help understand the routes and also lists known invasive species for each water body so that they know if there are any invasive species they don't need to report if they come across them. You can send these cover sheets out with each set of maps for participants.

3. The worksheets have some columns I'd like to explain to you. 

   1. The column labeled " Starry Risk (Muthukrishnan et al.)" has risk scores from this MAISRC research project. The risk goes from a 0-1 (with 1 being the highest risk score). This risk score evaluates risk on ecological conditions only (for example, water quality data). It does not account for boater movement. In general we considered scores over 0.5 to be of high enough risk to try to prioritize.

   2. The column labeled "Starry Risk (AIS Explorer - Overall)" has risk scores from AIS Explorer. These risk scores largely consider boater movement and natural water connections to known infested waters (in this case we pulled data as it relates to starry stonewort). These scores also go from 0-1 where a 1 is a known infestation of starry stonewort. The scores translate to a percentage of introduction of starry stonewort to a new water body over a certain time period (so as an example, a score of 0.25 = 25% chance).

   3. The column labeled "Starry Risk (AIS Explorer - Boaters)" is using this same data set, but is only considering risk as it relates to boater movement, not natural water connections.

   4. The color coding in the three columns described above is all relative to the other data in that column. Therefore, a 0.4 might be orange in one county and green in another county depending on the other risk scores of lakes in that county. Don't weigh the color of the cell too heavily, they are just there to give relative indicators as we make decisions.

On to registration updates! We're up to 127 people registered across the state!  Keep up the great work spreading the word! I've copied the list of folks registered for your site below.  As a reminder there are some recruitment tools like template press releases, flyers, and more that you can download from the coordinator website. You may also consider reaching out to local lake associations, youth groups, environmental clubs, etc to advertise.

On a final note -- I'm headed out on vacation tonight and will be away for the next week. If you have any questions or need to reach out about the routes/maps we sent you, please direct those messages to my colleague, Michelle so we can work on getting any updates or corrections made. Michelle can be reached at isaac162@umn.edu (I'll also have an out of office reply set up with her email address in it). Michelle can also pull registration data for you if you need a registration update between now and then.

Please reach out with any questions you have!  I'll reach out again when I'm back in the office on Monday August 4.  

From Megan Weber (mmweber@umn.edu)

Hello Starry Trek Coordinators-

Time sure flies! Starry Trek is already THIS SATURDAY!  I just got back home from our family vacation yesterday, so I'm still wading through emails sent to me last week, but I wanted to get this email out to you early today so that you have updated participant lists for your location. If you emailed me over the last week and Michelle wasn't able to get you an answer, you're next on my list for the day!  Here are your reminders as we get ready for event day!

1. We are up to 165 people registered across the state! Your location's registration list is copied at the bottom of this email. I will send another update on Wednesday and then after that will be forwarding you individual registrations as they come in.

   • Reminder: The folks who appear on this list are the folks who are guaranteed a free Starry Trek tote bag. If you get late registrations (today and later), they are welcome to participate, but they weren't included in the volunteer tote head count, so please be sure to prioritize the folks you see on the below when handing them out. If anyone on the list cancels or no-shows, please feel free to pass the bags on to late registrants.

2. Equipment ships out today! If you are new to Starry Trek, you'll get a full set of equipment, if you are a returning coordinator we'll refresh anything you have indicated you need when you filled out the local coordinator participation form. We'll use your current rake/clipboard inventory and current registration to determine if we need to send you additional rakes as well. Everything ships out USPS Priority, so it should arrive by Wed/Thurs. You may see an email from an @umn.edu email address or PirateShip with tracking information in your inbox... that's us!

3. Start your printing and packing lists! You might want to start getting your packing list together

   • We have a handy list for you as a guide in the Local Coordinator Handbook (see the "setup at the local training site" section)

   • You can download all the files you need to print and see guidance on how many to print and how to print them on the Files page of the Local Coordinator Website. Let us know if you have any problems!

     • And please... remember to have data sheets completed in PENCIL to prevent ink from running in the event that things get wet

4. Keep your eyes on the weather. For most of the state weather is looking good with maybe some small chances of rain/thunder on Saturday morning for a few sites.  While it's too early to know what it's going to look like now, keep your eyes on your weather app/websites.  If there is some light rain, it's fine to continue on with holding the event, however lightning is an automatic weather delay. Please do not hold an event if there is lightning in the area. We have a built-in backup day on Sunday for this case. It is up to you to make the final weather call for your location and to communicate that with participants registered at your site. We are happy to help with the communication in any way we can should you need to delay your event.

5. I'm here for you on event day! I will be available via phone or text during the event should you have any situations arise where you have any problems or questions. My personal cell phone is (see original email for number) should you need to reach me this weekend.

6. Take some photos if you can! We love pictures!! Volunteers signed a photo release as part of their liability waiver, and we love having new photos to share for this event each year.

7. If your monitoring site is on a public water access, we hope you'll monitor it! For those of you who have local training sites at a public water access, we did not include your location on any of the volunteer monitoring routes in order to spread out the impact more. We hope you'll be able to use the downtime while volunteers are out monitoring to search the lake you are at (and we should have included enough equipment for you to do that). This applies to the following locations:

• • Ely (Shagawa River)

  • Bemidji (Turtle Lake)

  • Akeley (Eleventh Crow Wing)

  • Aitkin (Farm Island Lake North... feel free to head down and do the South access too if you'd like)

  • Ortonville (Big Stone Lake, Lakeside Park Access)

  • Litchfield (Lake Ripley)

  • Waconia (Lake Waconia Regional Park)

  • Prior Lake (Lower Prior Lake - Sand Point)

  • Eagan (Thomas Lake)

From Megan Weber (mmweber@umn.edu)

Hello Coordinators!  Here is your most recent list of participants.  From this point moving forward, I will forward any new registrations to you as they come in rather than sending them out as batched lists like this.  As a reminder, folks can continue to register right up until the event (they just are not guaranteed a free tote bag).  I will include the order date in the list below so that you can see when folks signed up. Anyone with an order date before August 4th is guaranteed a bag.  If you ultimately have any no shows or cancellations, please distribute any extra bags to volunteers who signed up on the 4th or later (and if you still have extras, feel free to save them for next year).

My last email had your final checklist on it, so you may want to reference that as you get ready for the event. If you can't find it on your inbox, I store all previous emails on the Local Coordinator Website.  As always, I'm here to help, please feel free to reach out with any questions or issues you run into leading up to the event.  Your current registration list is copied below. Thank you!!

From Megan Weber (mmweber@umn.edu)

Hello Coordinators!

I just wanted to send out one last message to you before Starry Trek tomorrow. Some of you have had some jumps in registration recently. I've been sending notifications to you as registrations (or in a couple cases, cancellations) appear in my inbox and I'll continue to do that. 

I've been anxiously keeping my eye on the weather for Saturday across the state and am cautiously optimistic about how the forecast has turned for most (if not all) locations. If you do need to make any weather related changes, you should have contact information for all your participants. Let us know as well and we'll do what we can to help communicate it!

If you have any hangups tomorrow or have any urgent questions about the event or anything, the best way to reach me will be on my personal cell phone.

Thanks for making this event happen!  I'll be in touch with you all again on Monday!

Best,