05-15-1995 Planning Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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M ^ « • 4 ^ £ ADDENDUM To:Citv of Orono From:Freshwater Foundation Subject:APPLICATION FOR A "CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT FOR THE GRAY FRESHWATER BIOLOGICAL INSTITUTE Brief History of the Freshwater Foundation and the Gray Freshwater Biolo^cal Institute Alarmed by the deteriorating water quality outside his doorstep, as well as reports of freshwater problems around the world. Lake Minnetonka resident Richard Gray, along with Hib Hill and Carroll Crawford, mobilized the resources of Minnesota corporations, foundations and citizens to establish the Freshwater Foundation in 1968. The Foundation’s first major undertaking was to establish a premier $4 million research and teaching facility on the lake devoted to the study of freshwater availability and management. At a ceremony on December 9, 1976, two years after its doors were opened, the Gray Freshwater Biological Institute was gifted to the University of Minnesota to operate as a department in the College of Biological Sciences. Since that time, the Freshwater Foundation has supported research at the GFBI and has completed many other programs to encourage the public to understand how to protect and rationally manage freshwater. The Freshwater Foundation scope includes a resourceful combination of educational programs, workshops, seminars, publications, research, and public events. After 20 productive research years, the University of Minnesota has concluded budgetary constraints necessitate shutting down the Gray Freshwater Biological Institute. Even though the College views the Institute as one of its premier laboratory facilities, it is also one of the more expensive. As a result, the University has offered to return the Institute to the Foundation at the end of this academic year. How the Freshwater Foundation will manage the Gray Freshwater Biological Institute Return of the facility to the Foundation offers the opportunity to maintain and expand upon the original objective of the founding of the Institute, to establish and maintain an internationally preeminent center of freshwater research. While budgetary constraints have prevented the University from fully staffing the Institute, the Foundation is free to search elsewhere for scientists in the field who can make use of these excellent research facilities. With the wide range of physical capabilities of the Institute, the Foundation will have the