Stutrud to be honored at 2019 Howl at the Moon Gala on April 11
Contact:
Chad Richardson
Communications Director
International Wolf Center
763-560-7374, ext. 225
chad@wolf.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – These days, it seems like a new brewery is opening in Minnesota on a weekly basis. In the mid 1980s, though, there wasn’t a craft beer scene, there were no taprooms and nobody had even heard of a growler.
Despite that, Mark Stutrud wanted to change careers, going from a social worker to a brewer. He wrote the nationwide brewer’s association about his idea and, to his surprise, they discouraged him from launching a brewery. He wouldn’t make it in the business, they said.
Stutrud ignored their advice and, in September 1986, the first kegs rolled off the line at Summit Brewing Co. and into Twin Cities bars. Since then, the Minnesota institution has kept growing. Summit is the state’s second-biggest brewery.
This pioneering spirit and dedication to his craft led to the International Wolf Center to name Stutrud as its 2019 Leader of the Pack Award winner. Stutrud will be given the award and honored at the Howl at the Moon Gala on Thursday, April 11, at Midland Hills Country Club.
“I’m very honored,” Stutrud said. “Absolutely surprised and very honored. The International Wolf Center, I know, is very focused on education. Wolves are an example of how absolutely complex our ecosystems are. When organizations like the International Wolf Center can provide education on the earth and all of its inhabitants, that’s a very important function.”
The Center’s Executive Director, Rob Schultz, said Stutrud was nominated by a member of the gala committee and was quickly endorsed.
“Mark’s brave decision to open a brewery, against the advice of several people, shows he’s a man of firm convictions and a decisive leader,” Schultz said. “Those are traits we love to honor with this award. We’re thrilled he will be the recipient of this award at our upcoming gala.”
Tickets for the gala are available by visiting this link.
Stutrud will be joined at the gala by his wife, Susan, and several members of Summit’s leadership team. For many years, Summit has given back to food banks, art museums, music causes and numerous charitable fundraisers and events.
“A part of our longevity is connected to the fact that we’re very engaged in the Twin Cities community,” said Stutrud. “We’ve been deeply supportive of a number of causes through the years. That also really helps us to be a consistent part of the fabric of the community.
More about the brewery
When Summit opened, Stutrud did so with a wealth of brewing knowledge in his back pocket. He received professional training from brewing legends Charles A. McElevey and Frederick H. Thomasser. He completed the courses of Brewing Theory and Practice and Brewing Microbiology and Microscopy at the Siebel Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois. In July of 1991, Stutrud was awarded the J.E. Siebel Memorial Scholarship and received his Diploma in Brewing Technology from the Siebel Institute. That technical background meant that Stutrud had the necessary tools to produce consistently great beer.
“I think our longevity has to do with the fact that we were technically sound when we introduced Extra Pale Ale and, a few months after that, Great Northern Porter,” he said. “We knew that we had to understand the industry and the different tiers of business within the brewing industry, as well as being very good technically.”
Summit, the first Minnesota brewery built in Minnesota since the repeal of Prohibition, laid the framework for others to follow. And follow they have. There are now approximately 180 breweries operating in Minnesota.
“We were sodbusters,” Stutrud said. “That’s not easy work. You’re turning over that virgin soil and it allows other people behind you to cultivate a little more easy. That’s been a part of our role.”
The International Wolf Center, founded in 1985, is known worldwide as the premier source for wolf information and education. The mission of the Center is to advance the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future. The Center educates through its website, its ambassador wolves, museum exhibits, educational outreach programs, International Wolf magazine, and a beautiful interpretive center in Ely, Minnesota.
Washington state committee backs money for nonlethal wolf control
From The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington:
OLYMPIA – The state could spend nearly $1 million over the next two years on nonlethal ways to keep wolves from killing livestock in northeast Washington.
A proposal with support from ranchers and some wildlife advocates has already passed the House, and received approval from a key Senate committee Tuesday. It would direct the Department of Fish and Wildlife to develop different management plans for wolves in different regions of the state, with more support to control wolves in the part of the state where they are rapidly multiplying.
Click here for the full story.
Washington bill concedes uneven wolf recovery
From the Capital Press:
OLYMPIA — Wolves in northeast Washington could be managed differently than in other parts of the state under a bill endorsed Tuesday by the Senate agriculture committee.
If passed by the Legislature, House Bill 2097 would be an unprecedented acknowledgment by lawmakers that wolves have affected life in one corner of the state, even though statewide recovery has lagged.
Click here for the full story.
Wolf killing outside of Yellowstone impacts tourism operators
From KRTV.com in Great Falls, Montana:
COOKE CITY – Near Yellowstone National Park, residents of a small town where a collared park wolf was shot by a local resident say visitors don’t understand their community.
The road ends in Cooke City during the winter months as the Beartooth and Chief Joseph passes to the east are closed during the snow season. The town of fewer than 200 people just outside the remote northeastern corner of Yellowstone National Park depends on snowmobilers and a few winter wildlife watchers to keep its winter economy going.
Click here for the full story.
There was actually a study to determine if red wolves are wolves. The answer could have doomed them.
From the Washington Post:
Over the federal government’s 30-year effort to revive endangered red wolves in North Carolina, there have been many attempts by opponents to get rid of them. But to argue that the wolves engaged in so much sex with coyotes that the two species somehow became one? That was a novel approach.
Click here for the full story.
Report: Mexican gray wolf is a subspecies, keeps endangered status
From CronkiteNews in Arizona:
WASHINGTON – The endangered Mexican gray wolf is still endangered – for now.
The National Academy of Sciences said Thursday that a six-month study determined the Mexican gray wolf is a separate subspecies from other gray wolves, which recently lost their endangered species status.
Click here for the full story.
State Of Idaho Funds Controversial Wolf Bounty Program
From Boise State Public Radio in Idaho:
If you kill a wolf in Idaho, your effort might be worth $1,000.
A nonprofit in North Idaho covers costs for hunters and trappers who successfully harvest wolves. The group, called the Foundation for Wildlife Management pays up to $1,000 per wolf harvest.
Click here for the full story.
New study reveals the origin of Sweden’s wolves
From The Local.SE in Sweden:
Researchers at Uppsala University used new methods to investigate the origin of Sweden’s wolf population.
Although Scandinavian wolves are thought to have more or less died out during the 1960s, the animal made a sudden comeback in the Värmland region two decades later.
Click here for the full story.
Isle Royale’s new black wolf moves away from others, GPS tracker shows why
From MLive.com:
ISLE ROYALE, MI – Early reports show Isle Royale’s new wolves are settling in well. The remote island and national park in Lake Superior saw its longtime wolf population of two rise to 15 over the past several months, the result of an effort to bring in more wolves from Canada and Minnesota.
The latest batch of seven wolves arrived last weekend. One black wolf was net-trapped on mainland Ontario, and the remaining six were caught on Canada’s Michipicoten Island Provincial Park, where they had been facing starvation.
Click here for the full story.
Government-funded study says red wolves are distinct species
From the Charlotte Observer:
A panel of top scientists concluded Thursday that the endangered red wolf of the southeastern U.S. is a species unto itself, giving the beleaguered canine a scientific and political boost as its numbers plummet in the wild.
The government-funded study by the National Academy of Sciences also found that the Mexican gray wolf of New Mexico and Arizona is a subspecies, which advocates say should support conservation efforts.
Click here for the full story.
Summit Brewing founder to be honored with Leader of the Pack Award by International Wolf Center
Stutrud to be honored at 2019 Howl at the Moon Gala on April 11
Contact:
Chad Richardson
Communications Director
International Wolf Center
763-560-7374, ext. 225
chad@wolf.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – These days, it seems like a new brewery is opening in Minnesota on a weekly basis. In the mid 1980s, though, there wasn’t a craft beer scene, there were no taprooms and nobody had even heard of a growler.
Despite that, Mark Stutrud wanted to change careers, going from a social worker to a brewer. He wrote the nationwide brewer’s association about his idea and, to his surprise, they discouraged him from launching a brewery. He wouldn’t make it in the business, they said.
Stutrud ignored their advice and, in September 1986, the first kegs rolled off the line at Summit Brewing Co. and into Twin Cities bars. Since then, the Minnesota institution has kept growing. Summit is the state’s second-biggest brewery.
This pioneering spirit and dedication to his craft led to the International Wolf Center to name Stutrud as its 2019 Leader of the Pack Award winner. Stutrud will be given the award and honored at the Howl at the Moon Gala on Thursday, April 11, at Midland Hills Country Club.
“I’m very honored,” Stutrud said. “Absolutely surprised and very honored. The International Wolf Center, I know, is very focused on education. Wolves are an example of how absolutely complex our ecosystems are. When organizations like the International Wolf Center can provide education on the earth and all of its inhabitants, that’s a very important function.”
The Center’s Executive Director, Rob Schultz, said Stutrud was nominated by a member of the gala committee and was quickly endorsed.
“Mark’s brave decision to open a brewery, against the advice of several people, shows he’s a man of firm convictions and a decisive leader,” Schultz said. “Those are traits we love to honor with this award. We’re thrilled he will be the recipient of this award at our upcoming gala.”
Tickets for the gala are available by visiting this link.
Stutrud will be joined at the gala by his wife, Susan, and several members of Summit’s leadership team. For many years, Summit has given back to food banks, art museums, music causes and numerous charitable fundraisers and events.
“A part of our longevity is connected to the fact that we’re very engaged in the Twin Cities community,” said Stutrud. “We’ve been deeply supportive of a number of causes through the years. That also really helps us to be a consistent part of the fabric of the community.
More about the brewery
When Summit opened, Stutrud did so with a wealth of brewing knowledge in his back pocket. He received professional training from brewing legends Charles A. McElevey and Frederick H. Thomasser. He completed the courses of Brewing Theory and Practice and Brewing Microbiology and Microscopy at the Siebel Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois. In July of 1991, Stutrud was awarded the J.E. Siebel Memorial Scholarship and received his Diploma in Brewing Technology from the Siebel Institute. That technical background meant that Stutrud had the necessary tools to produce consistently great beer.
“I think our longevity has to do with the fact that we were technically sound when we introduced Extra Pale Ale and, a few months after that, Great Northern Porter,” he said. “We knew that we had to understand the industry and the different tiers of business within the brewing industry, as well as being very good technically.”
Summit, the first Minnesota brewery built in Minnesota since the repeal of Prohibition, laid the framework for others to follow. And follow they have. There are now approximately 180 breweries operating in Minnesota.
“We were sodbusters,” Stutrud said. “That’s not easy work. You’re turning over that virgin soil and it allows other people behind you to cultivate a little more easy. That’s been a part of our role.”
The International Wolf Center, founded in 1985, is known worldwide as the premier source for wolf information and education. The mission of the Center is to advance the survival of wolf populations by teaching about wolves, their relationship to wildlands and the human role in their future. The Center educates through its website, its ambassador wolves, museum exhibits, educational outreach programs, International Wolf magazine, and a beautiful interpretive center in Ely, Minnesota.