St. Louis River Alliance Director Eilers Announces Run for County Commissioner

Kris Eilers spent 12 years turning the St. Louis River from a pollution site she remembered from childhood into what she now calls "a place of hope and rebirth." On March 9, she announced she wants to bring that same fight to the St. Louis County Board.

Eilers, executive director of the St. Louis River Alliance, filed as a candidate for County Commissioner in District 1, challenging incumbent Annie Harala, who is seeking a second term. Eilers will seek the DFL endorsement.

Her campaign platform centers on three pledges: banning non-disclosure agreements in county government, combating corporate influence, and protecting water resources. She cited federal policy rollbacks as the immediate catalyst for her decision to run.

"I'm running because this is a critical time for local government. Federal actions are rolling back protections for people natural resources and democracy. It is essential that we have local elected leaders who advocate for strong environmental protections, fight against corporate influence and fight for increased transparency in government with authentic community input," Eilers said.

Before leading the Alliance, Eilers visited the Duluth-Superior area as a child and watched the river's pollution firsthand. "I saw the pollution happening. And it put something in my heart back then," she said. She moved to Duluth in 2010 and, as she describes it, found herself at the center of the river's restoration. "I still kind of pinch myself sometimes that something that was instilled in me when I was a kid is what I'm getting to do now."

During her tenure at the Alliance, Eilers contributed to what has been described as the largest environmental cleanup on the St. Louis River and has worked with state agencies on both sides of the river on the federally designated Area of Concern. The Alliance also manages the St. Louis River Estuary National Water Trail, a non-linear series of loops for paddlers of varying skill levels, designed with the city of Duluth and more than 50 partners. The National Park Service submitted the trail application in 2017; the Secretary of the Interior signed the designation in 2020. A free printed map of the trail is available outside the Alliance's office in the DeWitt-Seitz Building in Duluth.

Eilers has described the estuary as "the largest coastal wetland ecosystem on Lake Superior and the most significant source of biologic productivity for the western half of the lake," a distinction she argues makes water protection at the county level inseparable from the region's economic and ecological future. "We believe that it's really important for us to help try to connect people back to the river so that they can reestablish or build a relationship with the river," she said. "That's how people learn to take care of it."

That philosophy, rooted in 12 years of nonprofit management and partnership-building across the Twin Ports, now underpins her argument for a seat on the county board. The incumbent, Harala, had not responded publicly to the announcement as of Monday morning.