We rarely stop to think about the
vastness of the
Mississippi River as a resource to
the United States. We might acknowledge its
role in the development of the U.S. But we
rarely include its economic and ecological
significance today. If we did, we'd do more
to treat it as the monumental resource that
it is.
Just how much of a monumental resource is
it? First, there's its sheer size. The
Mississippi's drainage basin is the third
largest in the world, and it's the largest
river system in North America. Covering over
2,500 miles, it drains 41 percent of the
continental U.S. Thirty one states and two
Canadian provinces are included in the
watershed, accounting for between 1.2 and
1.8 million square miles. Whew! That's big.
Then there's the water supply it provides.
Different studies at different times claim
that between 15 million and 18 million
people rely on the Mississippi River - or
its tributaries - for their water supply.
The EPA states 50 cities rely on the
Mississippi River for daily water supply.
And that doesn't include wildlife.
But if we take wildlife into account, some
sources estimate that possibly 25 percent of
all fish species in North America are part
of the Mississippi River system. Forty
percent of our nation's migratory waterfowl
use the river corridor during Spring and
Fall. Sixty percent of all North American
birds use the Mississippi as their migratory
flyway. The upper Mississippi River area
hosts 50 mammal species. (This probably is
conservative.) And at least 145 amphibians
and reptile species peruse the area as well.
Then we come to the Mississippi's role as an
economic resource. This isn't documented on
a system-wide basis so it's difficult to
measure. Collecting this data system wide is
another necessary step to creating
whole-River approaches to the Mississippi.
For now, here's some of what we know.
Take tourism. Countless River communities
use their heritage and location to attract
tourists and bring additional revenue to
their towns. The
Mississippi
River Parkway Commission is
dedicated to tourism on all river segments
and is facilitating federal grants for local
communities. Highways and bike trails
promote access.
 Then
there's barge transportation. Total tonnage
on the River is collected only in segments,
but for now let's just say that in 2004
sixty percent of all grain exported from the
U.S. was shipped via the Mississippi River
through the port of New Orleans and South
Louisiana. This doesn't include the
petroleum and petroleum products, iron and
steel, paper and wood, coffee, coal and
chemicals that are shipped via the
Mississippi and its ports.
Fishing and seafood. Again, data is
dispersed but we know that Louisiana's $2.5
billion seafood industry is threatened by
hypoxia - the result of explosive algae
growth from upstream fertilizer in what is
the country's highest producing agricultural
region.
And while hydropower from the Mississippi
pioneered the lighting of numerous American
cities in their early years, the development
of improved hydro electric turbines is
providing new opportunities for the
Mississippi to return to producing
electricity in renewable and more
ecologically sound ways.
So what are we doing to protect and enhance
such a monumental resource as the
Mississippi River? The anomaly is that the
Mississippi River's vastness is both its
source of significance and the reason for
its disparate treatment. That may be coming
to an end. The
Midwest
Natural Resources Group has put
forward a recognition document signed by
representatives of many organizations - from
the Army Corps of Engineers to the Bureau of
Indian Affairs and from Homeland Security to
the Fish and Wildlife Service - calling for
an integrated vision for natural resource
sustainability and a holistic approach to
America's Waterway - the Mississippi.
That's a start. But a holistic approach
needs the input and involvement of River
residents as well as judicatory bodies.
There are ways to tap this public dimension
-- like our own
National Dialogue for the Future of
America's Waterway - that are based
on a deliberative, community-of-interest
model. It will take such efforts - and
probably more - to come up with the kind of
approach worthy of the Mississippi River -
America's monumental resource.
This Month on the Mississippi River:
Upper
Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Celebrates 50 Years
Founded in 1959 as a "fish lab", the UMESC
has quietly published over a thousand
scientific papers, developed new drug
treatments for fisheries and provided a body
of knowledge to guide the management of one
of the nation's great waterways. Now the
UMESC's mission is to provide the scientific
information needed by resource managers,
decision makers and the public to protect,
enhance and restore ecosystems in the Upper
Mississippi River basin, the Midwest and the
world. They're in a good position to do so.
$6.5 million was included in the stimulus
package to build maintenance and additional
office space for the 65-acre campus, and
they stand to get about $4 million for
research through the Great Lakes Restoration
Initiative.
River Action to Meet for 2nd Annual Upper
Mississippi River Conference
Sept. 23 - 25 will see this conference
taking place in Moline, Ill. Field trips,
workshops and networking will be in order at
the conference that is slated to include
River Action's 25th Anniversary banquet.
Check out
www.riveraction.org/umrc2009/ .
Mississippi River Parkway Commission Annual
Meeting in Red Wing, Minn.
The MRPC meets this month as well, Sept.
24-26, in Red Wing, Minn. - one of the
charming upper Mississippi River towns.
Founded in 1938 by the FDR administration,
the national MRPC is the umbrella
organization that works on behalf of
multi-state organizations to collectively
preserve, promote and enhance the scenic,
historic and recreational resources of the
Mississippi River. One of their programs:
The Great River Road. |
