Big River - May 1993

May 1993

the monthly newsletter for people who live, work or play on the Upper Mississippi River

Traveling Bass and Bigger Catfish

By Reggie McLeod

The cellular phone craze has spread to the backwaters. Researcher in Iowa installed tiny radio transmitters into 146 Mississippi River largemouth bass so they could stay in touch.

The six-year study, which included tracking the bugged fish, collected a wealth of information about river bass. One of the more intriguing findings was that largemouth bass can navigate back and forth as far as nine miles from their overwintering spot to their favorite summer hangout, with pinpoint accuracy. However, it troubled researchers to discover that good overwintering sites have become so rare that bass are forced to travel great distances to find them.

"The most important thing is overwintering habitat. We believe for bass in the river that is the limiting factor right now," explained John Pitlo, Jr., fisheries research biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Largemouth bass can navigate back and forth as far as nine miles, with pinpoint accuracy.

Pitlo and his colleagues worked from the DNR office in Bellevue collecting and measuring more than 35,000 largemouth bass in Pools 9 through 13, from the Minnesota border to Clinton, Iowa, from 1985 to 1992. The recently published "An Evaluation of Largemouth Bass Populations in the Upper Mississippi River," which monitored bass at five sites for six years, is probably the most thorough study of bass in the river, to date.

Every species must meet all of its needs to survive food, warmth, a proper site for reproduction, and so on. If

Vol. 1, No. 5

On the Wings of a Tern

By Pamela Eyden

It's the nature of birds to migrate and for some manufactured chemicals to flow through ecosystems. Neither one hesitates at state or national boundaries. That's why laws that ban the use of certain chemicals, but not their manufacture or export, can only be halfway effective in protecting migratory birds and wildlife. These chemicals don't simply wash downstream; they move in a circle. What goes around comes around.

Ray Faber, a biologist at Saint Mary's College in Winona, has seen how chemicals and bans on chemicals affect birds.

He spent several years researching cormorants on Lake Michigan, whose numbers dropped during in the 1960s due to the toxic effects of the pesticide DDT. After DDT was banned in the 1970s, cormorants - along with eagles and ospreys - recovered.

Faber's new research is on black terns - freewheeling flyers with soot colored bodies and long, narrow, tapered wings that span almost a yard. Black terns, he said, arrive in the Upper Mississippi River Valley in April.

Their courtship flight is wonderful to see: The Birder's Handbook describes it as "a spiralling ascent by 2 - 20 birds," followed by a steep downward glide. Male birds attract mates by flying past with fish in their bills. This is called advertising. The female who follows gets the fish.

What's inside . ..

Current Events River Road Phosphorus Lock Traffic River Calendar

4 5 6 7 8

Coming in June

Terns build their nests in the Mississippi backwaters. The nests are loose structures in matted grasses just above the water, and sometimes right at the water level.

Much of Faber's research has taken place at the Trempealeau

•Docks & Boat Registrations

(Bass, continued on page 2)

(Terns, continued on page 3)

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(Bass, from page 1) any of the necessities are unavailable when they are needed, the population cannot survive. The success of a population is limited by the factor or factors in shortest supply.

"Overwintering habitat is the key, and we're losing that rapidly," Pitlo warned.

Overwintering sites must be: sheltered from strong currents; from 20 to 60 acres and average about four feet deep; a little warmer than the main channel; and contain a good supply of dissolved oxygen. Siltation of the backwaters has filled in many sites that used to meet these criteria.

"We found only three overwintering sites in Pool 13, in 18 miles of river," Pitlo said. "We need one of those every three or four miles."

Researchers surgically implanted 0.92-ounce transmitters in bass after they were captured by electrofishing and anesthetized. Because of the size of the transmitter - 2.3 by 0.8 inches - only fish weighing 2.1 pounds or more were used. Transmitter batteries lasted from 275 to 310 days.

Transmitters broadcast on a range of frequencies and pulse rates so that each fish broadcast a different signal.

Researchers used directional antennas and a scanning receiver to search for the fish. When a tagged fish was located they recorded the location, date, time, water depth, water temperature and water clarity.

Pitlo was surprised to find that bass returned to the same submerged stump or weed bed every year from as far as nine miles away. He would like to find out how they navigate, especially traveling downstream, when it would be difficult to follow a scent. "'What are the road maps? What are the clues they use to get from point A to point B?"

Runners and Couch Potatoes Largemouth bass in rivers live a very different lifestyle than lake bass. Pitlo compares river bass to "runners," because they do a lot of traveling and have to struggle against currents. By comparison, lake dwelling bass are "couch potatoes" that just hang out and eat. Consequently, river fish don't live as long or get as fat as their lake dwelling cousins.

An 8-year-old largemouth in the river is old, while a 20-yearold is not unusual in a northern lake.

"We never saw a seven-pound fish in the over 30,000 we handled," he said. "They live fast, love hard and die young."

"They live fast, love hard and die young."

The study included "creel surveys" to document the sizes and number of largemouth bass being caught by anglers, and interviews with 4,800 anglers.

All the bass collected that were nine or more inches long (22,668) were tagged before being released. Posters in bait

May 1993

shops and other publicity asked anglers to return the tags.

The numbers of bass collected by electrofishing varied widely from year to year, however the population in Brown's Lake, in Pool 13, improved dramatically after 3.4 miles of channels were dredged and other improvements made by a habitat rehabilitation project completed in 1989.

Channel Cats Largemouth bass are the second most popular game fish for Iowa anglers; catfish are number one. "An Evaluation of the Effect of a Change in Commercial Harvest Regulations on the Channel Catfish Populations Inhabiting the Upper Mississippi River" was published with the largemouth bass study.

In 1985, Iowa increased the the minimum length for commercially harvested catfish from 13 to 15 inches. Sport fishers could keep any size catfish and still can. Both the commercial harvest and anglers' harvest of catfish were declining. The purpose of increasing the length limit for commercial harvest was to keep more catfish that were old enough to reproduce in the river longer.

"At 13 inches, only 10 percent of the females are mature.

At 15 inches 50 percent of the females are mature," Pitlo explained. "You can have some 16- or 17-inch catfish that are still not sexually mature."

Also, as female catfish get bigger they produce more eggs. A mature female catfish increases her egg production by about 300 percent as she grows from 13 to 15 inches, he said.

The study indicated that pools in southern Iowa are better catfish habitat, probably because the water is more turbid, which helps hide young catfish from predators. It also showed a dramatic increase in the commercial catfish harvest after 1986. The reported annual channel catfish catches in Pools 9 through 19 from 1986 through 1990 were the four highest reported during the last 25 years.

Cautious Conclusions Even though during this study period the largemouth bass population fluctuated and the channel catfish increased, Pitlo advised caution in drawing conclusions. River conditions and weather change dramatically from year to year. The Midwest suffered a bad drought that peaked in 1988, in the midst of the study period. Other unknown population dynamics may also be affecting the river.

Other studies have shown that changes in game laws typically take 10 years before their effects become clear. We know that many species, like lemmings and grouse, go through cyclical populations swings as long as 30 years. The same may hold true for bass and catfish. It may take a lot more work before we know for certain.

"We study something for three or four years and think we have all the answers, but we don't," admitted Pitlo. •

Reggie McLeod is editor of Big River.

May 1993

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3

(Terns, from page 1) National Wildlife Refuge, across the Mississippi and downriver from Winona. Refuge manager Rick Frietsche said, "One of the things unique about Trempealeau is that there is not much fluctuation in water levels in the spring. Water levels here vary not much more than a half foot during breeding season, unlike the river backwaters. That's why the refuge is important for birds like black terns that nest in marshy areas. They also get their food in the river here."

A Turn for the Worse In spite of safe water levels and plentiful food at their nesting grounds, black terns' numbers have diminished by 8 percent per year over a 20 year period, according to Breeding Bird Survey data. Eight percent per year is a steep decline.

Loss of wetland habitat is partly responsible. Agricultural chemicals may be another culprit.

Black terns' numbers have diminished by 8 percent per year over a 20 year period.

"The terns' breeding success is low," Faber said. "Their eggs and their young disappear from the nests, partly because of predation. But we have also seen adult birds leave the nests in the middle of the night, leaving them open for the taking by predators."

This is not normal behavior.

Faber and his colleagues monitored nests during the summers of 1990, 91and92. The first year, they placed temperature-sensitive transmitters shaped like tern eggs in the nests. This allowed them to keep logs of the temperature in the nests. They used spotting scopes and a night vision scope to verify that a drop in temperature meant the adult had left. Then Faber tested the eggs. He found a correspondence between the amount of time the adult birds spent away from the nest and the quantity of the breakdown products of chlordane, a pesticide, in the egg.

"It looks like chlordane may be contributing to this," Faber said.

"Spooky, huh?" he added.

Pesticide Almost Banned Chlordane was first produced in 1947 to protect crops, gardens and homes from cutworms, wireworms, termites and other soil-dwelling insects. It lasts a long time in the environment (15 years), accumulates in the tissues of animals and apparently breaks down into substances even more toxic. It was one of the pesticides Rachel Carson described in her 1962 book, Silent Spring : "Chlordane has all the unpleasant attributes of DDT plus a few that are peculiarly its own."

The Environmental Protection Agency restricted the use

of chlordane to termite control from 1978to1987, and banned it altogether in 1987 because of its "oncogenetic" propertiesit causes big tumors and enhances the ability of carcinogens to cause cancer. Forty-eight other countries have fully or partially banned the use of chlordane, but, as of 1992, it was still being used without severe restriction in Mexico, Nicaragua, Surinam, Argentina and Cuba.

In the winter, black terns fly to wintering grounds along both coasts, from Panama south to Peru on the west coast of South America, to Surinam on the east.

"These birds could be picking up chlordane anywhere Central or South America," said Faber.

"These birds could be picking up chlordane anywhere - Central or South America," said Faber.

But they might also be picking it up closer to home.

Chlordane is made in the U.S. - on the banks of the Mississippi River, in Memphis, Tennessee. The Velsicol Chemical Corporation, original and sole manufacturer of the pesticide, made and exported 1,358,641 pounds of chlordane in 1987 through 1989, according to a Greenpeace study quoting the Journal of Commerce. Velsicol admits discharging waste chemicals into both the air and water treatment plants. For years it also disposed of waste products in unlined dump sites that have become Superfund sites.

Since the early 1980s, elevated levels of chlordane have forced a commercial fishing ban on the Tennessee side of a 36mile stretch of the Mississippi River, as well as warnings against fish consumption on 100 miles of four rivers that flow into the Mississippi near Memphis. A brief glance at a map shows at least three large wildlife refuges downriver from Memphis.

The Pesticide Action Network, an international organization with a regional center in San Francisco, calls this phenomenon the "circle of poison." The term usually describes how banned agricultural chemicals find their way back to the U.S. in imported food products. In this case, the chemicals may be flying back.+

Pamela Eyden is assistant editor of Big River.

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CURRENT EVENTS

By Reggie McLeod and Tony Kolars

Lead Sinkers May Poison Waterfowl The end of the line may soon be at hand for lead fishing weights. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer (1-21-93) loons, trumpeter swans and cranes, are dying of lead poisoning after accidentally swallowing the sinkers or fish that have con- . sumed the weights. Fearing that many waterfowl species are at risk, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Federation of Fly Fishers, the American Loon Fund and the Trumpeter Swan Society want to ban the use of lead sinkers in national parks and refuges where loons and trumpeter swans live and eventually ban them nation wide. Studies done in Michigan and New England confirm that up to 52 percent of loons studied died of lead poisoning. Alternatives to lead sinkers are non-toxic tin and brass sinkers, though they cost 20 to 30 percent more.+

Ecosystem Maps Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has a plan that "could be the best insurance policy against environmental and economic train wrecks." According to a recent article in the River Crossings newsletter, Babbitt's plan would create a new agency, the National Biological Survey, modeled after the U.S. Geological Survey.

By creating comprehensive maps and surveys of entire ecosystems instead of individual species, government agencies will be more sensitive to plants and animals currently in jeopardy or heading for danger. Because Babbitt's plan anticipates potential ecosystem problems, it allows a compromise to be reached between conservation and business interests prior to an entire ecosystem being threatened.

"We need to step back and look at the entire ecosystem and ask, 'Is it possible to intervene before the crisis?"' said Babbitt, who asked Thomas E. Lovejoy, of the Smithsonian Institute, to design the new science agency. It will combine the research functions of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation and National Park Service.+

Rain, Rain, Rain ...

Farmers and shippers on the Missouri River watershed have probably shown a lot of patience with the heavy rains and flooding this spring. Several years of drought lowered reservoirs to the point that different interests were battling over the water. Farmers and boaters wanted it in the reservoirs. The shipping industry was arguing to get enough water into the river to float its towboats.

Reservoirs have increased their store of water by 2.4

May 1993

million acre feet, raising water levels by 2.5 to 3.5 feet this spring. Nevertheless, levels and runoff are still below normal, according to an article in The Waterways Journal (4-19-93).

The April 26 issue of the journal said six locks were closed by high water on the Mississippi. Locks 16,17,18, 20, 21 and 22 were closed. Lock 16 is at Muscatine. Iowa; Lock 22 is below Hannibel, Mo. The last time that many locks were out of commission was the fall of 1986.+

Nest In Peace From mid April to mid July ducks and shorebirds are raising their families. Humans and dogs are not welcome visitors during this vulnerable period.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with the support of other agencies and sporting groups, have posted islands in Pools 7 and 8, between Trempealeau, Wis., and Genoa, Wis. The voluntary program asks people and their dogs to confine visits to the beach areas of designated islands until July 15.+

Recycling Twin Cities Fish Anglers in Pool 2 must release walleye, sauger, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass, but they can now fish for those species year around. The new, experimental regulations are in effect for six years. They apply to the Mississippi River between the Ford Dam and Lock and Dam 2; the Minnesota River to the Mendota Bridge; and Minnehaha Creek up to Minnehaha Falls. Several river bottom lakes, including Crosby Lake, Pickerel Lake and Upper Lake are excluded from the regulations.

Very few fish lived in this stretch of the river 25 years ago; today it supports 19 species of fish. The regulations will protect large fish of those four species while allowing anglers to harvest other popular species.

In the meantime, researchers will collect information in the pools. Public meetings will share the information and seek input before the experiment ends in 1999.+

Bluff Prairies to be Restored An $18,000 grant from the Paul E. Stry Foundation of La Crosse will help the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources restore and care for prairies on Mississippi River bluffs in the La Crosse area, according to an article in the Prairie du Chien Courier Press (3-15-93).

Prairies have to be burned periodically to destroy exotic plant species and woody plants. The DNR will remove trees and burn prairies at nine areas, including Battle Bluff, Brady's Bluff Prairie, Dewey Heights Prairie, Midway Prairie, Morgan Coulee Prairie, Rush Creek and Trenton Bluff Prairie.+

Get to Know Your Mussels Confused about your mussels? The Field Guide to Freshwater Mussels of the Midwest is now available through the Illinois Natural History Survey. Written by Kevin S.

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Cummings and Christine A. Mayer, the guide will help amateurs and professionals identify various mussel species as well as provide information on the biology and economic importance of the mussels.

Many mussels are endangered or have seen a significant population decline in recent years due to over harvesting, water pollution, and competition from zebra mussels. The guide covers 75 native mussels with color photographs, key characteristics of the mussels and the habitats where they are found, and a distribution map for each species. You'll have to shell out $15 to buy the guide from: Distribution Center, Illinois National History Survey, 607 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL 61820; (217) 333-6880.+

5

ORGANIZATIONS Mississippi River Parkway Commission

By Jennifer Pettit

Plans are already well underway for for an international conference: "Sustaining the Ecological Integrity of Large Floodplain Rivers: Application of Ecological Knowledge to River Management," July 12-15, 1994, and a companion workshop "Applying Ecological Integrity to the Management of the Upper Mississippi River System," July 12-15, 1994.

The conference will bring experts from every continent to La Crosse to share information about the ecology and management of large floodplain rivers.

For information contact Dr. Kenneth S. Lubinski, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, EMTC, 575 Lester Ave., Onalaska, WI 54650; (608) 783-7550, ext. 61; fax (608) 783-8058.+

Ever wonder about those round, green and white signs with a pilot's wheel logo posted on roads winding along the Mississippi River? They mark the Great River Road - a system of roads stretching from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River Parkway Commission wants a lot more people to become familiar with that logo.

The commission is made up of commissioners from the 10 states bordering the river. Each governor appoints a commission. Together they form the national commission, a nonprofit, quasi-govermental organization headquartered in St. Paul. Its budget comes from dues paid by state commissions. Each state commission works on its own agenda in cooperation with the other states.

The commissions' agendas include broad concepts, like promoting tourism domestically and internationally and helping communities secure funds to enhance and preserve attractions along the road and the river.

For instance, the Minnesota commission was awarded three grants to put in scenic byways along the Great River Road. It is also working with the Minnesota Department of Transportation to see that the historic Sibley House in Mendota, Minn., is preserved during and after construction on the road adjacent to it, according to John Edman, executive director of the national commission and executive secretary of the Minnesota commission.

The Wisconsin commission is working on an award program and a Great River video and has put ads in 1993 Wisconsin travel books.

Funding is a constant challenge. Tighter state and federal budgets leave less discretionary money for communities. An endorsement from the Parkway Commission can sometimes tip the scales in favor of funding a project.

The Mississippi River National Heritage Corridor Study was launched because of the commission's work in the 1980's.

State commissions include private citizens, elected officials and representatives of government agencies. Funding varies from state to state. The Minnesota commission's budget this year is $32,000.

The Minnesota commission plans a series of five public meetings, starting with a one on June 16 in Red Wing.

For more information, contact the Mississippi River Parkway Commission at (612) 224-9903. +

Tony Kolars is associate editor of Big River.

Jennifer Petit is a freelance journalist wJw lives on Latsch Island.

Dial a Lunker Iowan anglers may want to make a quick phone call before heading for their favorite fishing spot. The "Hotspots" fishing report highlights areas with "excellent," "good" or "fair" fishing.

Inquiring anglers should dial (515) 281-5145, then dial 1 and the appropriate extension: for northeast Iowa, 4-5424; northwest, 4-5425; southeast, 4-5426; and southwest and central, 4-5427. +

Marina Plan Scaled Back The Mdewakanton Sioux tribe has applied to the Army Corps of Engineers to build a 250-slip marina near the tribes Treasure Island Casino, on Prairie Island. The new application, filed in April, replaces one filed in November that requested permission to build a 400-slip marina.

The marina would be built in Sturgeon Lake, a backwater lake in Minnesota, upriver from Red Wing.

The former proposal drew opposition from people and groups concerned that the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers have become overcrowded with boat traffic. The new proposal also deletes plans to build a boat ramp and to fill 2.3 acres of wetlands.+

Mark Your 1994 Calendars

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Linking Phosphorus and Algae

By Reggie McLeod

During the recent drought, in the summers of 1988 and 1989, Lake Pepin sometimes stank and there were several large fish die offs. The most popular theory blamed phosphorus discharged from the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant, 50 miles upriver, in St. Paul. A recently published report from the Metropolitan Waste Control Commission emphasizes other sources of phosphorus in Lake Pepin and downplays the role of the Metro Plant.

The plant discharges more than 1,000 tons of phosphorus into the Mississippi River each year. Rain also washes many tons of phosphorus into the river from farmland in the 48,634 square miles of the Lake Pepin watershed. The report also found that large quantities of phosphorus in the lake bottom sediments also add to concentrations in the water.

The five-inch-thick report also involved the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Metropolitan Council, Minnesota DNR, Wisconsin DNR, Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission and the Army Corps of Engineers.

High Flow, Low Flow Phosphorus is not a toxic substance, but is, in fact, a nutrient. Many suspect that because of the low river flow during the drought phosphorus concentrations increased in Lake Pepin, which fueled increased algae growth. When the algae died and rotted it stank. Its decomposition also consumed oxygen in the water and released a chemical that is toxic to fish, both of which contributed to the fish kills.

Currently the Metro Plant discharges about 3.0 milligrams of phosphorus in every liter of of treated water it puts into the Mississippi. The only state rule that specifically limits phosphorus in effluents sets a maximum of 1.0 milligram per liter, but only applies if a discharge is "directly to or affects a lake or reservoir... " A broader rule that applies to "all classes of fisheries and recreation waters" states that "there shall be no material increase in undesirable slime growths or aquatic plants, including algae... " It also prohibits discharges that hinder fish migration or propagation.

The river flow was higher than normal during the study period, 1990 through 1992, so the results are more speculative.

Researchers used computer modeling to investigate the likely interaction of algae, phosphorus and other factors during a low-flow condition in the lake. The modeling calculated that even if the Metro Plant phosphorus discharges were lower that 1.0 milligram per liter, the algae could get more than enough phosphorus from the sediments. Research found sunlight to be the constraining factor in algae growth.

During low-flow, sediments settle out of the water allowing light to penetrate deeper, which caused blue-green algae to grow rapidly. The slow flow also allows the living and dead algae to accumulate in the lake.

May 1993

How does the phosphorus get into the sediment? The study looked at phosphorus concentrations at various times in the Minnesota River, the Mississippi River above the Twin Cities, and at various points in Lake Pepin. It found that during low flow the Metro Plant contributes a major share of the phosphorus entering the lake, but during normal and high flows, nonpoint sources of phosphorus, much of it from the Minnesota River, contribute the major share.

What's To Be Done?

The study recommends further study.

Rebecca Flood, MWCC regulatory compliance manager and author of the "Summary and Recommendations" part of the report, said that because the Metro Plant treats an average of 250 million gallons of wastewater a day, the cost of removing phosphorus is high. The total capital, maintenance and operating costs over 20 years for reducing discharges to 1.0 milligram per liter is about $275 million, using biological treatment. It would cost about $590 million to reduce it to 0.4 milligrams per liter.

"We have a mission to protect the health and environment, and we have a mission to provide a cost-effective service to our rate payers," she explained.

Solid evidence is needed to justify spending hundreds of millions of dollars, she said.

Point sources of pollution have been the primary target of tougher regulation formany good reasons: They used to be the major source of pollution. It is efficient to fix a problem at a single point rather than trying to deal with an entire watershed. It's more acceptable to most people to demand that a municipality or a business spend money to fix a problem, than it is to tell a farmer, who may be financially strapped, not to plow 20 acres next to a stream.

It's more acceptable to most people to demand that a municipality or a business spend money to fix a problem, than it is to tell a farmer, who may be financially strapped, not to plow 20 acres next to a stream.

However, now that businesses and municipalities have been cutting pollution for decades, nonpoint sources take on more relative importance. We should deal with water quality problems on a watershed-wide level, taking into account all the sources and learning how substances, like phosphorus, move through the system, Flood said.

Two smaller MWCC treatment plants on the St. Croix River discharge less than 1.0 milligram per liter of phosphorus in their effluent. However, municipal plants at Red Wing and Lake City both received variances that lift limits on phosphorus discharges into Lake Pepin, she said.+

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7

1992 Traffic Through Mississippi River Locks Tow Boats and Recreational Boats

Lower SL Anthony Falls 1,533tow 3,165 rec

Monticello* St. CroixR. Upper SL Anthony Falls 2,289 tow ·• ••• 3,355rec Lock 1 Lock3 1,451 tow Minneapolis 1,391 tow S,795 rec Minnesota R .

17,857rec Lock2 ---------~- * 1,419 tow Hastings 10,665 rec Red Wing *

Wisconsin

Lock4 1,394tow / 13,352rec ...

Lock&

---

Minnesota

Locks ·-.

1,411 tow ·-.

9•584 rec Lock Sa ----1,498 tow 9,704 rec

1,634tow 12,604 rec

Lock 7 ---·

1,734 tow 11,310 rec

•La Crosse •• ·Locks •• ••• 1,688 tow 8,437rec

Wisconsin R .

Iowa

lock9 1,735tow 6,658 rec Lock 10 ---------2,018 tow 6,688 rec

Government vessels, passenger boats and other commercial craft are included in the "tow" category, although tow boats make up the vast majority of those numbers.

The lock on this map with the most commercial tonnage, Lock 13, locked through 24,709,396 tons of cargo, including 17,235,811 tons of grain, 2,578,896 tons of coal and 521,512 tons of petroleum products in 1992.+ The information on this map was, collected and compiled by the St. Paul District and Rock Island District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Lock 12 2,119tow 4,796rec

• Lock 11 , / 1,905tow ,.

6,727rec

Illinois /

Lock13 2,186 tow 4,158rec

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8

RIVER CALENDAR MAY 1-8 National River and Trail Cleanup Week. Individuals and groups interested in adopting a stretch of the Mississippi or a tributary in northern Minnesota should contact Nancy Salminen, Chippewa National Forest, (218) 335-8600.

3-6 Fish & Wildlife Service GIS Workshop, Lafayette, La. Call Marcia McNiff (318) 226-8572.

May 1993

JUNE 2 Mississippi River Study on phosphorus in the river and Lake Pepin presented at a public forum, Boatworks, 10 Church Ave., Wabasha, 7 p.m. Call the Metropolitan Waste Control Commission, (612) 229-2100.

3-4 The Upper Mississippi River Valley - A Common Vision, workshop about strategies for land protection. St. Mary's College, Winona. Call Minn.-Wis. Boundary Area Commission, (715) 386-9444 or (612) 436-7131.

11-12 Midwest Riverboat Buffs, spring meeting, Alton, Ill. Call John R. Miller, (319) 524-6491.

6 Concepts for Revision of the Minnesota Environmental Review Process, open forum for public comment on proposed changes, Centennial Office Bldg, 3rd Fir., 658 . Cedar, St. Paul, 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Call Environmental Quality Board, (612) 296-2603.

16 Mississippi River Parkway Commissionof Minnesota, meeting 4 p.m., to be followed in the evening by .a community involvement meeting, Red Wing. More details in June calendar. Call (612) 224-9903.

7 Shoreland Zoning Workshop, Brainerd Holiday Inn, Brainerd, Minn. Mississippi Headwaters Board (218) 5473300, ext. 248.

17 Mississippi River Parkway Commission of Minnesota, community involvement meeting, Winona. More details in June calendar. Call (612) 224-9903.

7 Lower St. Croix Management Commission, technical committee meeting, Osceola City Hall, Osceola, Wis., 9:30 a.m. to noon.

8 Neotropical Migratory Bird Day, bird tour, Prairie Island Kiwanis Club shelter, Winona, 7 a.m. For preregistration call the Upper Mississippi National Wildlife and Fish Refuge headquarters, (507) 452-4232, or La Crosse District office, (608) 784-3910.

8-9 Take a Mom Fishing Weekend, mothers can fish for free in Minnesota.

13 Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board meeting, Spring Green. Call 1-800-221-3792 or (608) 739-3188.

17 Bluff Land Environmental Watch meeting, Winona Senior Friendship Center, Fifth & Main, Winona, 6 p.m.

22 River Cleanup, Bellevue, Iowa. Mississippi River Revival, Bellevue Chapter.

26 Death of the Mississippi, open forum on the accelerated . decline of the river, sponsored by the Wabasha Chapter of the Izaak Walton League, 7 p.m. V.F.W. Hall, 138 Second St., Wabasha. Call (507) 767-4481.

26 Environmental Management Program Coordinating Committee of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association meeting, Holiday Inn International, Bloomington, Minn. Call (612) 224-2880.

26-28 Water Resources Congress, annual meeting, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Washington, D.C. Call Kathleen Phelps, (703) 525-4881, fax (703) 527-1693.

27 Upper Mississippi River Basin Association quarterly meeting, Holiday Inn International, Bloomington, Minn.

Call (612) 224-2880.

29 National Rivers Hall of Fame, Dubuque, induction of 1993 nominees. Call, Jerry Enzler, (319) 583-1241.

Dec. 1, 1992 to May 15, 1993 History Beneath the Waves: The Archaeology of Pike's Fort, is a new display that tells the story of the U.S. Army expedition led by Lieutenant Pike from St. Louis to the headwaters of the Mississippi River in 1805-1806. The video "Archaeology Beyond the Walls: Tracing Zebulon Pike's Travels in the Mississippi Headwaters" is being shown with the exhibit. Fort Snelling State Park, Pike Island Interpretive Center, St. Paul, (612) 725-2389.

Feb. 5 to July 31 Exhibit of Mississippi River Photos from a Century Ago are on display at the North Lobby of the Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth St., St. Paul. Henry Bosse took these stunning photos between 1883 and 1891, when he worked as a draftsman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. They show steamboats, log rafts, early bridges and scenes of the corps maintaining the navigation channel.

When these blue cyanotype photographs were discovered recently experts praised their artistic quality. The exhibit is free.+

Big River is published monthly by Big River, PO Box 741, Winona, MN 55987, (507) 454-6758. Subscriptions are $20 for one year, $36 for two years or $2 per single issue.

Reggie McLeod editor/publisher Pamela Eyden assistant editor Tony Kolars associate editor

Big River, Volume 1, Number 5, copyright Š May 1993.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited.

Printed on recycled paper.