Big River - December 1994

December 1994

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

Corps Gets an &rful

By Reggie McLeod

River lovers turned out en mass last month in La Crosse and Dubuque to lambast the Army Corps of Engineers and its $39-million study of commercial navigation on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

The study is comparing the economic and environmental effects of maintaining or expanding commercial navigation on the rivers.

The Corps' tally of attendance at the eight meetings is: Nov. 7 St. Louis 40 Nov. 8 Peoria 40 Nov.9 Chicago 20 Nov. 10 Davenport 90 Nov. 14 South St. Paul 87 Nov. 15 La Crosse 220 Nov16 Dubuque 240 Nov. 17 Des Moines 25 About 30 people spoke at the La Crosse and Dubuque meetings. Most attacked the Corps and suggested that the meetings would have no impact on the direction or conclusions of the study. They urged those opposed to expanding commercial navigation to lobby their legislators.

At the La Crosse meeting Bill Carter, who grew up on the Illinois River, told the sometimes rowdy audience of the destruction of the Illinois River by dikes, locks and dams.

"Progress, when you're standing at the edge of a cliff is best defined as a step backwards," he warned .

Tom Claflin, director of the River Studies Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, told the Corps, "You literally have a death grip on the nation's greatest river."

Many speakers complained that the huge federal subsidy needed to maintain commercial navigation on the Upper Mississippi already costs far more than the value of its benefits. They also blamed the locks and dams and barge traffic for the slow but steady filling in of backwaters with sediment.

Vol. 2, No. 12 $2

Wlw Owns Trenton Island Longtime Residents or the River?

By Marc Hequet

Is this the last winter on Trenton Island? Wood stove smoke still curls around the tidy but tall dwellings tidy because the residents dote on their homes in this swampy tranquility, tall because most are jacked up four feet or more above the ground, some set starkly on pylons, others more elegantly elevated. The few basements are unfinished, bare of appliances or other hard-to-move household items.

Furnaces are bolted to the basement ceilings, well above the floor.

Trenton Island is in Pierce County, Wisconsin. Its wooded plots belong to 69 property holders, but the government is making a case that the real owner is the Mississippi River, which pays sloppy visits every two or three years.

This is a soggy place. The island's maples are enormous.

(Trenton Island continued on page 2)

What's Inside .•.

River Names Wing of Scarlet Current Events Paddlefish. Pa<::ldlE~Wt)ee River Calendar & Candlelight Ice

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(Trenton Island continued from page 1) Trim, polite front yard trees stand elsewhere around the Midwest, here the water-loving maples have grown craggy and tall as their neighboring cottonwoods. The houses are pitched on ground so low and flat that, as one young fellow said, "If somebody did a cannonball [dive) in the river, this whole place would get swamped."

Residents say they've learned to waltz to the big river's rhythm. But the feds are tired of paying the piper. The government's case, in a nutshell: "These are the same people saying government shouldn't interfere with me and should let me live on a flood plain," complains Jim Hulbert, Pierce County land management administrator. "They know they're going to get flood damage. But even if they don't buy insurance, they know Uncle Sam's going to bail them out anyway."

The islanders' case: They're peeved and bitter at the county for letting them build there in the first place and upgrade over the years, then forcing them to move. "It's just not fair that they're picking on us," fumes Brad Smith,

December 1994

nesses sitting on those wetlands. No amount of schooling in the straight and narrow, the group says, can prevent the river from flooding.

To be sure, flood relief isn't riches. Damage from the '93 flood was estimated at $10 billion, but the average grant for housing repairs or emergency shelter ran about $1,800; the average low-interest home loan is $21,000; average business loans about $45,000. And, for the record, the 1993 flood caused little damage for the well-prepared residents of Trenton Island .

But flood damage, flood relief payments and insurance claims could be avoided outright with relocation. Reformers point to Soldiers Grove on the Kickapoo River in southwestern Wisconsin as their paragon of pullout. Hit by the worst flood in its history, in 1978, the town asked that government disaster relief funds be applied to relocation rather than rebuilding. The town, now in a new site on higher ground, saves $1 27,000 annually in flood damage, says American Rivers. After the 1993 deluge, 5,000 homes, farms and businesses on the Mississippi took the same course - relocation.

CHAINSAW ART

"Are they going to clear out California because they know they're on a fault line?" owner of Harbor Bar on the island. "Are they going to do that to all the coastal waterways where they have to worry about hurricanes? Are they going to clear out California because they know they're on a fault line?"

At Trenton Island, it's called a voluntary buyout offer.

But it sure looks like coercion to residents w ho face prosecution for violating restrictions in their building permits or for remodeling without a permit.

Restrictions on building permits mean property values are in the dumps. Nobody on the open market wants to buy Trenton Islanders' problems.

"A lot of people down there don't want to move and

BAITED AND SNARED Point well taken. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew cost $30 billion, triple the 1993 Mississippi flood damages. A Wisconsin State Journal editorial from the soaked summer of '93 put it this way: "Is a farmer's flooded field in Iowa or a retired couple's river bank shack in Wisconsin somehow less worthy of federal protection than a vacation condo in South Florida demolished by Hurricane Andrew?"

River dwellers might well feel baited and snared by the government. For decades federal practice has been to dam and levee streams, to subsidize flood insurance and provide flood relief - in effect, encouraging flood plain development.

But too few river dwellers around the U.S. buy insurance - or they hurry out and buy it only when they hear the flood forecast and believe they're in for a wet few d ays.

Floods thus mean outlay of government disaster aid and depletion of the government's undersubscribed insurancefund reserves - all in all, a drain on the budget and, some people think, poor fiscal management.

Some want to give the river back its flood way. A group called American Rivers, for example, suggests restoration of w etlands along the river, and relocation of homes and busi-

Red Wing

December 1994

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View of Red Wing and Barn Bluff from the yard of the Harbor Bar, on Trenton Island. (photo by Pamela Eyden.)

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biggest lesson, in my opinion, is that local units of government must enforce floodplain regulation. If they don't do it, it's not progress and it's not helping people out. Eventually the state or federal government is going to require enforcement, and then it's much harder on people."

For residents, the only thing more bitter than moving out would be finding their property was turned over to another private interest - a campground, for example. That' s a distinct possibility, because Pierce County wants to continue to collect taxes on the property.

"Many people on and off Trenton Island are concerned about the loss of tax base," says buyout coordinator Seifert.

"When those folks move, many will be resettled in Pierce County. But many of them were Red Wing natives who will go back to Minnesota. Some are snowbirds who will be going to southern states permanently."

NATURE HAPPENS they feel they're getting pushed around by the county," says Jon Seifert, Trenton Island property acquisition project coordinator. "Those who have ordinance violation prosecutions

A lot of people down there don't want to move and they feel they're getting pushed around by the county."

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pending against them, they're in a pickle. And it would seem like the program is not voluntary."

So it's little surprise that by late autumn, 52 of the 69 property owners had applied for the government-funded buyout - in effect, expressing interest, nothing more. Many of them may remain, nevertheless.

"In all honesty, people who don't wish to be bought out can live there perfectly in peace and harmony. As long as they buy and sell and maintain their property in conformance with regulations, no one can force them out. No one's going down there with a bulldozer," says Pierce County's Hulbert.

Harbor Bar, a cozy boater's hangout directly across the Main Channel from Red Wing, bristles with carved woodwork and a big chain-saw rendering of Sam Clemens himself, dressed in riverboat captain's garb and holding a carved turtle.

"It's a hard situation for us," says Smith, the bar owner.

"We're not just losing our home and can go to work Monday morning. We're losing our jobs, too."

What can other counties and communities learn from Trenton Island's bind? County boards or zoning commissions that stretch the rules to let people build or remodel in floodplains aren't helping, says Pierce County's Hulbert.

"The lessons we're learning are that there are some social and environmental costs to floodplain development. The

Is this the last winter at Trenton Island? That spectre has been following Smith, a 30-year island resident. Is this the last time he takes in his boat? The last time he watches the wintering eagles out his back window? The last time he hoards wine and liquor crates for the spring ritual of moving bar stock upstairs as the Mississippi proposes another visit?

Trenton Island will write another chapter in the long American debate over rights of the individual versus rights of society. But some will never see the justice.

"If people whose crystal is shattered by earthquakes or whose trailers get tossed by tropical storms get federal largess, so should we," editorialized the Wisconsin State Journal as the 1993 flood subsided. "Nature happens all over the place."= Marc Hequet is a freelance writer who lives not too far from the river in, St. Paul, Minn.

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December 1994

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RIVER NAMES Wing

of Scarlet

By John Sagan

For hundreds of years, the area that is now the city of Red Wing, Minnesota, was home to a succession of chiefs of the Dakota, or Sioux. The chiefs each bore the name Red Wing. They appear in the journals and records of many explorers and negotiators.

In the mid-1700s, the chief of this site was a man named Whoo-pa-doo-ta or Hoo-pa-hoo-sha (Wing of Scarlet), who carried a swan's wing that had been dyed scarlet as his personal talisman. The French named him L' Aile Rouge (red wing). This chief joined Pontiac's battle against the British near the close of the French and Indian War. He was a good and dynamic leader whose father and grandfather were also named Red Wing .

In 1805, when Zebulon Pike came to negotiate a site for Fort Snelling, Tatankamani (Walking Buffalo) was chief. He, too, was called Red Wing. Pike's diary described Tatankamani as a man of good sense. They exchanged gifts - a pipe, pouch and buffalo skin for Pike and a silver Jefferson peace medal, dated 1801, for Tatankamani. His name is listed on the treaty that was concluded by Pike, but he did not sign it. Listing a name without a signature was a common practice o f the Whites to make it appear that all the In 1871, while grading a street in Red Wing, workers discovered a skeleton with a silver, 1801 Jefferson peace medal, giving rise to speculation that it was Tatankamani's grave. chiefs acquiesced to the deal. The idea of United States sovereignty was pressed on Tatankamani, but he was probably one of the Indians who sided with the British in the War of 1812. After the war, he was among the signers of peace and friendship treaties with the U.S. In 1827, the Indian agent at Fort Snelling, Lawrence Taliaferro, called Tatankamani a firm and unshaken friend of the Americans. In 1871, while grading a street in Red Wing, workers discovered a skeleton with a silver, 1801 Jefferson peace medal, giving rise to speculation that it was Tatankamani's grave.

Tatankamani's stepson or nephew was named Wacouta (The Shooter), and he, too, was eventually known as Red Wing. His group was slow to accept him as chief, because

Tatankamani had apparently married an English trader's daughter, an unpopular move. The tribe sought out Taliaferro, who refused to help, saying that the matter had to be settled by the people themselves. Eventually, after protracted negotiations and meetings, Wacouta was chosen.

In 1837, missionaries visited Wacouta's village on the Mississippi River. They came in the aftermath of government meetings with the western chiefs. Shortly before, Wacouta and 25 other Dakota chiefs and warriors had visited Washington, D.C. in the company of Indian agent Lawrence Taliaferro. They were feted and feasted, entertained and bemedaled by their government hosts. They were also asked to agree to a treaty that gave up home lands east of the Mississippi. Wacouta's village was not included, but eventually it, too, was Jost to the Whites.

The last Chief Red Wing was Hazen Wakute, Wacouta's grandson, who was born in 1884. He served in World War I as a saddler in the 3rd Company of the 164th Depot Brigade.

For many years after the war, Chief Red Wing appeared in parades in Red Wing and elsewhere. He died in 1949 and was buried with military honors at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. = John Sagan is a freelance writer and proprietor of Fountain City Art and Antiques, in Fountain City, Wis. He aspires to become the Austrian consul to that river town .

LETTER TO THE EDITOR I am at work on a study comparing the great Mississippi flood of 1927 with that of 1993, tentatively titled "Visualizing Two Great River Disasters." With that in mind, I would be interested in knowing if you could ask your readers to send me any personal stories, notes, diaries or memoirs of the 1993 disaster and its impact on people and the environment, including the river towns and cities.

If original material is sent to me, I will make copies and return originals. No item will be used for publication without obtaining permission. My goal is to understand the flood's impact on both communities and on individuals.

Thank you very much.

Charles K. Piehl,' Associate Professor of History Mankato State University P.O. Box 8400 Mankato, MN 56001 (507) 389-53 16 {office} (507) 380-6377 [fax} ckpiehl@vaxl.ma nkato.msus.edu

December 1994

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CURRENT EVENTS

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By Pamela Eyden

River Ladies Come and Go

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ulia Belle Swain will spend the winter in Dubuque before taking up residence in La Crosse next summer. Miss Marquette, meanwhile, has started a new life in Marquette, Iowa.

This may sound like the social pages, butit'sactuallyboat news from the pages of The Waterways Journal (10-24-94 and 11-7-94).

The steam-powered Julia Belle Swain, a paddlewheeler of great style, has been featured in a John Hartford song and many films . It's 156 feet long, 27 feet wide and can carry 400 passengers. Captain Dennis Trone built the ship in Dubuque

The steam-powered Julia Belle Swain, a paddlewheeler ofgreat style, has been featured in a John Hartford song and many films. in 1971. After newfangled gambling boats cut into his business and then the flood of 1993 shut him down for a year, he put the boat up for auction. It was sold to Robert Kalhagen, who will have it plying the waters near La Crosse.

Miss Marquette, once known as Grand Romance, is Iowa's newest gambling boat.

It's 236 feet long, 58 feet wide, and has three fully enclosed decks plus an open top deck, providing elbow room and more for 1,300 passengers.

Two Guides, Two Books and a Story Not to Miss

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cratchy, slippery underwater weeds may be repulsive to some human swimmers, but fish and wildlife find them very attractive. To help property owners identify and appreciate the vegetation near their docks and beaches, the Minneso'ta Department of Natural Resources has published a 52-page "Guide to Aquatic Plants." Fora copy, call the DNR's Steve Enger at (612) 297-0782.

Eagle Indictments Rumored

A 16-page, full-color guide to prairie plants and animals is available from the Wisconsin DNR. Called "A Pocket Prairie Guide," it features easy-to-understand explanations of the prairie ecosystem. To order in bulk, call Maureen Mecozzi (608) 267-9029 or write Wisconsin Natural Resources, Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707.

Take care of the stream or river in your own backyard and you'll be working to benefit the whole planet, according to Lifelines: The Case for River Conservation,

by Tim Palmer. The book examines the state of rivers in the world and talks about how to restore them. To order a $16.95 paperback or a $35 hardcover copy, contact Island Press at 800-828-1302, or Box 7, Dept. SAU, Covelo, CA 95428.

How to Save a River, A Handbook for Citizen Action, by David Bolling and the River Network, is an "entertaining, wellwritten and informative" organization and action guide, according to activists quoted by the publisher. It gives an overview of complicated topics and examples of successful river protection campaigns.

Send $14, plus $4 for shipping and handling of the first book ($1 for each additional book) to River Network, PO Box 8787, Portland OR 97207.

The November-December issue of The Minnesota Volunteer features a long and thorough story about why biologists fear that the river is headed for a collapse.

"Is the Mississippi Dying?" was written

by Greg Breining, who is also managing editor of the magazine, published by the Minnesota DNR.

$10,000 reward still stood, as of early November, for information leading to the conviction of whoever poisoned 17bald eagles in northwestern Wisconsin last spring (see Big River May 1994 and June 1994).

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and an anonymous donor put up the reward after a federal laboratory confirmed that the eagles were killed with carbofuran, a farm pesticide.

Federal indictments are rumored, but DNR wardens refuse to talk, for fear of jeopardizing the ongoing investigation.

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Harbor Loses Longtime Harbormaster

ake Pepin boaters are mourning the loss of Jim Springer, longtime harbormaster of the Lake City Marina, who died this fall at the age of 59. In his 18 years as harbormaster, Springer oversaw many expansion projects that turned Lake City's into the largest municipal marina on the Mississippi River, according to an article in Northern Breezes (Nov./Dec. '94).

Wanted: Educators to Work with the MNRRA

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taff at the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA) are looking for partners in business and nonprofit organizations to work cooperatively in river-related educational projects. Partners could help develop educational media, operate facilities and deliver programs.

The recreation area stretches from Coon Rapids, to Hastings, Minn.

To find out more, call Ron Erickson

(Current Events continued on page 6)

Now, Where Did I Read That?

We have almost finished indexing the first two years of Big River. For a free copy of the 1993 index, send a stamped, self-addressed, number10 envelop to: Big River 1993 Index, PO Box 741, Winona, MN 55987.

The 1994 index will be finished soon. =

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(Current Events continued from page 5)

at (612) 290-4160, or write MNRRA, 175 E. Fifth St., #418, Box 41, St. Paul, MN 55105-2901.

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Mallards Fare Better in 7

n recent years nesting mallards have been more successful in Pool 7 than Pool 8, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Researchers.

The survey in Pool 7 was limited to Arrowhead, Broken Gun and Cormorant islands, which were all built in 1989 as part of the Environmental Management Program. Successful nesting increased on all three islands during the last three years (see chart).

The new islands were relatively free of predators. Grass provided good cover for nesting. Thick beds of arrowhead in the water nearby provided cover and food for the ducklings.

Nesting success on four of the five islands surveyed in Pool 8 suffered dramaticdeclines in recent years, which wildlife managers blame largely on the decline of nearby beds of water plants and the diminishing size of the islands, due to erosion. They are considering projects to build new islands in the pool and to add · rock to the edge of three existing islands to prevent erosion.

Managers also believe the success of "voluntary closed areas" helped nesting ducks. People are asked to avoid the areas from April 15 to July 15. The closed areas have been used in Pool 7since1992 and in Pool 8 since 1993.

Tracking the Shy Paddlefish

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ish biologists on seven rivers, including the Mississippi, will be tracking the shy paddlefish, if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funds a proposed study.

The three-to five-year study would document movements of the fish in 16 states.

Each participating state would agree to collect and tag up to 300 paddlefish a year with specially designed plastic jaw tags.

When the bottom-feeding fish are seen again, either by biologists or by anglers, their size, weight and location would be

December 1994

recorded. The program will be publicized through bait shops, fishing clubs, signs and the news media.

Paddlefish, also called"spoonbill catfish," are commercially netted in some southern states, but are protected in the North (see "Paddlefish: Ugly and Sensitive," in Big River, April 1993). They are sensitive to environmental factors, such as dissolved oxygen, current, toxins and disrupted spawning conditions.

Garbage Barge Helps Out

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specially designed, 24-foot river barge is helping with river cleanup efforts in Iowa. It's equipped with an hydraulic winch that can move heavy items as far as 300 feet, a boom, an electric lift and a power washer to blast mud from debris.

The barge, contracted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, picks up steel barrels, torn-out channel buoys, fuel tanks, appliances, tires, chunks of plastic foam, washed away docks, sheet metal and other junk that was swept into the river during the flood of 1993. As anyone who's participated in a river cleanup knows, there's a lot of this stuff around,

and it's tough to remove.

The barge crew was busy most oflas.t summer, according to a story in the (Dubuque) Telegraph Herald (10-7-94), and they'll start work again when the ice thaws.

Wisconsin Implements New Storm Water Runoff Rule

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he problem of storm water runoff is simple: When rain falls or snow melts in urban, suburban, agricultural and industrial areas, it carries an enormous load of pollution with it into storm sewers.

Most storm sewers are not connected to wastewater treatment plants, so when runoff flows into rivers and lakes, it kills fish, raises bacterial levels, contributes to algae blooms and damages groundwater quality.

To reduce such pollution, Wisconsin has begun working with big polluters to prevent it. Large construction sites, industries and cities with more than 50,000 people top the list.Under provisions of a new regulation, they are now required to develop pollution plans or erosion control plans to prevent contamination of ground water and surface water.

Mallard Nesting Data 1991-1994 Lake Onalaska - Pool 7 J•Hatched DOther 80

Arrowhead Island

*I Broken Goo Island

(/)

ti Q)

60

z

0 Q; .0

40

E

:J

z

20

•Qlhef = predation abandoned, oo late, datroyec:t, flooded

Cormorant Island

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December 1994

Wisconsin Seeks Walleye Management Ideas

Perusing the Digital River

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bag limits, and over harvest oflarge walleye. The DNR will hear public opinion through workshops and a survey of anglers . Results will be used to develop a draft of the new plan, which will be taken back to the public during meetings and workshops next summer.

ots of new technologies developed in recent decades can help us understand the Mississippi River and its floodplain. Geographic information systems (GIS), for example, and image processing systems are powerful analytical tools.

Computerized process models show how the river changes under different conditions. Time-series analyses and visualization techniques provide ways to understand great amounts of data. The most expensive part of using these technologies is, of course, getting the raw data to feed them. In the case of the Mississippi River, there's already a lot of data - it just has to be digitized or transformed into the proper digital format.

That's what the Scientific Assessment and Strategy Team has been up to, ever since it was established in November 1993.

Its big, long-term assignment is to compile and coordinate a vast database that can be used in making decisions that affect the river and the people who live near it. Its first job was to put together enough of this to help the Interagency Floodplain Management Review Committee compile its report, Sharing the Chal-

Pion Your Ice Tourney Now

lenge, Floodplain Management into the 21st Century, which was released last June.

Wisconsin is updating its management plan for walleye, and is inviting people to speak out about their interests.

"We want to hear what anglers and other stakeholders want out of our state's walleye fishery," said Lee Kernen, director of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource's Bureau of Fisheries Management .

The plan will consider walleye status, habitat loss, angler education, diversity of fishing opportunities, length and

"We want to hear what anglers and other stakeholders want out of our state's walleye fishery."

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f your group is planning an organized fishing competition on any Wisconsin waters, and if more than 20 boats or 40 anglers plan to compete for prizes worth $500 or more, you'd better start the process of getting your permit. Sponsors must have an application on file with the Department of Natural Resources at least 30 days before their event. Sponsors must also report tournament results.

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Environmental Grants

he Natural Resources Foundation (NRF) of Wisconsin is offering matching grants of up to $1,000 to schools, groups, individuals and local government agencies to fund environmental projects.

Application deadline is Feb. 3, 1995. The Foundation is a nonprofit organization.

Call Barb Barzenat(608) 266-1430orwrite NRF, P.O. Box 129, Madison, WI 53701.

ch cb th Ip p rs

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The SAST recently published its own report, a 272-page book, Science for Floodplain Management into the 21st Century. It includes a lot of basic scientific information about the river. There are concise reports on the hydrology, climatology, geomorphology and ecology, and many tables, diagrams and satellite-view maps of the river and floodplains.

It also summarizes data about human-engineered changes, agricultural economics and alternative land uses. The team proposes a conceptual model for the river and its management. The model implies, among other things, "There is considerable interconnectivity in the system. Management decisions that are made for one purpose can have major effects on parts of the system for which they were not intended."

These are not wildly exciting conclusions in themselves, so don't read the book expecting to find any. But the text provides a fairly concise summary of many areas of knowledge about the Mississippi River, and the maps are fascinating.

For a copy of Science for Floodplain Management into the 21st Century, call your local office of the Army Corps of Engineers.

= active channel cut bank = channel thalweg = geomorphic floodplain z point â&#x20AC;˘ ridge and swale topography c

nl = natural levees

ca = abandoned channel =chute st =tributary stream

c

ts :::: terrace scarp rll = lower river terraces

rth = higher river terraces bl ~bluffs

Figure 5.1. Natural morphologic features of the Missouri River floodplain.

(from Science for Floodplain Management into the 21st Century)

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RIVER CALENDAR December Special Events 17 National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count, Wild River State Park, Center City, Minn., and Lake Bemidji State Park.

18 Christmas in the Village, caroling, children's activities, and sleighrides recall Christmas customs at the turn of the century, Stonefield Village, Cassville, Wis. Call (608) 7255210.

Jan. 13-15 Iowa Boat Show, Cedar Falls, UNI-Dome. Call (319) 232-0218.

Jan. 25-29 Minneapolis Boat Show, Minneapolis Convention Center. Call (612) 542-9707.

Jan. 28 Candlelight Ice Skate, 5 p.m., Merrick State Park, Fountain City, Wis. Call (608) 687-4936. through Jan. 8, 1995 Display of wildlife stamp contest entries, including top entries from Minnesota's first Junior Duck Stamp competition, sponsored by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bell Museum of Natural History, Minneapolis, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Tues. - Fri.; 10 a .m. - 5 p.m. Sat.; noon - 5 p.m. Sun. Call (612) 624-7083. through Feb. 14, 1995 Magnificent River: The Mississippi from Minnesota to Missouri, photographs, artifacts, interactive exhibits and two full-sized boats, Putnam Museum of History and Natural Science, Davenport, Iowa.

December 1994

1-3 Lower Mississippi Valley Flood Control Association, annual meeting, Westin Canal Place Hotel, New Orleans, La. Call George C. Grugett, (901) 398-1613.

6 Lower St. Croix Management Commission, Technical Committee meeting, 9:30 a.m. - noon, City Hall, Hudson, Wis. Call (612) 436-7131 or (715) 386-9444.

6-7 River Resources Forum, interagency meeting, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Bloomington, Minn.

Call (608) 687-3011 .

8 Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board, monthly meeting, 5 p.m., Muscoda, Wis. Call 1-800-221-3792 or (608) 739-3188.

12 Sierra Club, St. Croix Valley Interstate Group, monthly meeting, 6:30 p.m., Stillwater (Minn.) Public Library.

Jan. 12 Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board, monthly meeting, 5 p.m., Muscoda, Wis. Call 800-221-3792.or (608) 739-3188.

Jan. 27-28 Mississippi River Parkway Commission midwinter meeting, Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, Baton Rouge, La. Call (612) 224-9903.

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Getting into the Calendar If you have a meeting or event with a connection to

the Upper Mississippi River, please Jet us know, so we can share it with our readers .

To get information into the calendar, we need to get it by the 15th of the month before the event. ~

Workshops and Conferences 4-7 The Future of Fish and Wildlife is Now, Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference, Adam's Mark Hotel, Indianapolis, Ind., $75. Call Ed Theroff, (812) 849-4586 or Debbie Fairhurst, (317) 232-7535.

En~1nee;.plans.to. c16~~·- toek_• • .• •.• • • • • • • •_

7-9 National Conference on the lntermodal Freight Terminal of the Future, Transportation Research Board, Hilton Riverside Hotel, New Orleans. Call (202) 334-2934.

The Army _ corps.• ot and Dam7 (Dresbach, Minn.) ond-LockpndD6m 8 / (GenoaWls.) on December 1 for repoir~i They- ar~ /Y scheduled tore6pen March 3, 19?5 ,dt~ p;m/ - - -

14 Bringing the Pieces Together: the Minnesota River, clean-up symposium sponsored by Water Resources Center of Mankato State University, Holiday Inn-Downtown, Mankato, Minn., 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., $25 includes meals.

Call (507) 389-5492.

:~~:c~:~=b~~~~=~~t~~:;+-

Meetings

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1 Upper Mississippi River Basin Association quarterly meeting, Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Hilton, Bloomington, Minn. Call (612) 224-2880.

geese south and eagles to the -Maln (;hcin6el.\

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lt's1he season when people fd Start t~~~bgth~J¢$J

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