Big River - February 1995

February 1995

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

Rubber Soles Replace Steel Wheels on Historic Bridge

Whose Property Rights?

by Chris Steller

Is the National Park Service scheming to evict everybody who lives within 50 miles of the Mississippi River? Probably not, but that's what some people believe, thanks largely to a couple of Wisconsin-based propertyrights groups.

Private Landowners of Wisconsin (PLOW) and Citizens for Responsible Zoning and Landowner Rights (CRZLR) are waging war with the proposed Mississippi River Heritage Corridor. Gene Luebker, Woodman, Wis., and Marilyn and Milton J. Hayman, Maiden Rock, Wis., and several other property rights advocates fire a steady barrage of letters to the editorial pages of newspapers in river towns. Until recently they went unanswered, but now conservationists, environmentalists and proponents of the corridor are challenging the claims of PLOW and CRZLR. The Haymans and other property righters often equate environmentalists with communists or fascists, and claim that the heritage corridor is a conspiracy to undermine the constitutional right to own property.

Evan Zantow, who is the Wisconsin commissioner on

Like a latter-day Roman aqueduct, the Stone Arch Bridge in downtown Minneapolis marches across the river gorge in majestic limestone arches, just below the Falls of St. Anthony. After the last train crossed it, in 1978, the bridge stood in silent, fenced-off dormancy with the patient grace of an ancient, obsolete ruin. For 16 years, the pleasures of crossing the Stone Arch Bridge were reserved for an elite of vagabonds, trespassers and public-sector schemers trying to hatch re-use plots.

When one plot finally opened the Stone Arch Bridge to pedestrians and bicycles last fall, the collective whelp of civic joy and pride was loud enough to drown the roar of the falls.

Now the bridge is open to all forms of human locomotion,

People on foot, roller blades, wheelchairs and bikes discover unrivaled views of St. Anthony Falls, old mills, and the gleaming downtown skyline. free from interference of engines of any kind, save the snowplow, emergency vehicles and an hourly tourist trolley.

People on foot, roller blades, wheelchairs and bikes discover unrivaled views of St. Anthony Falls, old mills, and the gleaming downtown skyline. With connections to established bike routes and the new downtown leg of the Great River Road, the old railroad bridge is being hailed as the . new jewel of the Minneapolis park system. Never underestimate the power of a scenic river overlook reborn.

When St. Paul railroad baron James J. Hill built the (Stone Arch Bridge continued on page 2)

By Reggie McLeod

(Property continued on page 4)

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February 1995

Illustration of the Stone Arch Bridge from Frank Leslie's Newspaper, 1884.

(Stone Arch Bridge continued from page 1)

bridge in 1882-83, to reach the booming flour milling district on the west bank, the granite and limestone construction of 22 arches seemed so lavish that people called it "Jim Hill's Folly." But it instantly became an icon of the Mill City, commanding the foreground of cityscapes in paintings, product labels and picture postcards.

The bridge is at the center of an area rich in history.

Here, in the decade before the bridge's construction, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers halted the 12,000-year, eight-mile,

When St. Paul railroad baron James J. Hill built the bridge in 1882-83, to reach the booming flour milling district on the west bank, the granite and limestone construction of 22-arches seemed so lavish that people called it "Jim Hill's Folly." upstream recession of the only waterfall on the Mississippi, leaving St. Anthony Falls with an unmistakably man-made appearance. Industrialists diverted part of the Mississippi down First Street South, lined the resulting six-block canal with mammoth flour mills and riddled the river bank with

tunnels and turbines, creating the greatest direct-drive water-power complex the world has ever seen.

The Stone Arch Bridge is itself a marvel. Located below rather than above the falls to avoid sawmill logjams, it curves sharply upriver as it meets the west bank, a difficult and rarely attempted maneuver that made the bridge a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. It is the only stone arch bridge on the river, and the oldest bridge on the Upper Mississippi.

With periodic repairs, the Stone Arch Bridge provided consistent service for over 90 years, carrying as many as 82 passenger trains each day on the Great Northern (now Burlington Northern) railway and its predecessors. The greatest alteration in the bridge came with construction of the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in the early 1960s. To make room for barges, two arches of the bridge's curved section were replaced with a steel truss.

That alteration stirred little controversy, but each new detail was the subject of debate in the recent project. The State of Minnesota and the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Board carried out the work with local and fed~ral funding. Johnson Bros. of Litchfield, Minnesota, carried out the construction, which included masonry repair and installation. of a new drainage system, bridge deck surface, railings and lights.

Preliminary plans hinting of the kind of quasi-Victorian frou-frou that mars some recent riverfront developments were stripped away in favor of spare, utilitarian shapes painted an unobtrusive brown, which matches the abundant rust at nearby mill sites.

Visitors to the Stone Arch Bridge will find an invigorating panorama of sights and sounds. The bridge leaves the

February 1995

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east bank near where Father Louis Hennepin saw and named the falls in 1680 (over the next 200 years the falls receded about 400 feet upstream to their present location). The paths and steps of Father Hennepin Bluffs Park lead down the bank to footbridges over a former east channel river bed.

Kayakers practice slaloms and spins beneath a suspended web of ropes and bars in the rapids leaving the Northern States Power hydroelectric plant on Hennepin Island. High tension towers testify to Hennepin Island's importance in NSP's grid: should the utility's other plants fail, the reliable plummet of the muddy Miss will provide the power needed to restart the generators.

Facing each other on opposite banks are the original headquarters of the two leading flour milling companies, Pillsbury and Washburn-Crosby (now General Mills).

Pillsbury's "A" Mill, the biggest in the world when it was built in 1881, remains in operation today. The WashburnCrosby "A" Mill is a conspicuous ruin on the west bank, victim of a 1991 fire. Set into the crumbling limestone wall, a plaque commemorates 18 men who died in another cataclysmic fire at an earlier mill on the same site in 1878.

The center of the bridge offers a great view of St. Anthony Falls, a SO-foot drop split in two by the Horseshoe Dam, extending in an inverted V shape upstream, and the main falls at the upper lock, where water slides down a concrete apron to a collision with a row of concrete blocks.

A few remnants of smaller mills poke out from the west bank bluffs, which together with others still buried under gravel will someday form Mills Ruins Park. Several renovated mill buildings nearby now house a hotel and offices.

The Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam features an enclosed observation deck that used to be the only place to see the falls. A bronze relief map points out the sights.

Chris Steller is a summertime tour guide at the St. Anthony Falls office of the Minnesota Historical Society.

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More Friends for the River

By Alison E. Jones

In a small, antiquated office in downtown St. Paul, Rick McMonagle, executive director of Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR), tackles big issues.

FMR is a new, citizen-action group dedicated to reviving the river's health. The group's meager resources have not impeded its efforts. Since it started about a year ago, with the help of the McKnight Foundation, it expanded from a handful of members to about 120.

Even though there were other environmental organizations around the Twin Cities, none focused exclusively on the Mississippi River, notes McMonagle.

The group monitors the management of the Mississippi National River And Recreation Area, which joined the national park system in 1988. The park area covers a 7:C-mile stretch of the river extending through the Twin Cities from Anoka to Hastings. There is no visitor center, and the only land it controls are a few small islands. It serves unusually diverse interests, managing not only to protect the river's wildlife, but also its natural history and economic resources.

FMR is also dedicated to restoring recreational resources in the river, which can provide a pleasant escape for city dwellers looking to enjoy the outdoors.

To encourage public interest in the river, FMR is working on educational materials for local schools, including a four-color poster displaying some of the more unusual fish in the Mississippi. The state has labeled many river fish and mussels "species of special concern." They include the Jake sturgeon and paddlefish as well as the rock pocketb• ¡Ok and the butterfly mussel. These creatures were once common in the Mississippi but can now be found in only one or two locations.

Besides protecting wildlife, the FMR works to clean up sources of pollution, like the Superfund site directly under the Washington Avenue Bridge.

All Twin Cities residents get their drinking water from the Mississippi, McMonagle pointed out. Therefore, it is crucial that we pay attention to what we are dumping into it.

"Land owners along the river cannot do whatever they want." There is too much at stake, McMonagle said.

Currently, FMR is fighting the expansion of the Watergate Marina, which would destroy one of the few remaining wildlife habitats in the area. In one afternoon a member of the local Audubon Society saw 75 specie: of birds on this small piece of land. Bald eagles also stop there during their migration.

Individuals need to take responsibility for the future of the Mississippi. It is not just something for nature lovers, but for everyone who wants clean drinking water and a healthy world, McMonagle said. m Alison E. Jones is a journalism student at the University of Minnesota.

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(Property continued from page 1) the Heritage Corridor Study Commission, was among the first to publicly defend the corridor and counter the claims of the property rights groups.

In a letter that appeared in the La Crosse County Countryman (11-10-94) and Country Today (11-9-94) Milton J. Hayman directs his ire at Zantow: In a small sampling, hundreds of individuals, at their own expense, have gathered 12,000 signatures against the heritage corridor. Think of the tens of millions of signatures they could have accumulated if they had the 200 million or 300 million dollars any one of the Big Green organizations has at its disposal. You know, Evan. The ones who feed you the old Commie lines like "determine common goals."

In response, Zantow claims the heritage corridor would only help river states and communities work together to protect historic, natural and cultural resources, and educate people about them. He asserts that the corridor would not own land, pointing to the I&M Canal Heritage Corridor in Illinois.

In a letter, dated Nov. 12, 94, Zantow responds, point by point, to Hayman's claims. For instance: •Hayman says: "people do NOT want corridor designation... They will not willingly give up 1 square foot of land ...

FACT... A corridor designation does not involve the transfer of land ownership! (i.e. The Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Corridor does NOT own 1 square foot of land!)

Meetings of these property rights groups attract many farm couples who are told that, "They want to take your land." "They" includes Washington bureaucrats, environmentalists, the Department of Natural Resources, the National Park Service and others. At one meeting Marilyn Hayman told the audience that "they" were not satisfied with their scheme to take 50 miles on either side of the Mississippi, but now plan to seize all of the Driftless Area. She also played a rock video called "The Big Park," in which actors dressed as National Park Service employees and wearing sun glasses burst into a farmhouse, tie up a farm family, haul them away and take over the family farm.

On the Wisconsin About five years ago the Wisconsin legislature designated the Wisconsin River from Sauk City to the Mississippi River as the Lower Wisconsin Riverway. The riverway, which is administered by the DNR, owns 40,000 acres along the river, and provides protection for wetlands and other threatened ecosystems. It also regulates scenic considerations, such as the colors of houses and buildings within

February 1995

view of the river.

Luebker and most other PLOW members live near the Wisconsin River and oppose the Riverway. Last November, at a meeting marking its fifth anniversary, about 40 PLOW members stood and turned their backs on speakers, occasionally jeering. Arguments ensued. The incident led to a flurry of letter-to-the-editor writing, with both sides demanding apologies.

Luebker ended one letter with: Let me close with a quote from Gone with the Wind. Scarlett's father is speaking to Scarlett about the home plantation, Tara: "Land is the only thing that amounts to anything. It is the only thing in the world that lasts and don't forget it. 'Tis the only thing worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for." Amen.

Where to Draw the Line Property rights, of course, are also at the mercy of neighbors. Smells, noise, water, air, light, disease, seeds and images don't hesitate at a property line. If, for instance, my neighbor uses herbicides carelessly and contaminates thEwater table that my family draws water from, we may bE: poisoned or we may have to pay for drilling a new well. If I pay a premium price for a farm because a first-class trout stream flows through it, then my upstream neighbor builds a new feed lot next to the stream and destroys the trout habitat, whose property rights take precedence?

Property righters are pushing for stronger "taking" laws, which would compensate landowners if environmental or zoning restrictions inhibit the development potential of property.

In a letter to the editor in the Muscoda Progressive (10-{;94) Peggy Swan of Blue River, Wis., argues against these proposed laws: There are some huge corporate polluters behind these bills and believe me, they are not concerned about your property rights - American Mining Congress, American Petroleum Institute, National Coal Association, National Forest Products Association, for example. The real aim is to weaken or block laws and regulations that protect public health and safety, civil rights and the environment...

You can expect to hear a lot of debate about property rights in the future. How will we balance the right to clean air and clean water against the right to earn a living? Who should benefit from land owned by the federal government?

What if an endangered species depends on private property?

If the county pays thousands of dollars to dig eroded soil out of ditches, should it make farmers practice good soil conservation, so it can cut property taxes? m

Reggie McLeod is editor of Big River.

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CURRENT EVENTS

By Pamela Eyden

Eagles Fish for Gizzard Shad

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inter is always a good time to see eagles - the big birds are easy to spot when roosting together in bare trees or sitting on the ice. But this year, motorists have counted hundreds in places that usually host a dozen. Eagles are staying to fish in open pools on the Mississippi, Wisconsin, Chippewa, Upper Iowa, Root and other rivers.

Gizzard shad is their winter food of choice. This silvery fish looks something like the mooneye, can get 16 inches long, and lives in the Great Lakes, the Mississippi and Atlantic coast rivers, as well as salt water. Eagles will also eat small mammals, waterfowl and carrion. That's why it's often hard to say what causes sudden death or illness.

Three dead and three sick eagles were found in January near the Wisconsin River. Investigators have ruled out poisoning in two deaths, but suspect it in the other cases. Eagles sometimes take poisoned bait set out for other creatures.

They also get lead poisoning by eating animals wounded by hunters using lead shot.

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Refuges for Wildlife

fter a year-long evaluation of 5,600 human uses of national wildlife refuges, the Interior Department concluded that most are compatible with the primary purpose of the refuge system, which is to protect wildlife.

The review was part of a settlement agreement reached after environmental groups sued the department for failing to protect wildlife in ten refuges. (See ''Upper Mississippi Not Named in Suit," Big River, January 1993).

In 100 cases, changes were made.

For example, livestock can't graze on refuge lands in Colorado, Washington and Idaho. Wetlands at the Detroit Lakes, Minn., refuge can't be used to rear walleye fry, because it disturbs migratory birds. Airboats can't cross certain Florida marshes. Joggers, swimmers, canoeists

and picnickers must stay out of certain areas at refuges in New York, Oklahoma and Rhode Island.

Of the nine destructive uses itemized in the original suit, three were discontinued, two were modified and implementation plans are being prepared for the four that involve military use of refuge lands. There was no word about whether the Navy can still drop practice bombs on Sea Lion Rock in Washington.

Ice, Eelpout and Antifreeze

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nglers may be unfamiliar with eelpout, but they shouldn't cast this fish aside. It's commercially fished in some areas, tastes like ocean cod and is often called "freshwater cod," according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Eelpouts have long dorsal fins, and small barbs on their noses and chins.

It's commercially fished in some areas, tastes like ocean cod and is often called "freshwater cod."

They are more easily caught in the winter because they spawn early.

The Minnesota DNR warns ice fishers who use antifreeze-type substances to keep ice holes open that they're breaking the law. Ethyl alcohol (found in windshield washer fluid) and ethylene glycol (found in antifreeze) are both toxic and polluting.

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Owl Catches Bandit

n Maine, game wardens shot a great horned owl that had terrorized residents and their small pets. The big bird had cleared out all the squirrels, birds and cats in the neighborhood, and was beginning to take on small dogs.

Robert Schufelt of Greenville, Maine, said he let his dog, Bandit, outside just before daybreak. The owl swooped down, grabbed the 20-pound poodle-Pekinese and flew out of sight. Moments

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later the dog dropped out of the sky, dead.

"When the owl was standing on the dog, he was up to my belt buckle. It opened its wingspan up and hissed at me," Schufelt said in a story in Country Today (1-11-95).

Elderly residents were relieved when game wardens shot the nocturnal prowler. Some feared they might be next.

Great horned owls live throughout the Midwest. Heads up!

Adopt a Watershed

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ome people along the St. Croix River have concluded that federal protection of a river is not enough. To protect a river, you have to protect the whole watershed.

A new citizen's group called the St. Croix Watershed Network wants to educate people about the impact of human activities on the watershed.

Much of the St. Croix and its tributary, the Namekagon River, were designated National Wild and Scenic Rivers in the early 1970s, but the rivers have continued to suffer from unwise development, farming and mining practices.

The St. Croix/Namekagon watershed stretches across northwestern Wisconsin and east-central Minnesota.

Head for High Ground

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eople can no longer park or live in temporary or permanent structures in low-lying flood way areas in Crawford County, Wisconsin. The DNR has banned trailers, RVs, campers and all other "habitation structures" with high flood damage potential. The only exception is for vehicles parked in campgrounds that can notify people to clear out of an area within 72 hours.

Town officials in Prairie du Chien say the city will remove the structures if owners don't do it themselves.

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River Shrimp Return

reshwater shrimp are returning to the Upper Mississippi, after an apparent absence of 50 to 60 years.

The shrimp, called Macrobrachium

(Current Events continued on pa;5e 6)

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Febmary 1995

(Current Events continued from page 5) ohione, grows to a length of 100 rnillirneters - about 4 inches - and prefers quiet water, not too muddy.

M. ohione was common in the lower river before locks and darns were installed. They were mostly used as fish bait, although some people ate them.

They nearly disappeared in the 1930s and 40s. Now they seem to be corning back, according to scientists from the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP).

LTRMP tests have found quite a few shrimp living among the rocks below wing darns near Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and Cape Tower, Ill. Biologists speculate that small numbers may have survived in the river all this time, or that they returned after several years of low river flows, which resulted in less turbid water, according to the Mississippi Times (Fall 1994).

Black Jack Island A n Indian tribe from northern Wisconsin bets it would have a full house if it turned a Holiday Inn on Barron Island, across the Main Channel from downtown La Crosse, into a garnbling casino. La Crosse' s mayor likes the idea - he estimates the development would bring $250 million a year to the city - but Wisconsin Governor Tom my Thompson will probably say no dice. He doesn't like off-reservation gambling.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed Miss Marquette gambling boat opened in Marquette, Iowa, in late December. Owners hope to attract La Crosse residents to its 620 slot machines, three craps tables, three roulette wheels, 20 blackjack and five poker tables. They expect 2,000 gambiers a day and $60 million in taxable income this year. Cruises begin when the ice goes out this spring.

Miss Marquette may cross paths with the American Queen, the newest and biggest cruise ship from the Delta Queen Steamboat Company. Bookings for the new ship have averaged $1 million a week since last fall, according to a story in the Waterways Journal (12-26-94).

Trapping Furbearers

Aerial Pix Available

Trappers and wildlife managers have noticed fewer muskrats on the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge in the last few years.

Managers say this may be due to a dedine in aquatic plants, which may be due to a triple whammy of factors drought in the late 1980s, severe flooding in 1993 and sedimentation.

When muskrat numbers drop, the number of trappers drops, too.

The Minnesota DNR says trapping license sales have leveled off in Minnesota to between 5,000 and 6,000 permits each year. Most trappers trap for recreation and to make back expense money, not as a business. Except for otter pelts, fur prices have generally declined since the rnid-1980s. Otters have fetched a high price ever since a new market opened in China last year.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service reminds trappers and other winter users of refuge lands to avoid running ATVs, snowmobiles and other vehicles anywhere except where boats with outboard motors would normally travel if there was no ice. The only access is from established boat landings.

Aerial photographs of four-squaremile segments of Wisconsin land are now available through the Wisconsin DNR. Trees, roads, trails, streams, rivers, wetlands, fields, fence lines and buildings show up clearly. Many tree species and forest types can be distinguished.

For example, conifers appear a darker shade of gray than aspen, birch and red oak, which look darker than maples. The photos can be useful for planning and managing land. For information on how to order them, call a local DNR forester or Nicole Merryfield, Wisconsin DNR, (608) 266-5202.

Refuge Office Moves The La Crosse District Office of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge has moved to 555 Lester Avenue, Onalaska - behind the new Shopko store, across from Valley View Mall. The new building houses offices, labs and maintenance areas.

New Pike Rules in Wisconsin Less habitat for spawning plus more humans wielding fishing poles equals fewer northern pike. To turn this equation around, Wisconsin has designated 31 counties in the south and central part of the state as a pike restoration zone. As of January 1, 1995, the new bag limit is two northern pike with a 26-inch maximum length limit. For more inforrnation about new pike rules, call Paul Cunningham at the Wisconsin DNR, (608) 267-7502.

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Wetlands Spotted in Iowa Aerial photographs taken in five different years will be used to map wetlands in Iowa. Owners of the designated wetlands must follow new guidelines about what can and cannot be done to them. In some cases, current farming practices will be restricted.

Wetland restrictions are not likely to be popular in Iowa, in spite of the fact that drainage of wetlands contributed heavily to property losses in the 1993 floods.

State and federal officials will release wetland designations in 48 counties in Iowa in 1995. The rest will be mapped in 1996 or¡later.

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New Minnesota Mountain A

mountain of debris will rise 114 feet above the Mississippi River if the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) approves expansion of the Vonco Demolition Debris Landfill. The pile of broken concrete, bricks, etc., dubbed "Mount Vonco'' by opponents, would become the second highest point in Sherburne County.

The site is 900 feet from the river, near the town of Big Lake, 35 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

Opponents, who have formed a group called the Monticello-Big Lake River Alliance, say run-off, the noise of trucks and back-up alarms, and the six-

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February 1995

days-a-week dumping schedule will be bad for fish, birds and wildlife, not to mention boaters, residents and tourists.

The MPCA is accepting comments about the Vonco expansion at a public meeting February 7 (see Calendar on page 8). Written comments will be accepted until February 15. Mail them to Shelley Burman, MPCA, Ground Water and Solid Waste Division, 520 Lafayette Rd., St. Paul, MN 55155-4194.

for studying and nurturing native freshwater mussels, now that the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee has permission from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to begin the project. Researchers are concerned that invading zebra mussels will displace native mussels in the Mississippi.

The project is a volunteer effort. If you are interested in helping, call Kurt Welke, Wisconsin DNR, Prairie du Chien.

Generosity Pays

Tree Survivors of the Flood

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ou may never have heard of Dwayne Andreas, but chances are your senators and representatives have. Andreas owns the Archer Daniels Midland Company, also called ADM, one of the nation's largest river shipping and farm commodity processing companies.

According to a recent story in the St. Paul Pioneer Press ("Andreas Thrives No Matter Who Wins," 1-22-95), Andreas has been a "prince of political philanthropy for nearly 50 years. Over the years, he

In the last presidential election, the generosity of Andreas, his family and companies put him at the top of the Republican donor list and third on the Democrats'. has been generous to both Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, whose only common denominator has been their power to help him.

And they have."

In the last presidential election, the generosity of Andreas, his family and companies put him at the top of the Republican donor list and third on the Democrats'.

Besides shipping, storing, milling and distilling one of every four kernels of corn grown in the U.S., ADM has risen to the top of both the corn sweetener and ethanol industries.

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Mussel Refuge ne of the fish rearing ponds at the Genoa Fish Hatchery will be used

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rees near St. Louis were the most severely damaged by the flood of 1993, while trees in Pool 4 (from Red Wing, Minn., to Alma, Wis.) showed the least damage, according to a study done by scientists in the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program. Saplings everywhere showed more damage than did mature trees, but silver maple, cottonwood, box elder, black willow and sycamore are regenerating vigorously.

Upbound,Downbound

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knowledgeable wag at a river management conference last summer said that the barge companies' biggest customer on the Missouri River was the Army Corps, which imports stone to repair the channel so barge shipping can continue. The audience laughed.

Now, after a cursory reading of a report titled Barge Traffic on the Illinois and Missouri Rivers 1972 - 1992, it seems he was right. The report, from the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota, concludes that the Missouri River is declining in importance as a commercial waterway. "The vast majority of its annual tonnage consists of intra river movements of sand, gravel and rock," it says.

A parallel report, Barge Movements on the Upper Mississippi River: Trends and Projections 1963-2002, concludes that barge transportation on the Mississippi will continue to be important to Minnesota's economy, even though the commodities and quantities shipped have changed a lot in the last 30 years.

For example, barges carry less coal

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to the Twin Cities and less wh ~at away from it than in the 1960s and 1970s, but they carry more corn, cement, chemicals and fertilizers.

Jerry Fruin and Dan Halbach authored both reports.

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Another Invader

he newest invader to worry about is the ruffe (pronounced "rough"), a small fish three to five inches long, that reached Duluth by transoceanic ship in 1986 and has been spreading eastward since, driving out native fish. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is holding public meetings at cities on the Great Lakes this winter to explain the Ruffe Control Program, described as an 11th-hour attempt to contain the fish and protect Great Lakes fisheries from an estimated $7 billion damage.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor: Your article in the January issue titled "Free Park" couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact, Washington County Park Planners have gone to the Metropolitan Council to ask for additional funds because the concept of having it paid for by gravel mining revenues simply will not work.

The park planners had promised the citizens that this project would be on hold until 40 years in the future, when mining was anticipated to be finished. Yet, they are already asking the Metropolitan Council to ask the legislature for additional funds to begin acquisition this year.

I believe the park planners knew that this would be the route they would have to go and misled citizen committees on the park issue to gain approval of the master plan.

Sincerely, Dennis Hanna St. Paul Park, Minn.

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RIVER CALENDAR February Special Events through Feb. 14 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.

3-5 Mississippi Magic, musical performance, Masonic Temple Auditorium, 255 Main St., Winona, 7:30 p.rn. Fri. & Sat., 2:30 p.rn. Sun., $7.50, seniors $6.50, students $5.75.

Call Good Vibrations, (507) 454-8220.

8-12 Greater NW Vacation Show, Mpls . Convention Center.

15 1995 Minnesota fish & wildlife licenses go on sale.

17 Moonlight Snowshowing, Whitewater State Park, Altura, Minn., reservations required. Call Dave Palmquist, (507) 932-3007.

17-19 International Eelpout Festival, Walker, Minn.

28 Minnesota fish houses must be off the ice at night (south of Hwys. 2 & 200).

March 1 Minnesota 1995 game & fish license year begins.

March 5 Eagle Field Trip, Whitewater State Park, Altura, Minn. For reservations, call Dave Palmquist, (507) 932-3007.

January 1995

Workshops, Conferences and Hearings 7 Controlling Erosion During Construction, U.W.-Ext~n­ sion, Eau Claire, $40. Workshop addresses Wisconsin'i new erosion control requirements. Call 608-263-1672.

7 Vonco Demolition Debris Landfill expansion, public meeting for comments on proposed permit, 7 p .rn., Big Lake High School, Big Lake, Minn.

20-22 Farming for Profit, Land & Family, Holistic Resource Management introductory course, Assisi Heights, Rochester, Minn., sponsored by the Land Stewardship Project, $275. Call (612) 269-2105.

20 Bridging the River with a Rainbow of Ideas, Annual Tourism Conference of the Mississippi Valley Partners, 8:45 a.rn. to 3 p.m., Wabasha-Kellogg High School, Wabasha, Minn. Call Wabasha County Extension (612) 565-2662 or 800-385-3103.

21-24 Fifth International Zebra Mussel and Other Aqmtic Nuisance Organisms Conference, Westin Harbour Ca ;tie Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, $295, $135 authors & students.

Call Elizabeth Muckle-Jeffs, 1-800-868-8776.

Angler Education Instructor Workshops, sponsored by the Wisconsin DNR, free, equivalency credits for teachers.

Call Theresa Szabo, (608) 266-2272, or local coordinator.

Feb. 11 Madison, Ron Barefield, (608) 242-5700 Feb. 25 Wilmot, Ron Bonenberger, (414) 862-2331 Mar. 11 Appleton, Torn Keenan, (414) 731-9400 Mar. 25 Eau Claire, Tim Chmelik, (715) 833-7500

Meetings 1-3 A River Runs Through It: Sustaining Wildlife Populations of Minnesota's River Basins, Minn. Chapter of the Wildlife Society annual membership meeting, Kelly Inn, St. Cloud. Call Kurt Haroldson, (507) 642-8478.

2 La Crosse Area River Biologists & Managers, 7 p .rn. -10 p.rn., Heileman Hall, $3. Program on the American paddlefish. Call Pam Thiel, (608) 783-8431.

9 Lower Wis. State Riverway Board, monthly meeting, 5 p.rn., Muscoda, Wis. Call 800-221-3792 or (608) 739-3188.

14-16 Upper Mississippi River Basin Association meetings, Hotel Sofitel, Chicago. Call (612) 224-2880.

14 State Floodplain Management Group 15 Environmental Management Program, Coordinating Committee 16 Quarterly meeting 28 Coulee Region Sierra Club, monthly meeting with presentation by Dianna Brown on national parks and public lands, 7 p.rn., Trane Employee's Credit Union, La Crosse.

March 15-17 Celebrate the River, Upper Mississipi River Conservation Committee annual meeting, Midway Hotel, Dubuque, pre-register by Feb. 15, $50, students $20. Write Bernie Schonhoff, Fairport Fish Hatchery, 3390 Hwy. 22, Muscatine, IA 52761.

March 12-14 Gambling on Your Waterfront: An Objective Look, Waterfront Center workshop, Mills House Hotel, Charleston, S.C. Call Jackie Conn, (202) 338-6657.

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