Big River - December 2000

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

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Cormorant Wars 12

The Grand Excursion

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By Joshua Wolfe

Very Bad Odds Hibbing, Minn. -After several researchers proclaimed that parasites caused the physical deformities in frogs - first reported by a group of Minnesota middle school children five years ago - the issue seemed resolved and fading from public consciousness.

The mystery took a more serious tum this year when two out of three frogs were found to be deformed in a pond near this northern Minnesota town, one of the highest percentages ever seen in the state.

Even more troubling, the deformed frogs aren't likely to survive the winter.

According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, while parasites were found in the pond water, no decisive link was evident. The agency says there are three leading theories - with no clear front-run-

Natural Resources (DNR) reports that recent fisheries studies show a 70- to 90-percent harvest rate for bluegills longer than seven inches on the Mississippi River. As a result, the DNR will host public meetings this December to hear citizens' thoughts on proposed experimental regulations. These regulations, proposed for the Minnesota side only, would impose a 10-fish daily limit on lower Pool 4 (downstream of Reads Landing, Minn.), Pool S (Alma Dam downstream to Minnieska Dam), Pool SA (Minnieska to Goodview) and Pool 8 (Dresbach to Reno). Pools 4 and SA would also have an 8-inch minimum size limit from Nov. 1 to April 30.

"Efforts to try to improve habitats for bluegills and other panfish are ongoing and a high priority, but are often politically and financially

limited. Reducing the impacts due to fishing is the only other feasible option," explained Dan Dieterman, a DNR fisheries specialist at Lake City.

New Model Shakes Old Missouri - Those dismayed by last year's news that the next big Midwestern earthquake was lifetimes away, take heart. You may only have to wait 61 years, according a new theory by earthquake experts.

Scientists from Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology call the problem area an "intraplate zone." The surface beneath the New Madrid fault zone - a 100-mile fissure in Missouri and Arkansas, near the Mississippi - may not be moving much, but the tension underneath is building.

Three powerful earthquakes cen-

Visit the Big River Homepage (www.big-river.com) for links to information about stories marked with the~-

ner - as to what caused the deformities: parasites, ultraviolet radiation, or "something's in the water."

The agency and cooperating scientists don't know if a single factor or a combination of problems is to blame. Regardless, the frogs are in trouble.

Cormorant Wars - Will Congress Declare War?

By Pamela Eyden .......................................... 6

Even Worse Odds

Full Steam Ahead - The Grand Excursion 1854 & 2004

By Trudy Balcom .......................................... 8

Minnesota - If you're an adult bluegill spending the winter deep in the Upper Mississippi, chances are you'll be dragged through a frosty hole and tossed into the ¡ freezing bucket of an amiable blaze orange-bedecked angler this January.

The Minnesota Department of

December 2000

Covering the River since 1993

River Calendar Holiday Light Shows, Bird Counts, Eagle Watches, Boat Shows, Bluegill Meetings ........................................ 12 River Classifieds ........................................... 12 Cover: Cormorants, by Vera Ming Wong, Š 1989.

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tered near New Madrid last shook the fault in 1811 and 1812, because of pressure built up in this intraplate zone.

The new model by the West Coast scientists predicts a time gap between quakes of 250 to 4,000 years. A considerable amount of time to build up a considerable amount of stress.

Flying Zebras?

Rochester - Can zebra mussels fly or swim upstream? Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials confirmed that the impressive little creatures now live in Lake Zumbro, 600 of acres of water held behind a dam on the Zumbro River 10 miles north of Rochester. The DNR also found the harmful exotic species everywhere it looked downstream.

"We found up to a dozen or more mussels attached to each rock we came across," said Gary Montz,

DNR aquatic biologist.

The DNR doesn't know how the exotics reached the lake, the first inland lake infested in Minnesota, but they likely came from a trailered boat taken out of Lake Pepin. Adult zebra mussels attach themselves to any hard surface, like boat hulls and motors, while the microscopic larvae will go for a ride in bait bucket water, live wells and bilges.

You can help stop the spread of zebra mussels by using your boat in one body of water or by cleaning each and every crevice before moving it.

Lake Winona.

"Most plant experts believed that this floating plant would not survive a Minnesota winter, so it was a real surprise to find it growing there," said Nick Proulx, DNR aquatic biologist.

Proulx thought that people with water gardens or aquariums might be to blame, because water lettuce is a popular plant to grow in them.

The plant could have been thrown out of one of the gardens or simply dumped into the lake from an aquarium.

Touch of the Tropics

Wisconsin - Before swatting, just know that the little lady bug is an important predator of aphids and scale in Asia. The hordes of lady bugs that swept through the Upper Midwest this fall are foreigners native to eastern Asia and known as "multicolored Asian lady beetles."

They are indeed imports with pale

Asian-American Lady Bugs

Winona - Feel like the last few winters weren't what they used to be? Water lettuce, an exotic plant found in subtropic and tropical areas of the world, apparently likes the warmer northern temperatures.

In early October, more than 250 of the strange plants were found in

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Big River

December 2000

orange wing covers, 19 spots (some may have only 4-6 or none at all) and a desire to be warm, which is why so many could be found on the south and west sides of buildings about the time of the first frost.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says that unlike their native counterparts who seek shelter individually, the Asian beetles tend to congregate when looking for a cozy winter spot. That spot could be in your house.

Asian lady beetle specimens were first collected in Louisiana in 1988, but they now fly in Minnesota and all states east of the Mississippi River. They were originally brought to this country to control pecan aphids. No word yet though on what species will be brought over to control the imported lady bugs.

Waiting for an Act of Congress Iowa - While members of Congress struggled to pass a budget, David Bolger, a New Jersey man, read in the Des Moines Register that the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF) needed money for a Heritage Addition to the Effigy Mounds National Monument, near Marquette.

Congress and President Clinton authorized the expansion, but Congress didn't appropriate the funds.

The INHF had to pay the landowner in December. Waiting for the appropriation would cost the INHF thousands of dollars in interest. Bolger, obviously good with money, saw the foundation's dilemma and offered to loan the $700,000-plus to them interest-free for up to a year.

The INHF reports that the full $750,000 is now secured in the national budget and needs no further approval.

When the money will actually arrive is anyone's guess, making the gift quite helpful. As a result, the INHF reports that "this project is right on track, and that makes us grateful to many people." David

December 2000

Bolger probably made the list.

Good Causes Need Good Maps A good map will help you find your way. The Iowa Environmental Council got help staying on the path with a recent Conservation Technology Support Program (CTSP) grant from the Mcknight Foundation. The funds provided a GIS computer, color plotter, digital camera and GIS software update.

According to Dan Ray, of the McKnight Foundation, the CTSP wants to help groups, such as land trusts; watershed organizations; groups working to save plant and animal habitats; environmental justice and urban open space groups; Indian tribes; sustainable development groups; and others, with grants of computers and software for GIS mapping. Interested groups have until January 9, 2001 to apply.

Decisions will be made in midApril. ~

World Trade Could Make You Sick Washington, D.C. - Protesters against the World Trade Organization have yet another argument against unencumbered global trading. The Sea Grant's News Media Center reports that researchers at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and Old Dominion University have found that the ballast water discharged by ocean-going ships contains human pathogens with the potential to infect people living in coastal regions.

Lead researcher Gregory Ruiz, from SERC, says that there haven't been any reports of people being sickened by these globe-trotting pathogens, but the potential is there, especially with the rapid increase in global trade.

Excuse Me Cairo, Ill. - If you ever made a mess in the grocery store that

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forced people to wait, don't feel bad. According to The Waterways Journal, on the morning of October 24, one of the lead barges in a tow pushed by the Alois Luhr started rocking and dumped its load of 1,400 tons of rock in the middle of the channel without overturning.

The spill occurred at approximately 8:40 a.m., and blocked the channel for 26 hours.

The tow' s owners removed the rock with one of their own crane barges until it broke and needed assistance from yet another barge.

Twenty-eight waiting vessels continued on their way when the channel finally reopened at 10:30 a.m. the next day.

Coal In Their Stocking Inez, Ky. - Santa's going to fly right by the offices of the Martin County Coal Corporation this Christmas Eve. The corporation's Big Branch Slurry Impoundment, built over an underground mineshaft, poured out 210 million gallons of liquefied coal waste into the Coldwater Fork and Wolf Creek watersheds on Oct. 11. The Waterways Journal (10-30-00) reports that

Big Riverâ&#x201E;˘ Big River (ISSN 1070-8340) is published monthly by Riverwise, Inc., 111 Riverfront, Suite

204, Winona, MN 55987; (507) 454-5949; fax: (507) 454-2133; email: editors@big-river.com; web site: www.big-river.com Reggie McLeod editor/publisher Molly McGuire assistant editor Mi Ae Lipe-Butterbrodt associate editor Trndy Balcom associate editor Jos/1ua Wolfe associate editor Kathy Delano design/marketing design/marketing Holly Dawn Hess office manager Mary Feathergill Subscriptions are $27 for one year, $50 for two years or $2.50 per single issue. Send subscriptions, single copy orders and change-of-

address requests to Big River, PO Box 204, Winona, MN 55987.

Second-class postage paid at Winona, MN. POSTMASTER: send change-of-address re-

quests to Big River, PO Box 204, Winona, MN 55987.

Big River, Volume 8, Number 12 copyright December 2000. Reproduction in whole or in part without wriffe11 permission of the publisher is prohibited. Printed 011 recycled paper.

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the mineshaft "suffered a break" causing the spill, which contaminated nine miles of Coldwater Creek, all of Wolf Creek downstream of the slurry and about 32 miles of Tug Fork.

An Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission spokesman said that the spill had diffused enough to allow crews to leave the site by October 26.

Minnesota Clean St. Paul, Minn. - Karen Studders, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner, would like to see a general awakening of the public to problems with Minnesota's air, land and water.

"We are launching Minnesota Environment to engage citizens in a crucial dialogue about how we will live in the 21st Century. It is a new beginning, a signal of changes to come and, we hope, a call to ac-

tion," according to Studders.

The quarterly publication, printed and on-line, identifies environmental problems and possible solutions. The first edition covers a number of issues, including the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico (partly caused by run-off from Midwestern states), sprawl in northern Minnesota, homeowner tips on reducing winter pollution, the impacts of salt-pile run-off on Minnesota's fish and a profile of an advisory council trying to reduce toxic metals in products made and sold in the state.

Call (651) 296-6619 for a copy or to subscribe.~

Koch Again St. Paul, Minn. -Although Continental Nitrogen & Resources, Rosemount, Minn., paid a $2,500 fine to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), it was a process-

ing unit owned by Koch Petroleum Group that dumped 29,000 gallons of wastewater containing aluminum on the ground January 4 and February 3, 2000.

According to the MPCA, a Koch employee blew the whistle about the dumping from the Koch Sulfuric Acid Unit building located on Continental Nitrogen & Resources' property. Another 8,750 gallons were released into the Mississippi through the sewer system on January 4, 2000. Continental Nitrogen & Resources is liable because the incident occurred on its land, but it might have known better with Koch's recent history of environmental violations at its Rosemount and Corpus Christi, Texas, facilities (see "Koch Back in Court," Big River, November 2000 and "Fine for the Environment," Big River, September 1999).

Journey Through Time ...

At the Winona County Historical Society

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Immerse yourself in the past in the region's largest and finest historical museum.

Enjoy professional exhibits and interesting artifacts, including a hands-on, awardwinning children's exhibit.

Research Winona's colorful past in the museum's library and archives. Also located at the museum is a gift shop, featuring unique gift ideas, as well as a "previously read" bookstore. o0/\. co0

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Big River

December 2000

Iron Seas New Zealand - Recent steel industry complaints that foreign companies are flooding the United States with cheap steel could take on another dimension. According to Petti Fong in Business Week (11-13-00), a multinational group of scientists dumped eight tons of dissolved iron particles into algae-poor waters south of the this island nation. They discovered that the iron was a good fertilizer, causing the algae to increase sixfold. The large algae bloom consumed approximately 10 percent of the dissolved carbon dioxide in the water, allowing an equal amount of the atmospheric gas to be absorbed by the ocean.

The scientists don't intend to use this as a cure to global warming.

Matthew A. Charette, of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, says, "You can dump iron in and increase plankton productivity, but

what happens when you turn pristine ocean into a green swamp?" In other words, don't park the bike just yet.

Swan Fests Alma, Wis. - The tundra swans swooped down into the Rieck's Lake Park, three miles north of Alma on Hwy. 35, on November 1, 2000. The Alma Tundra Swan Watch Organization reports that due to exceptionally warm weather in Canada the swans and other migratory birds are three weeks later than usual.

Lisa McCurdy, Refuge Operations Specialist at the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge, said that last year the peak of the tundra swan migration was in the third week of November and the birds hung around till almost Christmas, when the water finally froze over.

She expects that pattern to be re-

Steve ']-{askin

peated this year.

For those seeking the hot swan spot, McCurdy said the big spot last year was Lake Onalaska, and it appears that this same lake, just north of La Crosse, Wis., will be hot this year as well. McCurdy mentioned the refuge, Weaver Bottoms (across the river from Alma), and Rieck's Lake as other good spots.

For more information, call the Alma Tundra Swan Watch hotline at (608) 685-4249. ~

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Visit the Big River Homepage (www.big-river.com) for links to information about stories marked with the;!:.

Steve Haskin's original "guitar pieces really do evoke the sense of an afternoon on the banks of the Big Muddy, with subtle references to the many musics that border the Mississippi. " - Dirty Linen A compact disc is available by calling 612-729-2984 .

Each song is a wonderful excursion "into the inner space created by strings on fine wood and the soft wail of an old harp." - Blues Review

December 2000

'Mississ~yi ยงoin' 'By Big River

5

Cormorant Wars

By Pamela Eyden

O

n the Upper Mississippi, double-crested cormorants are most noticeable in the fall, when they migrate from their nesting areas in the Great Lakes basin to their wintering grounds along the Gulf Coast. These large, black, long-necked, hook-beaked, water birds are interesting to watch - hundreds crowding the branches of island trees or flying low over the water in long strings. After a few weeks they' re gone again.

That's why it's hard to understand the rumors of war coming from other parts of the country.

Mass slaughters, protests from catfish farmers and a proposed new hunting law are part of a broader picture of anger and antagonism against cormorants that has been growing for two decades.

In April 1999, three guides and seven fishermen in Watertown, NY, pleaded guilty to the slaughter of

Biologists call them "opportunistic piscivores," which means they aren't choosey - they'll eat whatever's plentiful and easy to catch.

2,000 double-crested cormorants on

Little Galloo Island in eastern Lake Ontario. The 10 were fined $2,500 each and sentenced to six months probation. Some say they were treated like local heroes after they left the courthouse.

In June 2000, about 500 cormorants and several dozen ringbilled gulls and chicks were shot on a National Wildlife Refuge in Lake Huron's Saginaw Bay, Michigan.

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No one has yet been apprehended.

On the other side of the law, Congressman Collin Peterson (OMinn., 7th Dist.) introduced a bill this summer that would allow states to establish hunting seasons on double-crested cormorants. The bill passed the Resources Committee on September 20, but did not come to a vote in the House before the election recess.

Peterson is not afraid to speak plainly about cormorants: "Personally, if the cormorants were wiped out, I would not think that was a bad thing," he said. "I don't know what useful purpose they serve."

(Associated Press, 6-8-00) (Peterson did not return calls from Big River regarding his proposed legislation.)

Why the violence and rhetoric?

Some anglers and fish farm operators see the cormorant as a direct competitor for valuable fish, and they've become frustrated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) for protecting a bird they say is destroying businesses. The FWS points to evidence that cormorants are not responsible for an excessive loss of game fish. Cormorants, they say, are being blamed for a lot of

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other environmental changes that affect fish populations and "catchability." Nonetheless, the complaints are growing louder.

In November 1999, the FWS published a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and national management plan for the double-crested cormorant, which would address many of the concerns. The fact that the House Resources Committee chose not to wait for the EIS and the management plan illustrates its growing impatience.

Delta Buffet Flamboyant news stories refer to cormorants as "lean, mean fishing machines," and "a menace with voracious appetite." What and how much do they eat?

There are six species of cormorant in North America; all are excellent divers and fishers. The double-crested cormorant is the most common. They mature in four or five years, live 20 to 30 years, and eat about a pound of fish per day, although they'll take twice that if it's available. Biologists call them "opportunistic piscivores," which means they aren't choosey - they'll

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eat whatever's plentiful and easy to catch.

In the Upper Mississippi they eat golden shiners, gizzard shad, bass, pike, redhorse and suckers. In Lake Erie, they eat freshwater drum in the spring and young gizzard shad in the fall - the same fish, in the same proportions as those found in trawl catches. They also take young fish released from hatcheries into the Great Lakes. They eat bait fish grown on Minnesota baitfish farms.

They eat catfish from catfish farms.

The FWS in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that cormorants take from three to seven percent of the annual catfish crop in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. Some people say the bite is bigger than that. According to one estimate in the Delta Farm News, the state of Mississippi hosts about 65,000 cormorants during the winter. Each bird consumes an average of 1.5 pounds of fish, which includes 0.6 pounds of catfish, each day for 120 days. At $.75 per pound, that's a $5.85 million dollar loss in Mississippi alone.

Recognizing the damage cormorants can do to young fish confined in shallow pools, the FWS granted a depredation order to 12 states, allowing fish farm operators to kill cormorants "stealing" fish.

However, this measure hasn't solved the problem, and now operators are protesting the expense.

One catfish farmer in Arkansas said he hires five full-time workers to drive three trucks and two fourwheelers, shooting 100 cases of shotgun shells a year. On top of that he has to repair the pond dikes and bury the birds.

"Cormorants cost us about 2 of the 6 cents per pound of profit we make - that's the bottom line," said Carl Jeffers of Top Cat Fishery in Portland, Arkansas (Delta Farm News, 4-2-99).

From the cormorants' point of view, though, they are just doing what they've always done; it's the

landscape that's changed. Before the collapse of the cormorant population in the 1960s from DDT and other organic pesticides, cormorants stayed close to the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast, feeding on native fish. In the last few decades, the forests and backwaters were turned into hundreds of thousands of acres of catfish ponds. The birds still roost in traditional sites, but they fly many miles just to catch dinner in the catfish ponds.

Another factor in the conflict is the fact that there are a lot more cormorants around than there were a few years ago - in fact, more cormorants in some areas than ever be-

fore. Cormorants have rebounded well from their near-extinction. The Great Lakes group has grown by 22 percent or more per year. From a low of 89 breeding pairs, they have grown to 93,000 pairs, according to the House of Representatives' report accompanying the hunting bill.

The FWS agrees that the cormorant population is at historic highs because of protection, the banning of DDT and ample food in both summer and winter areas. This has created a number of hot spots in the north.

Green Bay, Wisconsin, is one such hot spot. In 1970, concerned volunteers gathered utility poles and got the county to plow an ice road onto the lake so they could set up nesting platforms for the re-

maining 48 pairs of cormorants. The grader crashed through the ice, but the platforms went up. Today, the area hosts 14,000 nesting pairs of cormorants.

In the Upper Mississippi Valley, however, there aren't nearly as many cormorants as there were before DDT. About 2,500 pairs nested in the Upper Mississippi River region before DDT; there are 700 pairs today. In a good year, 3,000 to 4,000 cormorants migrate through the river valley. This is nothing compared to the flocks of 80,000 to 90,000 that "blackened the sky" earlier in the century.

Sport or Revenge The FWS expects to release its Environmental Impact Statement in February 2001, after several years of research and public meetings. After a period of public comment, the Management Plan will be released.

Options include: allowing more depredation permits; training hatchery fish to feed deeper in the water; destroying eggs at specified nesting areas, and harassing cormorants to keep them from nesting or roosting in troubled areas.

"A range of alternatives will be considered in the EIS, one of which will be hunting," notes Steve Lewis, FWS non-game bird coordinator for the Upper Mississippi. "Until we complete that process, we cannot formulate an opinion on the pending legislation."

A hunting solution, as proposed

by Congressman Peterson's bill, ,, does not seem plausible. The idea is not even popular among hunters.

Dave Otto, a sports columnist in Green Bay, summed it up this way: "Much as I dislike cormorants ...

Sport hunting is not the way to go.

A lot of people, including this scribbler, feel you should kill only game you will eat. I can't think of anything more distasteful than a bowl of cormorant stew," (Green Bay Press Gazette-News, 6-11-00).

"If there is a hunting season, (Cormorants continues on page 11)

December 2000

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Full Steam Ahead The Grand Excursion 1854 & 2004

By Trudy Balcom

W

e Americans are a pack of wanderers who love the sensation of discovery.

The thrill of the new and unknown and the promise of the possible will send us off to pack our bags; for a vacation or a lifetime. The fever pitch of this kind of excitement scorched the shores of the Upper Mississippi for a week in June 1854, when a throng of 1,200 merry visitors got their first look at the river and its valley. The Grand Excursion brought the curious and adventuresome from Chicago to the Falls of St. Anthony, in Minneapolis, to celebrate the completion of the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad from Chicago to the Mississippi at Rock Island.

The arrival of the railroad at the Mississippi was akin to the driving of the Golden Stake completing the first transcontinental railroad in Utah 15 years later. It was a tremendous accomplishment connecting the frontier not only to Chicago, but to the eastern seaboard through a

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network of rails and steamboats.

Suddenly it was possible to travel from New York or Boston to the Mississippi in safety and comfort in only a few days, instead of enduring weeks or months of hardship travelling by wagon through a wilderness with few towns, bad or non-existent roads and numerous dangers.

To celebrate this event, promote their business and showcase the region, rail line builders J.E. Sheffield and Henry Farnum invited eastern writers, prominent citizens and the general public to a free train and steamboat excursion from Chicago to St. Paul. The response was tremendous.

And so it was that over 30 newspaper reporters, a former Illinois governor, Harvard professors and former president Millard Fillmore and his daughter were among more than a thousand people who boarded 18 gaily decorated passenger cars in Chicago on the morning of June 5, 1854, bound for Rock Island.

In Rock Island, extra steamboats

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were hired to accommodate everyone for the trip upstream. Even with seven steamers, the conditions would be crowded. A few hundred

The trip underway was to become perhaps the biggest media event of the pre-Civil War era. travellers returned to Chicago, rather than continue on. But for those who boarded, the excitement was just beginning.

"None of that happy company, who thence pursued their way up the river, will ever forget the moment when our fine steamers, their bows wreathed in prairie flowers and evergreens, left, one after the other, their mooring at Rock Island, and sailed, with music on their decks .. . lighted by the moon, and saluted by the gay fireworks from the Old Fort," (Fort Armstrong) wrote Catherine M. Sedgewick in Steamboat photo courtesy of St. Paul Riverfront Corporation.

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an article in Putnam's Monthly Magazine. The trip underway was to become perhaps the biggest media event of the pre-Civil War era.

History Repeated The smoldering embers of the fires lit that day in the steamboat's boilers will be ignited again in 2004. The St. Paul Riverfront Corporation, a nonprofit St. Paul redevelopment organization, is spearheading a campaign to organize a celebration of the Upper Mississippi's beauty and its communities, called the Grand Excursion 2004. The scope of it threatens to rival the major events of our time.

The idea for a new Grand Excursion crystallized back in 1994 when amateur historian and St. Paul city employee Mark VanderSchaff shared the story of the original Grand Excursion with people connected to the Riverfront Corporation. The Grand Excursion was reincarnated at Riverfront. With so much redevelopment all along the Upper Mississippi, so much renewed interest and excitement about the river, why not focus this energy on a re-enactment spotlighting the region to the rest of the country?

"The Upper Mississippi is no less valuable than any other natural asset, such as Boston Harbor, San Francisco Bay, Puget Sound, even the Grand Canyon," notes Patrick Seeb, executive director of the St. Paul Riverfront Corporation. "Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent in riverfront redevelopment. The Grand Excursion 2004

December 2000

gives us an opportunity to showcase the transformation of our communities," he said.

Char Mason is guiding the preliminary organization of the event for Riverfront. She has studied the successes and failures of 15 other major national events, such as the Tall Ships festivals in New York Harbor, Tall Stacks in Cincinnati, and some of the recent state sesquicentennial and centennial events. "The goals are lofty, they are big. We want something to really celebrate," she explained.

It's a big job. The excursion will likely grow to include nearly every town on the river from the Quad Cities to Minneapolis. The Grand Excursion 2004 will be much more than a steamboat cruise, although a flotilla of steamboats will likely be the capstone of the event. About 30 communities have committed to (Above) 13th president Millard Fillmore and his daughter were the ranking celebrities on the 1854 Grand Excursion.

(Bel'1w) The River Discovery Center will open in Dubuque in 2002 and will feature 15 aquariums and a "boat and breakfast" renovated steamboat at anchor. (courtesy of America's River Partnership)

of River Action, a non-profit organization based in Davenport, Iowa. In September, River Action hosted a Grand Excursion 2004 Sign-On Party, which successfully enlisted people from a variety of organizations.

The Quad Cities plans to dazzle visitors in 2004. For example, the Davenport Museum of Art is slated to relocate to the riverfront and host an exhibit of mid-19th century American art, the State Street Landing in Bettendorf, Iowa, plans a new development that will include riverfront recreation areas and a performing arts center; and Rock Island, Illinois, plans to develop a riverfront garden, called North Garden, as an addition to the Quad City Botanical Garden. Other possible events are also being planned, including a possible rail excursion from Chicago, a pleasure craft flotilla and a bike tour.

Dubuque is also jumping on board and will make a big splash with its new $178 million development called America's River. The complex will include the River Discovery Center and Aquarium (a Mississippi River natural history museum), the National Mississippi River Education and Conference Center, and other developments connected to the waterfront with docks and links to an 18-mile trail system. It's all slated for completion late in 2002, plenty of time to work out the kinks before 2004.

participate, so far. The main activities are tentatively scheduled for August and September 2004.

People in the Quad Cities area take their responsibilities as the starting point for the event very seriously. "We've accepted the challenge that St. Paul offered us," said Kathy Wine

Big River

9

caught off-guard by the early arrival of the first Grand Excursion.

There was no party at the waterfront to greet the guests.

"Who would have ever thought we'd get a second chance to make it right," said Chris Oshikata, community relations director for St. Paul Riverfront Corporation.

To make it right, St. Paul will plan a weekend or a week-long festival on its renovated shores, which sport the new Science Museum, a new convention center, the new Wabasha Street Bridge and the rehabilitated park at Harriet Island.

St. Anthony Falls, in downtown Minneapolis, was an original destination, too. Its waterfront will be home to a new history museum, Mill Ruins Park, and a major new hotel and indoor water park complex in the old Milwaukee Road train depot on the riverbank. Events there will likely center around the already renovated Stone Arch Bridge.

Further upstream, the Mississippi Valley Partners, an organization that promotes the villages that ring Lake Pepin in Minnesota and Wisconsin, has plans of its own. This group organizes the wildly popular 85-Mile Garage Sale, in which many of the residents of the participating towns hold garage sales on the first weekend in May. Arlene Storeby, a gallery owner in Stockholm, Wis., and a board member of Mississippi Valley Partners, proposed the idea of an 800-mile garage sale, possibly called "Mrs. Fillmore's Closet."

In Red Wing, Bob Musil of the Convention and Visitors Bureau says that his town "jumped on the idea" of the Grand Excursion, and they plan to position the city as a key stop on the route of the steamboat flotilla. Plans include renovating Levee Park and extending the Cannon Valley Bike Trail to the waterfront.

The Twin Cities is, of course, the final destination. St. Paul was

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Trudy Balcom is an associate editor of Big River. Her last story was "Eternity on the River, " October 2000.

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Whew. It's a good thing everyone still has a few years to get ready, because most of the events and some of the new developments are still in the planning stages. Each town will plan its own events, and there will likely be stiff competition between cities. But a major goal of this effort is to create new partnerships between cities and towns and organizations all up and down the river.

A Grand Excursion 2004 web site is under construction to help with the planning. Later, the site will guide tourists to the schedules and trip planning.

With the time, energy and money being invested, the Grand Excursion 2004 should be a party to remember. Maybe even 150 years from now. = .$..

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Winter Hours Open Thursday - Sunday Serving Lunch 11-5, Dinner 5-9 Suites Available 7 days a week

· Fine dining-American, Italian, Mexican and vegetarian entrees, grilled fish, steaks, pastas, delectable desserts.

Smoke-free indoors since 1994.

• Luxury Suites in the restored Doc West House adjacent to the Hotel are great for getaways. Each has a Jacuzzi, fireplace, and a beautiful view of the Mississippi River and Lock & Dam #6. · The Pines Cottage-On the Hotel grounds with Jacuzzi, kitchenette and deck with a beautiful view of the Mississippi River, Minnesota bluffs and Lock & Dam #6. · Eight cozy riverview rooms-European-style (shared bath), modest rates.

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Big River

December 2000

,,

(Cormorants continued from page 7)

hunters will be killing cormorants because they hate them. That's the wrong reason to hunt. It smacks of the bad old days when bounties were paid on everything from wolves to rattlesnakes."

Cormorants who prowl fish farms will probably be treated differently than cormorants who catch wild fish in open waters. Shooting cormorants just because anglers resent the competition doesn't make sense to a lot of people.

"Even if double-crested cormorants were shown to have a major impact on perch populations, it is doubtful that a control program would be socially acceptable," said an unidentified Michigander in response to a FWS Survey. "It would be like advocating the control of hawk and owl populations so more pheasants are put in the hunter's bag."

Gabe Ranallo, who has fished on the Mississippi River near La

Crosse since 1965, echoes this sentiment. "I caught a ten-pound northern in Lake Onalaska the other day, and there was an eight-inch sauger inside it. That northern probably

"People will tolerate pretty white birds that have poems written about them longer than they'll tolerate an ugly, black bird with a hooked beak and a prehistoric, villainous look. "

day he might blame the cormorants."

Steve Lewis, FWS non-game bird coordinator for the Upper Mississippi, wonders how much of the cormorant's problems is due to its appearance. "People will tolerate pretty white birds that have poems written about them longer than they'll tolerate an ugly, black bird with a hooked beak and a prehistoric, villainous look."

"Instead of focusing on all the migratory birds that are declining," said Lewis, "I get to spend my time on the one that's doing very well."= Pamela Eyden lives in Winona, Minn. Her last story was A Good Year for Falcons (September 2000).

II

has more impact on other game fish than cormorants do ... Why single out cormorants? Why not shoot pelicans? I haven't heard complaints about pelicans either, but a lousy fisherman is always going to blame something - usually it's the weather, but if he's having a really bad

PAPERBACK EXCHANGE • Sell & Trade used paperbacks • Bestseller rentals • Gifts & Candles

11

Photos by Bill Drazkowski.

A Great Gift Everyone has family stories that have been handed down from parents and grandparents. Will your children remember those marvelous stories and pass that heritage on to the next generations?

You are the best source of your stories. You probably should write them down-but maybe you haven't tried because you think you "can't write."

Sure you can! This book was written for folks like you. It encourages you and gives examples.

Try the ideas and help in this easy-to-read guide so the generations to come can enjoy the old stories you grew up on.

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Passing Your Heritage On:

A Guide to Writing Your Family Stories

Tuesday-Friday 10-6 Saturday 10-4 79 East 3 rd Street Winona, MN 55987 (507) 452-5580

December 2000

Second Edition

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Big River

Mail Check or MC/Visa numbers to:

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ii

Special Events & Festivals

December 1-Dec. 30 Symphony of Lights, Eagle Point Park, Clinton, Iowa.

1-Dec. 31 Holiday Lights, 5 p.m. -10 p.m., Riverside Park, La Crosse, Wis. 1-3 Ice Fishing Show, River Centre, St. Paul, Minn., 1-800-451-8360.

2 Old Fashioned Christmas, Maiden Rock, Wis., (715) 448-4500.

2-3 Stockholm (Wis.) Country Christmas.

16 Christmas Bird Count, 7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., Winona, Minn., (507) 457-9998.

22 Christmas Bird Count, Dubuque, Iowa, (319) 588-2783.

31 Lights of the Season Fireworks, midnight, Davenport, Iowa.

1-Dec. 31 "Black Earth/Big River," Putnam Museum, Davenport, Iowa.

January 7 Riverside Snowshoe Hike, 1 p.m., W. Coon Rapids Dam, Brooklyn Center, Minn., (763) 424-8172.

10-14 Sportsmen's Boat, Camping & Vacation Show, River Centre, St. Paul,

Minn., (612) 755-8111, (651) 265-4800.

13 Lock and Dam 11, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., 1-800-798-8844, (319) 582-0881.

17-21 Boat Show, Minneapolis Convention Center, Minneapolis, Minn.

13 Programs, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., Marshall School, Dubuque, Iowa, 1-800-7988844, (319) 582-0881.

20-21 River Winterland Festival, Red Wing, Minn., (651) 385-5934.

13-14 Lock & Dam 14 and Mississippi Valley Welcome Center, Le Claire, Iowa, (309) 788-7800, (319) 289-3009.

21-23 Quad City Boat, Fishing & Vacation Show, Davenport, Iowa.

Eagle Watches

20 Lock & Dam 16, 8 a.m. - 1 p.m., (319) 263-7913.

Through March, Saturdays and Sundays, 1 p.m. - 3 p.m., staffed platform, spotting scopes, Wabasha, Minn., (612) 5654989, (651) 290-1695.

Meetings & Hearings December 7 Lower Wis. Riverway Board, 5 p.m., Kratochwill Memorial Building, Muscoda, Wis., 1-800-221-3792.

January Saturdays & Sundays, Wildlife Observation Deck, Riverside Park, Cassville, Wis., (608) 725-5855.

14 Dubuque Audubon Society, 7 p.m., E.B. Lyons Interpretive Center.

6 Lock & Dam 13, near Fulton, Ill., 8 a.m.

- 4 p.m., (815) 259-3628.

Minnesota Bluegill Regulations December Public Meetings

6 Albany (Ill.) Boat Landing, 8 a.m. noon, (815) 259-3628.

(651) 345-3365

4 Winona, 6 p.m., Elks Lodge.

5 Wabasha, 6:30 p.m., VFW Club.

6 Hastings, 6:30 p.m., Pleasant Hill Library.

7 La Crescent, 6:30 p.m., Community Building. ffi

6 Program, 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Clinton (Iowa) Community College, (815) 2593628.

6-7 QCCA Expo Center,Rock Island, Ill., (309) 794-5338.

Classifieds Help Mississippi Valley Conservancy conserve bluffland and other unique areas in western Wisconsin by becoming a member.

For information: MVC, PO Box 2611, La Crosse, WI 54602-2611, (608) 784-3606.

Do you need to sell a canoe, houseboat or bass boat? Interested in buying or selling riverfront property? Want to advertise your rivertown bed & breakfast? Maybe looking for a companion for your next river adventure?

Subscribers to Big River get a free 30 word classified ad .

Non-subscribers pay 10 cents per word. Email your ad to ads@big-river.com. Or, you can mail us your typewritten ad.

Include your name, address, phone number and the 4 or 5-digit subscriber number from the address label, if you are a subscriber.

Send ads to: Big River, P.O. Box 204, Winona MN 55987 Please submit your ad three weeks prior to the month in which the ad will run. You will need to resubmit the ad if it's a free ad and you want it to run more than one month.

More effective than a message in a bottle. Give a gift subscription to Big River to your favorite river rat, or to your local library or school. Share the river 12 months a year. We cover the waterfront from St. Cloud, Minn., to Davenport, Iowa. Each issue includes a calendar of events, up-to-date news and stories about every aspect of the river.

Call us at 1-800-303-8201 or fax us at (507) 454-2133 to order a oneyear subscription for $27, or a two-year subscription for $50.

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800-657-4972 visitwinona.com

ž December 2000

Big River Reader Featuring stories on river wildlife, history and ecology, as well as people living and working on the Upper Mississippi, the Big River Reader shows what our magazine and the river are all about.

Introduce the Big River Reader to a friend or settle down for some fine fall reading.

f~=

An Anthology of Sto~es abou~ the Upper Mississipp~.

First Four Years of ig

Subscribe to Big River Enjoy the river 12 months a year with the monthly magazine for people who work, live or play on the Upper Mississippi River. We cover the waterfront from St. Cloud, Minn., to Davenport, lowc\.

Each issue includes a calendar of events, up-to-date news and stories about every aspect of the river. $27.00 for one year (#BR-27) $50.00 for two years (#BR-28)

No sales tax on subscriptions.

Published by Big River, softcover, 200 pages. $15.95 (#BR-11) (+$1.50 shipping)

1-800-303-8201 Fishing for Buffalo

By Rob Buffler and Tom Dickson

Learn the secrets and the fun of pursuing the fish that other anglers ignore.

With its abundance of illustrations and information, this book will introduce you to a new world of fishing. We recently discovered some slightly scuffed copies of this delightful out-of-print book written by two accomplished outdoorsmen. Recipes are included - Yum! Published by Culpepper Press, softcover, 206 pages. $13.45 (includes 10% discount for less-than-perfect condition)

(BR #13) (+$1.75 for shipping)

BIG RIVER MARKETPLACE ORDER FORM Return this form with your check or credit card information to: Big River, PO Box 204, Winona, MN 55987 Or phone 1-800-303-8201 or fax (507) 454-2133 for credit card orders during normal business hours Item#

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Call us at l-800-303-8201 between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. or fill out the order form on the inside back cover. See more gift ideas on our website: www.big-river.com

The Upper Mississippi: A River Worth Preserving An amazing amount of information is packed into this beautifully illustrated poster. Artist Julia Crozier shows habitat flora and fauna of the Upper Mississippi. Perfect for teachers, learners and river lovers.

A cooperative project between the Mississippi River Revival and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, 3 ft. by 2 ft.

$10.00 (#BR-2) ( +$1.50 shipping)

Big River Mug Our white porcelain mug features our familiar blue heron masthead and holds enough liquid for the serious coffee or hot chocolate drinker.

Enjoy your hot drinks as you contemplate the river rolling by. $7.95 for one (#BR-3) (+$2.00 shipping) $39.95 set of six (#BR-4) (+$6.00 shipping)