CONSERVATION ASPECTS OF RIVER DISCUSSED AT PANEL MEETING HERE

More than 100 members of the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee braved near-freezing temperatures Wednesday afternoon to view a portion of the Mississippi river here.

The group, part of more than 150 conservation biologists, engineers, law enforcement personnel and recreation specialists who are in Cape Girardeau for the 52nd annual meeting of the committee, participated on a boat ride up the Mississippi on the Corps of Engineers buoy tender Pathfinder.

"Actually, the ride was shortened," said Robert Hrabik of the open river field station at Jackson. "We were going to take a two-hour tour, but because of falling temperatures it was cut to about an hour."

Temperatures in Cape Girardeau -- in the mid-to-high 60s Tuesday -- dropped from 44 degrees at 6 a.m. Wednesday to near freezing by the 2:30 p.m. tour.

Most of people here are from the Upper Mississippi River areas, although a few representatives from the Lower Mississippi River are attending the conference.

"Many had never seen the Mississippi at this point," said Hrabik. "Among topics discussed were recreational and commercial attractions of the river at this point, comparing them to areas farther north along the river."

The Upper Mississippi extends more than 850 miles from Cairo, Ill., to the river's start at Anthony Falls near Minneapolis, Minn. The upper river is popular for recreation and is expected to become more popular.

An upper river monitoring program of fish, water quality and vegetation has been under way for the past five years, with a goal of recommendations on means of improving recreation. The "Research on the River" projects are designed to balance increased commercial navigation with other economic, environmental and recreational resources.

The Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee is composed of state conservation agencies from Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.

Issues being discussed at this year's convention -- river uses, habitat, water quality -- apply to both the upper and lower river and to a broad spectrum of river users.

Several speakers are discussing a number of topics during the two-day event.

Ron Nassar of Vicksburg, Miss., coordinator of the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Commission, and Stephen F. Cobb, Army Corps of Engineers, Lower Mississippi Valley Division, Vicksburg, Miss., were among Tuesday speakers along with Dr. Bob Sheenhan, Cooperative Fisheries Research Laboratory, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale; Dan McGinnis, administrative director of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission at Hudson, Wis.; and Ted Illston, Northeast-Midwest Institute, Washington, D.C.

Speakers today include Dan Sallee, Illinois Department of Natural Resources; John E. Tibbs, University of Missouri-Columbia; Jeff Janvrin, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources; Bob Gates, SIU-Carbondale; and Larry LaJeone of Commonwealth Edison, Cordova, Ill.