Improvements sought along Mississippi River

Though primarily aimed north of St. Louis, a recently introduced piece of federal legislation that addresses navigation and ecosystem restoration along the upper Mississippi River may have effects that filter their way downstream to Southeast Missouri.

The Senate bill authorizes $2.3 billion for seven new locks and $1.46 billion for ecosystem restoration along the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

The bill was co-sponsored by Missouri senators Kit Bond and Jim Talent. Rob Ostrander with Bond's office said the initial purpose of the bill was to secure the economic future of the region by modernizing the Mississippi's lock and dam system, thereby maintaining the river's shoreline and inland ports.

"Senator Bond was also committed to writing a bill that included strong support for ecosystem restoration projects to help affected communities in Missouri," Ostrander said.

Although technically in the region referred to as the upper Mississippi, Southeast Missouri will not be directly impacted by the navigation element of the two-pronged bill. Most of the river's lock and dam system is located north of St. Louis. However, representatives of the Nature Conservancy, a national conservation organization, said that parts of Southeast Missouri will be affected by the second part of the bill, which seeks to return the rivers to functional, sustainable ecosystems.

"Over a century of neglect has caused the shores, backwaters, flood plains and islands along the Mississippi used as habitats for a variety of wildlife to decline," said Ted Illston, senior policy advisor with the conservancy.

The goal now is to restore these habitats through river and shoreline restoration so that birds, fish and other animals can flourish and coexist with the humans who will simultaneously work to improve the river's navigability for their own use. The bill will do so primarily through promotion of restoration projects such as island building, construction of fish passages, flood plain restoration, water level management, backwater restoration, side channel restoration, wing dam and dike restoration and modification, island and shoreline protection, topographical diversity, dam point control, use of dredged material for environmental purposes, tributary confluence restoration and spillway modification to benefit the environment.

According to Michael Reuter, chief conservation officer for the conservancy in Illinois and the upper Mississippi coordinator, the project will also provide landowners along the rivers with resources and incentives to approach land management in a way that regards interaction with the wildlife that inhabit those lands.

Although details of specific incentives have yet to be worked out, Reuter indicated that the program would probably provide for things like management agreements with local levee districts that allow conservationists access at certain times. In some cases, it may even allow the government to purchase easements from private owners along the river so that habitat reserves could be established.

Reuter said that it would also mean ecological preservation projects at strategic points such as tributaries, side channels and bottom-land forests, where certain wildlife make their homes.

Illston said this legislation provides a strong foundation for restoration, but it won't happen overnight. As he said, it took 100 years of neglect to get to this point of decline, it will take years to rebuild.

The bill itself only authorizes a 15-year restoration program, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimated about 50 years would be required to reverse the negative impacts of a century of neglect.

trehagen@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137