Island hopping: Group wants to buy Mississippi River islands for public use

The tree-line silhouette of Burnham Island is a giant, rising high above the pebbles and sand of the now-dry channel bed that runs along its eastern side.

In times of higher water the island's 1,136 acres of nearly untouched forest across the river from Commerce, Mo., would be surrounded by water, a huge landmass in the middle of a huge river, the Mississippi.

But in early March it's possible to cross the desolate plain where the water once flowed and will flow again. And it's easy to climb to the island's crest and walk through its 1,000-plus woody, pristine acres.

The only problem is that being on privately owned Burnham Island is trespassing.

But if the American Land Conservancy has its way Burnham and six other islands in the Mississippi between Cape Girardeau County and Arkansas will soon be in the public domain, available for recreational use and conservation purposes.

The process could take nearly two years, but when that time period is over the ALC hopes to have all seven islands run by governmental agencies. ALC vice president Jennifer Frazier wants to facilitate creation of what she calls a "string of pearls" for biologists and recreation enthusiasts.

"The river is a huge component of who we are as a population in this country," said Frazier. Quoting a colleague, she calls the Mississippi the "best hidden secret in plain sight."

People living along the banks of the Mississippi in Southeast Missouri don't seem to understand the recreational value the river provides, said Frazier.

Above the river's confluence with the Missouri River, recreation in the pooled areas is hugely important, said Frazier. Of course the middle Mississippi, that area between St. Louis and Cairo, Ill., is a much different river. Where the upper Mississippi is controlled by locks and dams that create a pooling effect, the middle Mississippi is more free flowing, more dangerous.

But plenty of opportunity to foster recreational activities exists, said Frazier, given the right perspective.

"It seems that around here people have this idea of 'Stay off the river because it will kill you,'" Frazier said. "That's not necessarily true, but this river's nothing to be messed with."

The islands are formed by water flowing through side channels that are much more calm than the river's main channel. Those channels would allow for safe navigation and docking on the islands for experienced boaters with the right size watercraft, Frazier said.

The seven islands total nearly 7,000 acres of land that is currently used for nothing. For decades, in some cases going back to the 1980s, they were owned by Mead Westvaco, then Escanaba Timber, with the idea of harvesting hybrid cottonwood plantations for pulp.

Harvesting didn't work out for the islands, and a private corporation called Cypress Creek out of Sturgis, Ky., closed a purchase of the lands in December.

Bill Cavins with Cypress Creek said the purchase by the ALC would create an all-around positive situation -- his company gets fair market price for its land, and the land goes to good use.

The ALC has a one-year option to be the top-priority buyer of the land, but the organization needs to find a public agency to buy the islands. Those talks haven't happened yet.

Bringing the "string of pearls" into the public domain is only one of many projects, involving many agencies, that are trying to turn the middle Mississippi into a booming home for recreation and conservation.

Like Frazier, state and federal conservation agencies and not-for-profit, conservation-minded organizations see great potential for the middle Mississippi.

The Middle Mississippi River Partnership is a collaboration of 15 such entities working toward that exact purpose, said Robert Cail, refuge manager for the federal Middle Mississippi River Wildlife Refuge.

"It's a really promising partnership," said Cail. "We all have our separate areas of focus, but when we come together it brings all those different areas of expertise to one table and offers folks in the community an opportunity to look at a number of different options.

"The beauty of it is, though we all come from various authorities and funding levels and directions, we're all focusing on the Middle Miss."

Here's how the partnership often works: Not-for-profits like the ALC, Ducks Unlimited, the Nature Conservancy and others purchase property from willing sellers in the private market and then sell the land to government agencies interested in conservation and recreation.

The ALC's focus is largely on land in the Mississippi River floodplain, where it has worked to transform 25,000 acres of marginal flood-prone agricultural land between the river's levees into bottomland hardwood wetlands.

Cail said the role of these non-profit organizations is extremely important in bringing lands to the public domain. An estimated 98 percent of lands along the river are privately owned, according to the ALC.

The best way to bring those lands into the public domain is to purchase from willing sellers, said Cail, something these organizations specialize in.

In addition to the recreational benefits, the opportunities for wildlife habitat restoration are numerous.

Waterfowl and migratory birds take advantage of these wetlands -- not just ducks and geese but eagles and other birds. And the side channels along river islands make great spawning grounds for fish species like the pallid sturgeon.

The process could take several years to complete, but in the end the organizations involved in the Middle Mississippi project hope to create the kind of access to the river and wildlife habitat restoration private ownership has hindered.

And those recreation and conservation opportunities can turn into big dollar signs.

Frazier said one of the most important, tangible benefits to public acquisition of river wetlands like the islands is economic. A beefed up tourism industry that focuses on the river could provide jobs for relatively unskilled work populations and create new business opportunities for the area.

Boaters, fishermen, hunters and other recreationists taking advantage of the "string of pearls" would need fuel and supplies. Those things would be supplied by river towns like Cape Girardeau, and those recreationists may stop to explore the towns along the way, especially those with historic significance.

Chuck Martin, executive director of the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau, said his organization wants the river to become a more important part of tourism in the area.

"We certainly have hung our hat on it as the Convention and Visitors Bureau," said Martin. "Our history is linked and intertwined with the river, and anything we can do to establish that idea is a must."

Access is a scarce commodity on the Middle Mississippi, said Frazier. Even if the "string of pearls" comes into the public domain, people need a way to reach them.

Improvements currently underway at the Red Star boat access in Cape Girardeau could help improve access in Cape Girardeau, with a new double-boat ramp and improved facilities on the land, said Martin.

If similar projects could take place up and down the river and the land is acquired by public agencies, Frazier looks forward to the day when the Middle Mississippi becomes a recreation destination much like the Upper Mississippi.

One day maybe Burnham Island won't be so empty.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182