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Environmental Issues in the Piasa Palisades Group Region | |
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Air Quality
River Clean Ups Mississippi Earthtones Festival
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Lying at the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois rivers, the Piasa Palisades region of downstate Illinois is a unique ecosystem that contains the beautiful oak-hickory forests of Pere Marquette State Park, the historic Great River Road Scenic Byway, and rich riverine floodplains. Wintering bald eagles roost along the forested limestone bluffs of the Mississippi River while endangered yellow-crowned night herons nest in this area’s fertile wetlands. Unfortunately, this region is part of the St. Louis metropolitan area, putting critical wetland and floodplain habitat at risk from encroaching urban sprawl. Subdivisions and shopping centers now outnumber contiguous forests, industrial farming poses a growing threat to water quality and natural resources, and polluting industries harm the region’s air quality. Preserving Natural Resources and Strengthening Our CommunitiesThe Piasa Palisades Group of the Sierra Club has been active in Madison, Jersey, and Calhoun counties for the past 37 years. With more than 700 members, an established network of activists led by a devoted nine-member executive committee, and positive working relationships with local administrative decision-makers, this group has long been an environmental leader in downstate Illinois. Through its Three Rivers Project, the Piasa Palisades Group has spent the past ten years working to successfully protect this region from sprawl, unsustainable agriculture, air and water pollution, wetlands destruction, and deforestation.
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