The Mighty Mississippi River

The Mighty Mississippi River

"Mississippi" is Algonquin for

"big river"

- aptly named for being

over 2,300

miles in length

It is the world's second largest drainage basin measuring over 16,500 miles from its more than 250 tributaries, which encompass 30 US states and 2 Canadian provinces.

It has the greatest water carrying capacity of any river on the North American continent, providing the Gulf of Mexico with more than 90% of its fresh water.

The river provides a habitat for 278 fish and mussel species

Its bluffs and bottomlands support 45 amphibious and reptile species and over 50 species of mammals

40% of the nation's migratory waterfowl depend on the Mississippi corridor for their flyway.

The river sustains over 5 million acres of forested wetlands and provides over 18 million people with their daily water supply.

Wintering bald eagles perch and roost along the forested limestone bluffs of the Mississippi River and its backwaters. The endangered yellow crowned night heron also lives in the wetlands. Yet, the critical wetland habitat continues to give way to industrial parks.

We need to promote the conservation of entire ecosystems. If we are truly to halt the decline in biodiversity, we must conserve ecosystems as a whole. By conserving entire ecosystems, we are conserving those species that depend upon them. We can't halt the decline of species if we continue to allow the destruction and fragmentation of ecosystems.

We need to allow the river to flood into its floodplains, instead of being held back by levees and, thus, forced downstream into developed floodplains. When the river is allowed to inundate its floodplain, this translates into less water moving downstream and into adjoining communities. Thus, the river should not be limited to a channel that is designated by the Army Corps of Engineers but should be allowed to inundate its floodplain. For the restoration of a natural floodplain habitat that can accommodate both existing industry and native species in a riparian corridor, the industrial levees should be set back 1500 feet from the “Ordinary High Water Mark” to allow for an escape valve for flood water.