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Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man. - Stewart Udall |
The Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Illinois Rivers: OUR NATIONAL TREASURES |
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| SECTION 1
The Rivers The Mississippi The Missouri The Illinois SECTION 2 The Components SECTION 3 The Objectives
SECTION 4 The Players The Sierra Club American Rivers American Land Conservation The Barge Industry The Corn and Soybean Growers Associations The
Small Farmers
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The area in which we are blessed to live is comprised of a complex association of unique habitats and communities, both human and natural. The way in which we live is also a complex association: we share a diverse region of commercial and residential developments, agriculture lands, service industries, a myriad of businesses, several nature related not-for-profit organizations, and a collection of religious organizations, among many other “groups.” The whole picture is more than diverse or wide-spread, it is actually a balancing act of communities and their ideals and values in an intricate labyrinth. To live in this area and in this age is truly amazing. The subtle connections and choices that we make have far reaching consequences. Consequences that not only we have to face, but our families and our future generations must face. It is a time of change. It is time for the community to take a step back and join together to discuss our regions’ desires and ambitions. The time has come to focus on the positive future of the area and our reliance on our natural world. The time has also come to view our associations to this world as one of stewardship, not of conqueror in the name of “progress.” The world that we are blessed with is the only one that we have and we need to become a more vocal guardian. After all, the river system does not have a voice, but we do. Many of the ninety towns along the Upper Mississippi River came to exist because of their location on the river's banks. Over time our riverfront communities grew and made use of the river for transportation of goods. We built homes and businesses along them, and both disposed of sewage into them and received drinking water from them. Now the river and the world are changing. Our settlement of this river land over the last 150 years was a great economic boon, transforming the wild into farmland. We became a producer of grains for the world, and we built an extensive multi-modal transportation system to move products to international markets. Now the rivers and the world are once again changing. The maze in which we are navigating our way to a sustainable future is really not so dark, not so deep, nor so mystifying. Once the basics of the ecology, the political world, and the key issues are understood, real change can happen. The Choteau Island Project is a great example. http://www.confluencegreenway.org They are taking a dream of a riverfront and making it accessible to people. But they are trying to keep it accessible in a sustainable way. It is wonderful that we will be able to enjoy the land acquisition, including a major new resource center, wetlands and shoreline restoration projects, and especially the new trails and connections between existing trails http://www.trailnet.org/, including docks for water taxis that would connect St. Louis, St. Charles and Alton to public sites within the Confluence boundaries, and improvements to make Eads Bridge hospitable to cyclists. But won’t it also be wonderful for our children and grandchildren to enjoy them as well?
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