From BIG RIVER Magazine
Very Grand Excursion
St. Paul Last summer's Grand Excursion 2004, the celebration of an 1854 flotilla of riverboats from the Quad Cities to St. Paul, brought a million visitors to the river in 50 cities in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Nearly 37,000 people bought tickets to ride on one of the seven riverboats. Visitors and flotilla passengers spent about $57 million and went home vowing to return and to be better stewards of the river, according to a press release from the Grand Excursion organization.
More than 50,000 school children learned about the Mississippi River through the Grand Excursion River Exploration Trunks (which included copies of the Big River Reader, an anthology of stories from the magazine), distributed to 788 schools in four states.
Participating communities spent more than $636 million to redesign riverfronts, create river parkways, spruce up levees, install street lamps and beautify their interface with the river. A survey showed that 82 percent of them would participate in another event in 2010.
The study was funded by the McKnight Foundation and the Bush Foundation. Top
McGregor, Iowa This summer marks the 200th anniversary of Zebulon Pike's expedition up the Mississippi River.
Pike was a relatively unschooled military man with no experience in exploration, when his general commanded him to go find the river headwaters, buy sites for military posts, stop illegal fur trading and charm Indian chiefs into visiting St. Louis for talks. Pike and 20 other men pushed out of Bellefontaine, Mo., aboard a 70-foot keelboat in August 1805.
They apparently accomplished few of the mission's objectives, although Pike did purchase land for Fort Snelling (now in the Twin Cities), and he located a great site for a fort on the bluff above what is now McGregor, Iowa. The Army later decided to position Fort Crawford in the oft-flooded lowlands on the Wisconsin side of the river.
McGregor, Iowa, has picked Pike's expedition as the theme of its River Fest educational event this May. River Fest organizers will do some kind of re-enactment, said John Lindell, district manager of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge in McGregor. The event draws seventh, eighth and ninth graders from Dubuque to Lansing, Iowa, and some from Wisconsin.
Later this summer and fall, other celebratory events are being planned at Fort Snelling State Park, Mill City Museum in Minneapolis, Crow Wing State Park and Itasca State Park at the headwaters of the Mississippi. Events include a variety of historical theatrical presentations, lectures, canoe rides, re-enactments and story-telling programs based on Zeb Pike's journals. Top
Quad Cities All four of the Quad Cities are transforming their riverfronts this spring.
Moline, Ill., is in full swing, developing Bass Street Landing and RiverStation, which will have pedestrian walkways, open plazas, retail and office space, restaurants, coffee shops, apartments and condos, as well as a 150-room hotel with a mountain lodge theme. Nearby John Deere Pavilion and other attractions draw hundreds of thousands of visitors a year. The new developments may give them reason to linger.
The development is also expected to draw more people downtown along the Great River Trail, and to provide a new destination for riders of the Channel Cat Water Taxi. The water taxi, a service provided by the nonprofit River Action (see "Lend a Hand" in this issue), links Moline, Ill., with Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa.
Bettendorf's project, RiversEdge, hasn't begun, but plans include a 250-room expansion of the Isle of Capri casino and hotel, and a 40,000-square-foot conference center, with a skyway connecting the two and parking enough for both. The city received a $4.1 million grant from the Vision Iowa Board for the project, which will cost more than $56 million. The city will pitch in $13.6 million, the Scott County Regional Authority $10 million and the casino will cover the $1.3 million balance.
In neighboring Davenport, a similar plan for expansion of a casino-hotel complex on the riverfront has roused opposition. Opponents say the riverfront is a cherished public asset that should not given away to a casino and hotel complex, that the proposed hotel blocks the view for many downtown, and that public money should not fund profit-making projects. They have launched a website to present information and collect signatures for a petition.
In March the city of Rock Island approved a 10-year plan for reredevelopment of the Quad City Industrial Center, a mile-long stretch of riverfront that was an International Harvester plant and rail yard before being redeveloped into an industrial park in the 1990s. The developers, Jim and Jon Christiansen, would like to phase it out in favor of residential, commercial and park space they call Columbia Park. The industrial park never took off as they thought it would, and now riverfront land has become prime real estate.
The developers note that eagles soar overhead and the fishing is great in Sylvan Slough, which runs between their land and two islands, Arsenal and Sylvan. Sylvan Slough Natural Area is part of the plan.
The city has teamed with River Action to design a park that will illustrate creative ways to retain stormwater runoff. The park will feature a rain garden and bio-swales to collect runoff before it enters the slough, and a permeable parking lot to absorb rain instead of shedding it to nearby storm sewers. Permeable walking paths through the park will be made from salvaged ground brick and concrete.
In downtown Rock Island, just a half block from the river, an old warehouse will get a new green roof this summer. The Renaissance Rock Island group is turning several aging warehouses into loft housing, but the McKesson Building will have a distinguishing feature a green roof, with shrubs and greenery irrigated by rainfall that would otherwise go to the storm sewers. Besides providing some green landscape and a panoramic river view for residents, the roof will conserve energy in both summer and winter. The $400,000 project will be paid for by grants raised by River Action.
Dan Carmody, president of Renaissance Rock Island, said the project is scheduled for completion by the end of summer 2005. Top
The Native Fish Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that aims to protect and maintain healthy populations of native fish in watersheds across the country, sponsored an unusual tournament this April. Members went out to catch as many exotic fish as possible, document the catch, then kill them. Under rules of the Exotic Fish Tournament, anglers could use any legal fishing means to catch exotic fish species.
Winners in each of two categories (Carp and Not-Carp) won $200. The motto of the tournament was "Once caught, never returned."
In another effort to slow the advance of invading exotic fish, two bills are moving through the Iowa House and Senate that would increase boat registration fees for the more than 229,000 registered boats in Iowa. The increase would bring a half million dollars a year to programs to stop and control invasive species, such as the silver carp.
The silver carp, which weighs up to 60 pounds and can leap several feet out of the water, have not yet spread above Lock and Dam 19, at Keokuk, Ill., although it has been found in the Des Moines River. Top
Twin Cities By next year you may be able to bike from the Mississippi River to almost anywhere in the Twin Cities without leaving a bike trail.
Two bicycle trails here will soon link with the river, letting riverside bikers reach much of a 271-mile regional network in the Twin Cities.
Funding is already available for a link at the Vento Sanctuary near downtown St. Paul that will connect the Vento Trail with about 85 miles of trail this year. (See "From Urban Dump to Nature Haven," Big River, March-April 2005.)
The nine-mile Cedar Lake Trail has advanced from Cedar Lake in western Minneapolis to within three blocks of the Mississippi in the downtown Minneapolis warehouse district. Completion of the river link may come next year, depending on state and federal funding. The trail also extends westward to suburban Hopkins.
The Cedar Lake Trail is a feeder for other Minneapolis trails. A regional agency, the Metropolitan Council, counts more than 170 miles of regional trails and 101 miles of state recreational trails in the seven-county metropolitan area. Local and county trails add more miles, including some trails along highways and others within parks.
"The Cedar Lake Trail was the first bicycle freeway in the country," said Cedar Lake Trail Association President Keign Prussing, a Minneapolis chiropractor. "There wasn't anything like it before it was built."
The nine-mile, four-lane, divided multi-use bike path with a parallel pedestrian path links downtown Minneapolis to suburban Hopkins.
Some Twin Cities trails are already part of the Mississippi River Trail, a 10-state cycling route from the headwaters of the Mississippi at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.
Minnesota claims to lead the nation in miles of bike trails, with more than 1,300. Minnesota and Wisconsin together have one-fourth of all the bike-trail miles in the United States, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
The trails' importance is not just recreational. Trails allow a safer bike commute to work, easing air pollution and traffic congestion. The 2000 Census ranked Minneapolis third in bike commuters among metro areas of the same size, behind Tucson and San Francisco. Top
Minneapolis You can tour the Minneapolis riverfront on a Segway again this year. Mobile Entertainment LLC of Minneapolis has 27 of the one-person, two-wheel, gyro-balanced electric transporters for navigating asphalt and concrete paths along the Mississippi and across its bridges. Three-hour tours cost $70 per person.
After half an hour of safety training, guides take riders out in groups of up to 20 or so to cover five miles of riverfront. Prerecorded tour narration plays from a sound system on each Segway, but sometimes the guide breaks in with a live presentation.
The oldest rider so far has been 94 years old. Anybody can ride, claims Emily Neuenschwander, chief financial officer with Mobile Entertainment.
"Once you get on, all it is is leaning forward to move forward," said Neuenschwander. "Really, it's the same movement as leaning forward to walk. And leaning back to stop."
Turns, however, are not so intuitive. And sometimes riders forget that the wheeled vehicles are wider than the rider and have trouble squeezing between, say, a park bench and a parking meter.
Segway tours of the Minneapolis riverfront started last year. Time magazine notes that Segway tours in other cities, including Paris, have emerged as well. Top
Winona, Minn. All of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges on the Upper Mississippi River and one complex of three refuges on the lower Illinois River will now be united in the same management unit. Region 3, which used to include the Great Lakes, but not all of the Mississippi River refuges, has been reconfigured. The move should improve efficiencies, but have little effect on service to the public.
"The consolidation of all refuges on the Upper Mississippi River and the lower Illinois raises the stature of these refuges," said Don Hultman, who has managed the Upper Miss Refuge and will manage the new Region 3. "And they have a lot in common."
Added to Region 3 is the Mark Twain Refuge Complex, which includes four refuges extending from just upriver of Muscatine, Iowa, to 37 miles upriver from Cape Girardeau; and the Illinois River National Fish and Wildlife Refuge complex of three refuges on the lower Illinois. Top
St. Paul An ambitious plan to raise 70 to 100 million dollars a year to clean up Minnesota's lakes and rivers is being considered by the state legislature this spring. The Clean Water Legacy plan would raise residents' water bills by $3 a month and commercial users' bills by more than that. The collected funds would go to counties and existing watershed boards, environmental agencies and other groups, for water quality testing, clean-up plans, repair of faulty septic systems, phosphorus controls for wastewater treatment plants and other projects that affect water quality.
The proposal has broad bipartisan support from government, business and environmental groups, including Governor Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, Minnesota Environmental Partnership, Minnesota League of Cities, Minnesota Farmers Union and Minnesota Farm Bureau.
Of the eight percent of river miles and 14 percent of lakes that have been tested in Minnesota under guidelines set by the federal Clean Water Act, 40 percent are polluted with mercury, fertilizers, algae from excessive phosphorus, and human and animal waste. Degradation of water is seen as an important economic development issue for the state.
Public hearings on the Upper Mississippi River Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP), which is scheduled for release at the end of April, will be held throughout the spring and early summer. The document will fill a 600-page book and a map appendix, both of which will be available on the internet, on CD and at rivertown libraries.
The CCP is a 15-year blueprint for management of the refuge.
Notice of public hearings will be posted on the refuge website, in local newspapers and the Big River web calendar. For more information, call the refuge office in Winona. Top
Lansing, Iowa Capoli Bluff, a distinctive, cone-shaped peak photographed by Henry Peter Bosse for the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1880s and 1890s, has been placed under permanent protective easement. Long-time owners of a two-mile-long strip of undeveloped bluffland just south of Lansing, Iowa, and 170 acres of woodlands, prairie and oak savanna behind it, have signed a voluntary easement agreement with the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation that protects the land from future development, grazing, mining and construction. Under the agreement the land remains in the hands of the Buckmaster family, who have owned it for more than 25 years.
The Buckmasters were married in the shadow of Capoli Bluff, raised a family on the land and spent many years restoring its ecosystems.
The land is ecologically and historically rich. Mounds and prehistoric Oneota artifacts have been found there. Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Indians lived there for many years, and Major Stephen H. Long noted its bluffs in his journals in 1817.
The word Capoli means "Cape of Wild Garlic" in an old French dialect.
Inventor W. Z. Hayman, a former shipyard manager, has filed a patent for the design of a new type of towboat that features a pivoting hull instead of rudders. The pilothouse and bow stay in position, wired to the barges as usual, while the back half of the boat swivels right and left, like a fish tail, letting the pilot change the thrust of the propellers. The tow turns faster with less power. Hayman is currently looking for a partner to develop the concept, according to the Waterways Journal (2-14-05).
Dakota County, Minn. River advocates moved to protect a key 25 acres near the Mississippi River in March, eliminating the prospect of development in a wild area of the fast-growing St. Paul suburb, Rosemount.
Friends of the Mississippi River, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the city of Rosemount and Dakota County collaborated to protect the land of Aina Wiklund, who has lived on the tract for 40 years.
Wiklund has placed a conservation easement on the property, protecting it permanently from development. Under a management plan it developed for the property, Friends of the Mississippi will restore natural areas with financial support from Dakota County, the DNR and the city of Rosemount.
The protected parcel is within the Northern Dakota County Greenway, a mostly natural swath linking the Mississippi River at Pine Bend bluffs with Lilydale, upriver from St. Paul.
Friends of the Mississippi River and the DNR's Metro Greenways program have been working with Wiklund for several years to restore a seven-acre hayfield to native prairie. Restoration will continue this year with volunteers removing buckthorn and other invasive plants. The property will become a "high-quality wildlife sanctuary within a quickly urbanizing part of the Twin Cities area," said Friends of the Mississippi executive director Whitney Clark.
The Wiklund case illustrates how landowners can continue living on their land while public-private partners lock the parcel up for conservation. Dakota County, Rosemount and the DNR paid $500,000 for Wiklund's development rights. Wiklund can still sell the land, but the conservation easement means that subsequent owners can't develop it.
Dakota County voters authorized a $20 million fund for land preservation the only Minnesota county with such a program, according to Tom Lewanski, conservation director with Friends of the Mississippi River in St. Paul. Other areas wishing to preserve riverfront property should "start with some good baseline data in knowing where the important ecological areas are," advised Lewanski, "because we can't save it all."
Venice, Fla. Two men were found guilty, fined $10,000 each and sentenced to donate $80,000 to a local bird conservation fund and raptor center for cutting down a pine tree that held an eagle's nest in Venice.
The tree was apparently obstructing someone's view. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service press release, the two went in with a chainsaw the same month one of them bought the property. A short time later the tree began to fall but toppled on top of another tree and stayed there, with the chainsaw stuck in the trunk. A neighbor protested that it is illegal to damage or destroy an eagle's nest, but the two men used a car jack to lift the tree trunk, free the chainsaw and cut several additional trees down on top of the first one, destroying the nest.
The men were prosecuted for violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. The two later sold the land, but the fines will take most of the profit from the sale. Top
Minneapolis This town is celebrating the "Year of the Bridges," the 150th anniversary of the first bridge across the Mississippi. In 1855, a wood-tower suspension bridge was joined with an 1853 bridge from Nicollet Island to the east bank to become the first permanent span across the river anywhere along its length. Neither bridge is standing today.
The year-long celebration will include a walking tour of other bridges and historic locations on June 18, the Stone Arch Festival of the Arts June 18 and 19, the Solstice River dance performance June 18 and 19, and fireworks on July 23 as part of Minneapolis' Aquatennial celebration.
Minneapolis claims to have had the first bridge across the river and to have more bridges than any other city 24 of them, including the Stone Arch Bridge a 19th-century rail trestle converted for pedestrian use and two bridges with one foot in neighboring St. Paul. Minneapolis Riverfront District Bridges
Coon Rapids, Minn. Just like in the old days, low water will make passage difficult for vessels with drafts deeper than a canoe or kayak this summer above the Coon Rapids Dam, upstream from Minneapolis.
Water will subside to natural levels in a six-mile stretch of river during repairs to the dam, reported the St. Paul Pioneer Press on March 18.
Divers found a 40-by-125-foot washout beneath the apron of the dam, a downstream supporting structure. The washout must be filled after spring runoff.
During repairs, the open dam will allow the river to fall to natural levels, according to the Three Rivers Park District, which manages the dam.
The 1,000-foot-wide dam between Minneapolis suburbs Brooklyn Park and Coon Rapids isn't in danger of collapse, officials said. It opened in 1914 to generate electricity. The utility shut down generators and donated the dam and an adjacent 225 acres to the park district in 1969.
The area above Coon Rapids Dam is popular for boating and fishing. The dam creates a pool seven feet deeper than normal.
Bloomington, Minn. Kids from Iowa were at a disadvantage in last year's State Fish Art Contest, sponsored by the organization Wildlife Forever, in which kids from all over the country competed to draw the best picture of their state's official fish.
Minnesota kids drew walleyes, Illinois kids drew bluegills, Wisconsin kids drew muskellunges, Maryland kids drew striped bass and Hawaiian kids drew humuhumunukunukuapua'as, but Iowa kids had no official state fish to draw. They made do by drawing channel catfish, which are found almost everywhere in Iowa.
That may change soon, thanks to the efforts of an Iowa artist and outdoors writer, George Marzeck, of West Burlington. Marzeck got the ear and the support of two state senators and a representative in promoting legislation to make the channel catfish Iowa's official state fish. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources lists it as the state's most abundant sports fish.
It is also the state fish of Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee.
Award winning artwork from this year's State Fish Art Expo will be displayed at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., on July 2, 2005.
Wildlife Forever is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving America's wildlife heritage through education, habitat restoration and other projects. One of the organization's Mississippi River projects is the restoration of 10,000 acres of wetlands on private lands in the Mississippi Delta. View the 2005 winners
The Army Corps of Engineers will lower water levels in Pool 5 between Lock 4 at Alma, Wis., and Lock 5 at Minneiska, Minn. around June 13 and raise them again in mid September 2005. Water levels will drop by 2.4 inches per day until they average 1.5 feet below normal throughout the pool, although the effect of the drawdown will greater at the lower end than at the upper end of the pool.
The drawdown was agreed to by members of the Water Level Management Task Force, a multi-state group consisting of federal agency, commercial shipping industry and citizen representatives. The Corps has budgeted about $1 million for dredging to make sure commercial shipping and private boating can carry on business almost as usual.
The purpose of the drawdown is to expose about 1,000 acres in the lower end of the pool, including Weaver Bottoms, a once-complex, backwater that is now an expanse of open water. Vegetation has been dying off there for decades. The drawdown will allow shallower sections of the river to dry out enough for seeds to germinate and beds of arrowhead, bulrush and other plants to expand.
Hopes for the Pool 5 drawdown are based on the success of the drawdown in Pool 8 in the summers of 2001 and 2002, which added more than 1,300 acres of vegetation to that pool. Aquatic plants stabilize the riverbottom and provide habitat for fish and food for waterfowl.
The drawdown might be postponed or cancelled if the river floods late and runs high this year, in excess of 110,000 cubic feet per second. Top
Hastings, Minn. The riverfront in downtown Hastings, Minn., may see a new development that will attempt to align with the character of an adjacent historic district.
The proposed Three Rivers Place LLC, a two-phase project with residential and office condominiums and residential lofts, would begin construction this year, pending city approval.
Plans outline a first phase with 49 luxury waterfront residential condos and the second about 30 residential lofts and up to 20,000 square feet of retail, commercial and office condominiums.
The development would be near the confluence of the St. Croix and the Vermillion Rivers with the Mississippi.
"I think it's beautiful. I think it's a diamond," said developer Bob Abdo of the area. Abdo, a Minneapolis attorney, told Big River that the brick-and-stone construction of his development would fit the character of existing buildings. He expects an adjacent waterfront area to remain open for public use.
Riverfront development in downtown Hastings has met with resistance. Residents fear limits to public access to the river and changes in the historic character of the downtown.
Hastings is about 20 miles south of St. Paul, Minn.
Savanna, Ill. Citizens of this economically depressed rivertown elected a new mayor this spring, who promises to promote tourism. Bill Lease beat two opponents who were less enthusiastic about drawing visitors to town.
"Savanna has been dying on the vine here. Our sewer and water systems are inadequate, and need to be upgraded," Lease said. "We have a lot of work to do, and it's going to take time."
Lease plans to get a new public dock installed by this summer. He also favors focusing tourism efforts on people who already enjoy coming to the area.
"More than 65,000 people come to Palisades (State) Park here every year," Lease said. "This area is beautiful, and we have a lot to offer. We just don't use it right."
Motorcyclists have discovered the area's hills and river views in increasing numbers in recent years. Residents may not all love the roar of those pipes echoing off the bluffs, but two of the town's largest businesses are both motorcycle-related: Poopy's, a motorcycle accessory store, and the Iron Horse Social Club, which includes a motorcycle museum with 36 vintage restored motorcycles, as well as a bar with a stage. (The town’s largest industry is Metform and the largest retail business is Sullivan’s Foods, Inc.)
To attract more bikers to the area, Iron Horse Social Club owner Jerry Gendreau books Chicago blues bands on weekends. He also hauls a roasting trailer to motorcycle racing events in the summer, giving away a free "pig-nic" of roast pork, along with information about his club and why bikers should come to town.
Gendreau described the club as a nice adult bar that serves food, like a Hooters. He said more and more people are coming to Savanna from places as far away as Chicago.
"Business has increased every year," he said. "Sometimes there are three blocks of bikes parked in town."
These aren't the outlaw bikers featured in movies from the 1950s. Many are professionals who don their leathers and mount their pricey Harleys for weekend sightseeing.
Savanna is the largest city in Carroll County, which is the second most economically depressed county in Illinois. The town's population shrank from 5,000 to 3,400 in recent years after the closing of the Savanna Army Depot and other big employers in the region. Adding to the burden, the state built but never opened a new prison outside the town of Thomson, eight miles away. A few local men are employed to guard the empty facility.
Life was a lot noisier and rowdier years ago, when Savanna was a major regional rail hub that serviced nearby Savanna Army Depot, and had many bars. Compared to that, a few motorcycles on the weekend are a minor disturbance.
Minnesota Thousands of owls from the Arctic flew south into Minnesota this winter in search of food, triggering a migration of birdwatchers from all over the country. It was called the "most unusual avian phenomenon ever recorded in Minnesota." Some of the great gray owls eventually reached southern Minnesota and Iowa.
In a mid-January census, the Minnesota Ornithologists Union counted more than 1,700 great grays, 300 Northern hawk owls and 400 boreal owls. A normal year would reveal 35 great gray owls, six northern hawk owls and just one boreal owl.
The owls left their spruce forest homes to look for food, because the populations of red-backed and meadow voles they usually depend on had crashed. The boom and bust in vole populations is a natural cycle. The last crash, which was much smaller, happened in 2000.
Meadow voles are plentiful in northern Minnesota. There was some speculation that the owls might just stick around instead of flying back north. Top