The Nature Conservancy’s Mississippi River Program: Sustainable Conservation of a Working River that Works

摘要

The Mississippi River is one of the world’s truly great working rivers (Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee, 2000), not only in terms of the essential services it provides to the nation (transportation, water resources, and hydroelectric power) but also in terms of its biological diversity and richness, and the ecosystem services (recreation, fisheries, carbon sequestration, water quality improvement, and sediment management) it provides to citizens throughout its watershed. Despite more than two centuries of intensive management and control, the Mississippi and its floodplains and tributaries still support diverse, globally-significant populations of aquatic and terrestrial species, many of which are threatened or endangered, and some of which are unique to the Mississippi River basin. The Nature Conservancy is working with diverse partners from industry, government, and the natural resource community to develop an integrated “source to sea” conservation program based on ecologically sustainable management principles. This paper will discuss key aspects of Conservancy work with floodplain restoration and reconnection, hydrologic restoration, sediment and nutrient reduction, stream channel restoration, sustainable agriculture, and the USACE’s Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program at diverse sites including Boone River IA; Pecatonica River WI; Mackinaw River, Emiquon, and Spunky Bottoms IL; Big Woods and Cache River AR; and Mollicy Farms and Atchafalaya Basin LA.