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September-October 2024

Happy 100th to the
Upper Mississippi River National
Wildlife and Fish Refuge!

 


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Links to more information from September-October 2024 Big River


EVENTS

Big River Partners

Friends of the Mississippi River

Restore River Way Habitat

Various Events throughout the Twin Cities Metro Join ecologists to restore important habitat for our wildlife, waters and communities. No experience necessary. All tools and training are provided. Registration is required. http://www.fmr.org/events

Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance

Paddling Film Festival Saturday, September 28
The Wide Spot Theater, Wabasha, Minn. Come see some of the best paddlesport professionals in the world share beautiful, exciting and contemplative visions of the rivers and water bodies they explore through short films. A one-night event dedicated to the activities that connect us to the water. Hosted by LPLA and Broken Paddle Guiding.

lakepepinlegacyalliance.org/events

Perennial farm Dinner with CRP and Patagonia Provisions Saturday, October 5, 2024
Perennial plants are a vital part of our ecosystem. Join us and our partners for an evening celebrating and dining on the best of the upper Midwest’s perennial products. A menu will offer tastes of our best chance and long term stewardship of our soil, water and climate. Register on the web or call 651-345-5768. www.lakepepinlegacyalliance.org/events

Mississippi Valley Conservancy

Prairie Star Gazing Walk
Saturday, October 12, 7 p.m. Tunnelville Cliffs, LaFarge, Wis.

Discover planets, stars and galaxies of the fall evening sky. Led by master naturalist Susan Cushing and Driftless Stargazing founder John Heasley. http://www.mississippivalleyconservancy.org/events

River Action

Upper Mississippi River Conference —
Learning from Each Other

Wednesday & Thursday, October 16 & 17
Western Illinois University, Moline, Ill

The goal of the 2024 Upper Mississippi River Conference — Learning From Each Other — is to inform every community member, no matter their position, on the benefits of a riverfront community and what we can do as stakeholders. This will be done through lectures, discussions, field trips and workshops at the conference. The conference will focus on collaboration across disciplines and generations. The newly added Next Gen Summit will give us an opportunity to empower future leaders, inspire solutions and develop strategies for addressing persistent environmental concerns. www.riveraction.org/umrc

Friends of Pools 7 & 8

River Rat Relay Challenge
Now thru December 1 La Crosse District Visitors Center N5727 County Road Z Onalaska, Wis.

fws.gov/event/river-rat-relay-challenge

Waterfowl Observation Days November 2 - 17
10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Brownsville, Minn., overlook

Come enjoy the fall migration! Thousands of swans, ducks and other water birds move throughout the refuge, finding places to rest, relax and refuel before moving farther south. A refuge naturalist will be stationed at the overlook to help visitors identify birds and share information.

Other Events

National Eagle Center

Soar with the Eagles
SeptOberfest

Saturday & Sunday, September 21 & 22
National Eagle Center, Wabasha, Minn

It’s SeptOberfest season in Wabasha and Kellogg, and SOAR: Fall Flight will be taking place while the community celebrates the fall season! Stop at the National Eagle Center as we welcome our friends from World Bird Sanctuary and the Midwest Peregrine Society. You’ll be able to meet some incredible exotic and native raptor species and learn about these incredible birds! Plus, we’ll have kids activities, including arts and crafts with Teaki Garcia! https://www.nationaleaglecenter.org/soar/

 

Larry Long & Fiddlin’ Pete Watercott 2024 Reunion Tour

Sunday, October 13, 4 - 6 p.m. Trempealeau Hotel, Trempealeau, Wis.

Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Upper Mississippi River Refuge along with special guests Big River Magazine editor Reggie McLeod, storyteller & servant leader Tom Thibodeau, and Brief Sermon columnist & songwriter Eddie Allen

Tuesday, October 15, 7 - 9 p.m. The Commons, Viroqua, Wis.

An evening of stories and songs with special guest Community of Goodness WDRT podcast & radio co-host Tom Thibodeau. Larry Long and Fiddlin’ Pete are celebrating 50 years of friendship and music making. The music they perform together with bassist Larry Dalton is deeply rooted in the American song tradition of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Hank Williams and Bob Wills. Their live performances are an equal measure of lyrical ballads, country-swing and old-time fiddle tunes woven together with threads of explosive instrumental improvisation. Long was a founder of the Mississippi River Revival and a performer in the River Revival flotilla tour of river towns.

Rock River Coalition

The Confluence: Stewarding the Rock River Watershed Opportunities and Successes

Saturday, November 9, 8 a.m. - 4:15 p.m.

This fun day of presentations and demonstrations is designed for water stewards, volunteers, conservationists and water-loving community members. General attendance $15, students and members $10, includes lunch.

http://rockrivercoalition.org/event/the-confluence-2024


 

Links to info from stories in September-October 2024

Minnehaha Creek Watershed District

Find streamflow and paddling conditions as well as updates on related redevelopment projects.

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Puffballs

“Fun with Calvatia, giant puffballs” – originally posted by the UW-La Crosse mycology teacher Tom Volk.

Minnesota Mycological Society

Prairie States Mushroom Club

Wisconsin Mycological Society

Illinois Mycological Association

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Wisconsin Public Access Lands Map (PAL)

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American Eel

The Seret Liffe of Eels - Nature Conservancy

 


 

Links to info from stories in January-February 2024:

Wilderness Mindset is making a documentary about The Mississippi Speed Record.
Wilderness Mindset is a DBA under Wide Range Multimedia LLC.

You can see where animals have been recorded by going to the global Motus system https://motus.org


Submit Anonymous tip about a car found in the river 30 years ago:www.cityofdubuque.org/209/Police or 800-747-0117.



 

An Incomplete Bibliography for
“Ferries — Getting Across for a Price”

Digging up information about ferries on the Upper Mississippi River was certainly an interesting process. Like most commercial craft, ferries were often bought, sold, renamed or destroyed, which can make it difficult to know whether you are talking about one boat or two boats. Also, the ferry business was very competitive in the 19th century, so many ferry operations were short-lived.

There doesn’t seem to be any books or other information sources that focus on ferryboats, so much of the information is locally based and incomplete. Some of the stories I came across placed the same ferry at two different places at the same time and often the information about a “specific” ferry couldn’t come up with a specific name for it or the operator. Some of the stories were clearly third hand.

Perhaps an ambitious researcher will soon get to work and produce the definitive book on Upper Mississippi ferries. There are many interesting ferryboat stories out there, whether they are true of not.

The best single source, hands-down, is the Special Collections Department of the Murphy Library at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. The state historical societies also have good material.

Mari Kelley found plenty of information about ferries in the Quad Cities by mining the archives of The (Moline, Ill.) Dispatch: “Change the Name of the Ferry,” 8-31-8; “Local Ferry Largest on Upper Mississippi,” 8-11-45; “John Wilson,” 6-10-89; “Mississippi Once Awash in Ferries,” 6-3-95; “Channel Cat ready to prowl the river,” 2-4-96; “Ferries helped QC bridge river gap,” 2-4-96; and “River Ferries as old as QC History,” 1-31-99.

I also mined the archives of the Big River office library, where we have a good stack of old and new books about river history. However, many of them do not have an index and/or seemed to ignore the ferryboats and concentrated on the long-haul steamboats.

However, The Mississippi River, by Tom Weil (Hippocrene Books, New York, 1992) bustles with ferry traffic. Lore and Lure Of the Upper Mississippi River by Capt. Frank J Fugina (published by the author, Winona, Minn., 1945) is a rich source of Upper Miss information, including the “wolf ferry” and many others in the area. River of Conflict, River of Dreams by Biloine Whiting Young (Pogo Press, St. Paul, 2004) has a section about ferries at McGregor, Iowa, and La Crosse.

I found a couple of good newspaper stories about the emergency ferries called into service in Prairie du Chien, Wis., and Winona, Minn., when their bridges were closed: “Bridge’s Shutdown Returns 3 Towns to a Harsher Age” (New York Times, 2-5-81) and “Emergency bridge closing in 2008 brought chaos, echoes of the past,” (Rochester Post-Bulletin, 8-27-16).

Special Collections at the Murphy Library at the U of Wisconsin-La Crosse

Search the UW-La Crosse Historic Steamboat Photographs

 

Links to more information about stories in the November-December 2023 issue

International Flavors in Winona

Miya japanese bistro (507) 961-0200

Sapori di Sicilia (507) 474-6155

Norvary North Vietnamese Cuisines (507) 474-1037

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Concrete Art

About Grandview

Kohler Foundation Preserved Sites

Dickeyville Grotto

 

 

Links to more information about stories in the September-October 2023 issue

"Bite an Invasive"

A complete list of invasive species in each state:

Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois

Also: "Eating Invasive Species" in Scientific American

 

"Defining the Driftless"

Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Maps and Publications

The Driftless Area: The extent of unglaciated and similar terrains in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota

 

"Beetle Farmers Wanted"

More on Purple Loosestrife

 

Henry Lewis and his Moving Pictures

A full set of color plates based on his sketches can be viewed online at the Northern Illinois University Digital Library.

 

Green Burials

Green Burial Council

Conservation Burial Alliance

 

Dead Zone Forecast

NOAA and partners announce below-average 'dead zone' measured in Gulf of Mexico

 

Links from the July-August 2023 issue

Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative

McGregor, Iowa, detour

Frank Lloyd Wright Trail in Wisconsin


Links from the March-April 2023 issue

Frank's Hill:
An Ancient Calendar Written onto the Earth

Three Eagle Foundation

Related: "Effigy Mounds of the Wisconsin River Valley" by Sara Millhouse

 

Links from the January-February 2023 issue

Here's a link to the Western Illinois University feasability study
about sending water from the Mississippi River to western states.

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Reno Bottoms Habitat Rehabilitation & Enhancement Project (Army Corps of Engineers)

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Fish Kills in Minnesota (MPCA)

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Videos of bow-facing oars:

www.ez-row.com

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AL6fD1UPEE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsY1gemFjNI

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Links from the November-December 2022 issue

backchannelradio.org
Wolf Spider Radio Winona, Minn. — A new podcast is telling the story of the Wolf Spider Island boathouse community (also known locally as Latsch Island.) The six-part series is written and hosted by Gina Favano, an artist and musician who lives on Wolf Spider Island. The first three episodes include an introduction to boathouses, a feature on Wolf Spider Island historian John Rupkey and an overview of the fight with government agencies to maintain the community.

Carp Herpes in Storm Lake
Herpes killed thousands of common carp in Iowa’s Storm Lake this summer, creating a smelly, decomposing mess as they washed up on shore. It’s the first time the virus has been detected in Iowa. Herpes also killed carp in Fountain Lake in Albert Lea, Minn., a state where it’s been detected in wild populations since 2017. In Wisconsin, the fish virus first appeared in 2015, in the Rock River near Horicon. Koi herpes thrives when water temps reach the 70s, but carp numbers are expected to bounce back, making the virus an unlikely candidate as a biological control measure for unwanted, invasive carp. The koi herpes virus does not affect humans..

Climate Resilience La Crosse, Wis.
This fall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association and the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota are looking into ways to enhance climate resilience in communities along the Upper Mississippi. The program is based on the results of roundtables hosted by NOAA in 2021 to determine risks that climate change posed to vulnerable communities. Two University of Minnesota professors are using climate and water resource models to predict flood and drought. It’s all part of a consortium awarded $360 million in federal funds, based out of the University of Alabama.

Links from the September-October 2022 issue

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has updated its fishing maps and maps of fishing structures.

Dale Sanders, Greybeard Adventurer

Lead Poisoning — Raptor Center

Kernza — The Land Institute

Scuds: Citizen Science Opportunities are available with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
the Izaak Walton League’s Save Our Streams program and with your local Trout Unlimited Chapter

Links from the July-August 2022 issue

Contaminated Wells
Lancaster, Wis.

About a third of southwest Wisconsin wells had coliform bacteria or nitrate levels that exceeded state standards, according to the Southwest Wisconsin Groundwater and Geology study, released in May. There are about 16,000 private wells in the study area of Grant, Iowa and Lafayette counties. As elsewhere in the country, there’s no comprehensive system for monitoring the safety of water from private wells, which are the source of drinking water for nearly all rural residents. The study found that older, shallower wells closer to livestock and farm fields were more likely to be contaminated. The study also found that shallow topsoil and porous bedrock increased the likelihood of well contamination. Unsurprisingly, human contamination was more likely when septic systems were close to wells. Those seeking more information on private well testing in Wisconsin can contact their local extension office or county public health agent.Click here to see the study.

Black Earth PFAS
Black Earth, Wis.

Don’t eat fish from Black Earth Creek more than once a week, because trout sampled there have elevated levels of PFAS, chemicals that can increase cholesterol and cancer risks and decrease immune responses and fertility. PFAS have been used for years in nonstick cookware, firefighting foam and other products. Black Earth Creek is one of the most popular trout streams in Wisconsin. Click here to check advisories for your local Wisconsin waterway.

Modeling the River
Rock Island, Ill

The Army Corps of Engineers has finished a hydraulic model of the Upper Mississippi to help communities weigh flood risks. The St. Paul, Rock Island and St. Louis districts worked for seven years on the model, which is intended to help plan development and mitigate flood risks. The million-dollar computer model covers from St. Paul to Thebes, Ill., as well as the Illinois River from Grafton to Lockport, Ill. Click here for more information.

 

Links from the May-June 2022 issue

Maquoketa River Trail

Delaware County

Jones County

Jackson County

Brazen Open Kitchen and Bar

Dubuque, Iowa

Big Blue Sky
Dreamer in the Sage

Meet the band, listen to their music and check out their calendar

Mississippi Man Catches Huge Catfish

 

Links from the March-April 2022 issue

Army Corps Navigation Charts of the Mississippi River for download.


Mostly Mississippi: A Very Damp Adventure at the Library of Congress
Read the book by Harold Speakman and view all the artwork in this 1927 adventure down the river. Artwork by Speakman and his wife, Russell Lindsay Speakman.


 

Corps' Bosses Busted From 2001, eighth in a special Big River series on the Army Corps Navigation Study. A high-ranking officer in the Army Corps of Engineers falsified pivotal economic information in the Corps’ Navigation Study to get the agency a billion-dollar project to expand locks on the Mississippi River, according to Army investigators.


 

Links from the January-February 2022 issue

The Epic Battle to Break the Mississippi River Canoe Record
By Frank Bures, Outside Magazine, Nov 3, 2021

Tailwater Ice Fishing

Watch the tailwater ice fishing segment of the Tom Gruenwald Outdoor show “Take Me to the River.”


Current Events

The Julia Belle Swain is sold.

 

Wisconsin large mammal observation form

 

Accessing Mazomanie Bottoms Area in Wisconsin

 

Links from the November-December 2021 issue

City of Davenport Flood Resiliency Plan Final Concept

 


(photo by Larry A. Stone)

Bloody Run Lawsuit

The Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club has filed a lawsuit against the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to stop one of the largest feedlots in Iowa from being built on karst geography near Bloody Run Creek.

Bloody Run Creek in northeast Iowa is among 34 waterways designated as outstanding Iowa Waters by the state's Department of Natural Resources.

Here is a story from Iowa Public Radio. The Battle Over Bloody Run Creek

 

Buffers Keep Our Water Clean

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency monitors the state’s waters and displays data about every stream, lake and ditch in all 88 of Minnesota’s watersheds. You can find which watersheds are meeting standards, and compare the quality of the buffers in an area with the quality of the aquatic life there.

Minnesota watersheds

Buffer strips are not the only tool to reduce pollution and sediment. Grass waterways, conservation tillage, tree plantings and other “Best Management Practices” are also used. The MPCA tracks progress in the 88 watersheds and displays information.

Best management practices - Minnesota MPCA.

Click here to drop a raindrop anywhere on this map of the contiguous United States and watch where it ends up.

 

Finding the Trempealeau River

Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge

Perrot State Park

Trempealeau Mountain

Brady's Bluff Prairie

Pietrek County Park

Parks in Independence, Wis.

Silver Mound, archaeological and geological site, a gathering place for Native Americans in pre-historic Wisconsin.

 

Links from the September-October 2021 issue

Click here to drop a raindrop anywhere on this map of the contiguous United States and watch where it ends up.


Illinois is seeking to establish its first enforceable groundwater standards for PFAS. If the draft language goes into effect, the standard for some PFAS would be set at two parts per trillion, the most rigorous level in the country. Community testing results are available on a state-run website. (Scroll to bottom.)


The Friends of the Mississippi River is wrapping up its four-year “Write to the River” project. You can read the online publications at the Friends website.


Midmorning on a cool July day, a pair of unseen whooping cranes sang out in unison, which only pair-bonded cranes do. Like other bird calls, different cranes sing it differently, but this loud, trumpeting, high-low duet is impossible to forget and can project for up to two kilometers. whooping cranes on International Crane Foundation website.)


The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has an online bicycle map.

 

Links from the July-August 2021 issue

Wisconsin Online Outdoor Business Directory

Ambient sounds on a Driftless habitat restoration project, “Ears in the Driftless

 

Links from the May-June 2021 issue

Bison Bridge

Chad Pregracke wants to turn the Interstate 80 bridge at Le Claire, Iowa, into a “Bison Bridge:” a pedestrian crossing, the longest manmade wildlife crossing in the world and eventually a national park. About 100 acres of land adjoining the bridge could help support a small herd of bison, supporters say.

Pesky Plants Trackers

Minnesota is seeking volunteers to spot pesky plants, specifically Japanese knotweed and wild parsnip. Volunteers can study a self-paced course that takes about four hours and will prepare them to report any pesky plants near them.

Volunteer Rain Observers

If you’d like to help scientists understand precipitation, consider joining CoCoRaHS (the Collaborative Community Rain, Hail & Snow network). The National Weather Service, hydrologists, emergency managers and others use the network’s data to measure trends and make forecasts. Volunteers are asked to complete training and report precipitation, or the lack thereof, at the same time each day, using a standard four-inch rain gauge. Observers are especially needed in some rural areas, such as Buffalo and Richland counties in Wisconsin and Jackson County, Iowa.

Fundraising for Water Level Gauges

Fundraising is ongoing for the gauges that monitor water levels and warn residents of flooding downstream on the flood-prone Kickapoo River. The Monroe County (Wis.) Climate Change Task Force is about a third of its way toward its $60,000 goal to provide monitoring stations on the upper reaches of the Little La Crosse and Kickapoo rivers. They also hope to upgrade monitoring at the Norwalk Dam. Other donations also contribute to the maintenance of National Weather Service gauges at Ontario, LaFarge and Readstown. LaCrosse Hydrology Monitor

Help in planting pollinator gardens

A step-by-step guide to planting a pollinator garden from the Fish & Wildlife Service.

A list of nectar plants best suited for your region of the United States from The National Wildlife Federation.

Birdsong ID

Are you looking for a quick tool to identify common Midwest birds by song and appearance? The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has an interactive online illustration of 24 birds by Bill Reynolds. Click on the bird to hear its song, supplied by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Rough Fish

Rough fish may disappear from Minnesota waters, not because they get removed but because they get redefined. The 2021 Minnesota Fishing Regulations booklet includes a pitch touting the value of rough fish. The pitch in the beginning of the booklet notes the ecological roles that these fish play, and says “Killing and dumping rough fish is considered wanton waste (needless killing) and is illegal. Only kill a rough fish if you plan to use it.”

 

Links from the March-April 2021 issue

River Cam Philanthropist — You can watch the Mississippi from the Sawmill Museum in Clinton, Iowa, whenever you want, thanks to the generosity of a Fort Wayne man who has now sponsored webcams at three Upper Mississippi River museums. Craig Herold, formerly of Winona, Minn., is donating the webcams in memory of relatives, museum director Matthew Parbst told the Clinton Herald (1-5-21). Herold-funded webcams also watch over the river at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa, and the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minn.

 

Dirty Songs? Lewiston, Minn. — Austin, Minn., singer-songwriter Bret Hesla and the band Six Feet Deep have recorded two songs commissioned by the Land Stewardship Project (LSP) to help farmers tune in to soil health. Hesla immersed himself in the subject at farms operated by LSP members in Austin and Goodhue, Minn. “Got Cover Crops” and “Back to Soil” have accompanying videos online. Winona’s Kobi Dansingburg produced and edited the videos. There is no charge for public use of the music or videos.

 

RV Explosion St. Croix, Minn. — Sales of recreational vehicles for camping took off in the pandemic, and the industry expects sharp growth to continue in 2021 — but where will all those RVs find a camping place?

At least one Minnesota campground is adding more RV spaces. Veterans Campground on Big Marine Lake is acquiring 2.4 acres from Washington County’s Big Marine Park Reserve to get more RV camping space for military veterans.

The 30 additional RV spaces would relieve a three-year wait for the current 156 spaces. Veterans Campground is 12 miles north of Stillwater, Minn., and six miles west of Marine on St. Croix.

Once known as Disabled Veterans Rest Camp, the 69-acre Veterans Campground is run by a nonprofit for veterans and their families. The camp dates to 1926, when it was donated for World War I soldiers who lived with “shell-shock,” now known as post-traumatic stress disorder. The campground drew 35,000 visitors in 2019.

After a two-month pandemic shutdown in early 2020, RV manufacturers hustled as sales jumped six percent over 2019. This year the industry expects a stunning 17 percent rise, to more than 500,000 units.

Travelers craving a safe vacation may have trouble finding an RV camping space. Reserve early, urges Monika Geraci of the Recreational Vehicles Industry Association. Camping numbers rose in Wisconsin in 2020. Bookings for 2021 are up again, according to Craig Trost of the Wisconsin Department of Tourism. Wisconsin takes reservations up to 11 months in advance.

“We do remind RV campers that our state parks do not have full water and sewer hookups, so plan ahead!” Trost cautioned.

Wisconsin RV campgrounds with electric hookups include Interstate, Willow River, Perrot, Merrick, Wyalusing and Nelson Dewey state parks and Governor Knowles State Forest.

If locked out of early reservations, keep an eye out for “last-minute cancellations,” Trost advised. Wisconsin’s campground finder is at TravelWisconsin.com. Minnesota’s is at ExploreMinnesota.com. Both Iowa and Illinois use ReserveAmerica.com.

 

Bumble Bee Spring — A Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On

To learn more about native bees and native plants, check out the beautiful and very complete book, "Bees — An Identification and Native Plant Forage Guide," by Heather Holm, published by Pollinator Press, 2017. Also see https://www.pollinatorsnativeplants.com

 

Growing the Right Plant in the Right Place — Prairie Moon Nursery

 

Links from the January-February 2021 issue

Take a virtual trip on the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

 

Follow the attempt to reel in the state fish in every state. FishAllFifty

 

Watch Shane Westen pedal down the river in a Hobie Outback Kayak.

 

Keep up on Mississippi source-to-sea paddlers with the Facebook group Mississippi River Paddlers.

 

Links from the November-December 2020 issue

Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance website

The WDNR is seeking volunteers for its self-service Adopt-a-Kiosk program for CWD testing.

———

Here's more info on River Actions's River Webinar series:
2020 Upper Mississippi River Webinar Series

Archaeologist Ernie Boszhardt will lead us on a virtual introduction to beautiful Little Bluff in Trempealeau, Wis. Sponsored by Mississippi Valley Conservancy. Discover Little Bluff

Check out Lake Pepin Alliance's membership drive.

 

Links from the September-October 2020 issue

River Action will forego its annual in-person Upper Mississippi River Conference this year, opting instead for three online webinars. Webinars will cost $10 per session or $25 for all three.

The Conservation Grazing Map helps farmers and ranchers find public lands that are available for grazing livestock. The tool is a joint effort by the MDA, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR)U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

 

•Like the overlook story in this issue? See overlook stories that we have published in the past. See all the overlooks on our Travel Map

Introduction to Overlooks 2009

Map and description of overlooks (pdf) September 2009

Lookout ! A Sampling of River Views 1993

Lookout map

Looking Down on the River—What is the highest overlook on the river? By Duke Addicks

Duke's calculations

Links from the July-August 2020 issue

Mississippi River area webcams

Headwaters of the Mississippi at Itasca State Park. (Minnesota DNR)

National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minn.

National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa

St Louis Arch viewed from Illinois. (Camera installed by the local government.)

The eagle trio near L&D 13, Fulton, Ill. (Stewards of the Upper Mississippi River Refuge)

Mississippi River Flyway Cam, Brice Prairie, Wis. (Raptor Resource Center)

Watch the river at St. Paul. (City of St. Paul)

Driftless Area Education Center at Lansing, Iowa

Dubuque County Courthouse Peregrine Falcons

 

Fishing information

Fishing information is available at “Learn to fish” on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources website.

Explore fish in streams and climate data with FishVis by the USGS.

 

Links from past issues:

Paddler Sampling:

LouAnn Harris stand-up paddle— What I Learned; The Mullet

Jay Kangler - Escape with Jay videos

Max Berthou and Mark Pozlep link to Waterways Journal

Maya Dizak and Michael McGuire and The Big Wet Trip on Instagram

Dan Faust - Glory Days

Mississippi River Paddlers Facebook Group

 


From Big River

Download complete issues from 2006 and 2007 (PDFs)

Back Issues - Highlights and ordering information

Big River Online Travel Map

Stories from past issues of Big River

 

Links to more information from stories in Big River

January-February 2018

November-December 2017

September-October 2017

July-August 2017

May-June 2017

March-April 2017

January-February 2017


Links to Mississippi River Resources


Links from Reggie's Canoecopia presentation

Big River Source-to-Sea paddler page - accounts, stories and resources

Upper Mississippi River Fish and Wildlife Refuge

Corps of Engineers Upper Miss Navigation Charts

Mississippi River Paddlers (Facebook group)

Floatzilla(River Action, Quad Cities)

The Great River Rumble


 

Minnesota DNR Eagle Cam

Upper Mississippi River Restoration - Environmental Management Program (UMRR-EMP)

Mississippi River Organizations

Mississippi River Resources

Big River Travel Map

Down the Mississippi: People taking all kinds of trips down the river

Weather on the Upper Mississippi

Water levels on the Upper Miss.

90-Day Journey of a Raindrop on the Mississippi River by Gayle Harper. Blog, Surrendering to Serendipity

Download complete issues from 2006 and 2007

More Stories Published in past issues of Big River

Waiting for the Julia Belle Swain (pdf)
By John Gabbert The hard, gritty, expensive work of rescuing one of the finest steam sternwheeler packet boats ever built is nearly finished. Jan-Feb 2017

Effigy Mounds of the Wisconsin River Valley
By Sara Millhouse September-October 2016

Coldwater Cave May-June 2016
By Capt. Ted Peck

Nighthawk Twilight
By Molly McGuire July-Aug 2015

Carp Poetry Winners - July-Aug 2015

12 Great Rivertown Gardens (pdf) - May-June 2015

Where's the Carp? Commercial fishermen have noticed an overall decline in the number of common carp - May-June 2015

Sex Life of Floodplain Trees March-April 2015

Carp Catch 22 - where can you buy wild-caught smoked carp, and why isn't it at your local grocer's? (pdf) March-April 2015

When Big Mama Ruled the Rivers - the Sprague Jan-Feb 2015

River Pilgrims Nov-Dec 2014

Outdoor Dreams Come True - North America Squirrel Association Nov-Dec 2014

Mapping Time and the River (PDF) by Ryan Johnson March-April 2014

The Living Caves of Kickapoo Winters Jan-Feb 2014

Ike Hasting's and his Picket Hastings Jan-Feb 2014

CD Review: Can You Canoe? By the OkeeDokee Brothers
Reviewed by Naomi Rath

Leo and Marilyn Smith: River Dreams in Wood (pdf)
March-April 2012

Sand Dollars — Mining Frac Sand in the River Valley (pdf
July-Aug 2011

Summer of Weeds Nov-Dec 2010

Boykin Spaniels and Box Turtles July-Aug 2010

The Almost-Built Canal: Linking Lake Superior to the Mississippi  (pdf)
March-April 2010

Flood Run also PDF
March-April 2010

The Day WWII Came to Lake Pepin
Nov-Dec 2007

Iceboating on the Mississippi
Jan-Feb 2007

Look down on the river
Overlooks, lookouts, precipices and blufftop peaks

An Otter Kind of Critter

River Book Reviews

Bridges over the Mississippi

Hand-Carved Decoys (pdf)

More Stories from Big River Magazine