By Christine Favilla and Virginia Woulfe-Beile
2015 was an exciting year for the Three Rivers Project Coordinators. Our mission is to preserve the integrity of the rivers, wetlands, forests, and floodplains in the Piasa Palisades region. Along with protecting the areas big rivers, wetlands and open spaces we also focus on building a vibrant community with a clean energy future and access to sustainable agriculture. We strive to educate the public and the media about the threats to air and water quality facing our region.
As our project name indicates, protecting the area big rivers is paramount in our work. We partner with organizations such as American Rivers, Nicollet Island Coalition, Mississippi River Network, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, and Prairie Rivers Network to advocate and educate on issues impacting the entire Mississippi River Watershed. In 2015 we met with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources in Springfield to encourage the defunding of the New Madrid Levee, made comments at the US Department of the Interior, Office of Surface Mining hearing on stream rule making. We also actively serve on policy and steering committees of many of our partners and 1 Mississippi. It is with these coalitions that we uphold our desire to o restore and protect the Upper Mississippi River through navigation reforms and envisions a healthy and sustainable Mississippi River. Thus, we planned and implanted annual meetings and conferences; drafted letters to Congress on the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association’s demonstration project they're developing for the Public-Private Partnership Pilot Program; drafted comments and white papers on the Mississippi River Report Card from America’s Wetland Initiative; and urged full funding and successful implementing the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program.
We endeavor to involve local residents, students, partner organizations and elected officials in events and activities geared toward the protection of our valuable natural resources by planning and implementing the Mississippi Earthtones Festival and the Riverbend Earth Day. The Earthtones move of venue was one we did not wish to make because of the distance from the Mississippi River, but the result was a much more cohesive event: we had wonderful community participation and our 63 river cleanup crew reported 3.5 tons of trash collected as well as 6 tires.
Another important aspect of the Three Rivers Project is to promote clean energy alternatives. With our outstanding volunteers, we participated in Illinois Clean Jobs rallies and petition deliveries to elected officials in Alton and Springfield this past year. We also serve as a resource for the Alton, Godfrey, Granite City, Glen Carbon and Edwardsville Cool Cities Committees which is an initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in municipal operations. In this past year we worked closely with Beyond Coal Campaign Organizer Elizabeth Scrafford to raise awareness of the eventuality of the retirement of the aging and dirty Dynegy Wood River power plant and the just transition of the community in this event. Dynegy announced the plant’s retirement in October and we have been working to convene residents, elected officials and community stakeholder at a Town Hall Forum on January 12, at Jacoby Art Center. The purpose of the forum is to begin what we hope is an ongoing conversation on the just transition of the displaced workers, the environment and our community.
Our work also involves protecting wetlands and open spaces. The Cabin Restoration Project has been working to preserve historically significant sleeping cabins in the upper camps at Pere Marquette State Park since 2012. In 2015 the Cabin A Team volunteers along with SIUE Wildlife Biology clubbers rehabbed two more. We also have several Invasive species removal projects in the works.
Sustainable Agriculture is also at the core of our work. As part of the local food project, we planned and started five community gardens and helped Grassroots Grocery design a local foods educational workshop series. We have worked with children to do healthy eating lessons and choose seeds for their gardens, with the help of our local foods intern from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville (SIUE) whose assistance was invaluable. We followed a clear schedule for community garden maintenance with partner organizations, held a successful Urban Farm Tour, and have gained four new steady volunteers as a result, as well as hundreds of pounds of vegetables eaten by those kids and their neighbors.
We want to thank our many volunteers who help make our work possible. Also much gratitude to our Executive Committee and the guidance they provide. Wishing you all the best in the new year!
