by Roy Hengerson, MRCC Alternate Delegate
On June 6-8 over 50 Sierra Club members from the Midwest and beyond gathered in Alton, Illinois near the confluence of three mighty rivers, the Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Illinois. In addition to a meeting of the Midwest Regional Conservation Committee, a Big Rivers Workshop was held.
For a number of years, the Sierra Club held the annual Big Rivers Workshop in Washington, DC. Last year it was decided to return to the big rivers, and the Workshop was held in Wisconsin. This year the greater St. Louis area was selected. In addition to interesting and informed presentations by people who have been working on river and watershed issues for years, the Workshop featured a tour of the river environment in the confluence area.
Representatives from two federal agencies that have a lot to say about how the big rivers are managed participated in the Workshop. Mike Thompson and Chuck Theiling with the Army Corps of Engineers discussed their views on integrated river planning and other aspects of the Corps’ river management. Joyce Collins with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service talked about river restoration and what considerations should guide this work.
On Sunday the Midwest Regional Conservation Committee (MRCC) held their business meeting. The MRCC meets three times a year at various locations around the nine states that comprise the Club’s Midwest Region. After that, activists from the Mississippi River Basin Eco-Region discussed ways to revitalize Sierra Club efforts to protect and restore the environment of the nation’s big rivers, particularly those in the Mississippi River Basin.