December 1993

(State of Illinois, State of Iowa, State of Missouri, State of Minnesota, and State of Wisconsin)

In turn, millions of people use and enjoy these diverse resources through a variety of recreational activities.

The Mississippi River lies at the heart of what is America. More than any other natural feature, the Mississippi is an unmistakable symbol of this nation. Its influence reaches from the Appalachians to the Rockies, and it is not hard to understand why America's native people looked on the Mississippi as the spiritual center of the universe.

But America's river is threatened today as never before. And it is we, the people, that are responsible. We have increasingly asked a lot of the river over the years, and have returned very little to this great resource.

The Upper Mississippi River's lush backwaters, crucial to the survival of fish and wildlife, are being lost. The mighty Upper Mississippi (between Minneapolis and the mouth of the Ohio River) is on its way to becoming little more than a shipping channel. We are gradually --- and with increasing speed --- losing the habitat that is vital to the survival of the river's diverse fisheries resources as well as many of the migrating birds in North America. And we are gradually losing the features that, for all Americans, define the Mississippi.

The American people cannot let this happen. The Upper Mississippi River still holds a tremendous number and variety of natural resources, but they are finite and must be proactively managed to assure their long-term well-being. The problems are massive and have accumulated over many years, and it will not be simple nor cheap to save America's river.

Contributing to these problems is the lack of an organization with the responsibility or authority to address a problem of this scope.

Increasing sedimentation, continued stream channelization, levees separating the river from its floodplain, water level control for navigation, planned expansion of the commercial navigation infrastructure, and the introduction of a variety of toxins into the river system are the major contributors to the decline of the ecosystem. Scientific monitoring programs are now in place and are documenting the changing resource. However, no comprehensive effort has been initiated to reverse adverse changes and take advantage of positive ones.

The challenge America faces is to develop (by the end of this century) and implement (over the next 50 years) a comprehensive program to protect and restore the ecosystem of the Upper Mississippi River. This will require new tools, probably new authorities, and a level of effort unprecedented in the history of environmental restoration. This will require solid partnerships among state and federal agencies to assure effective, efficient implementation. This will require new thought processes within each of these agencies to assure consideration is given to ecosystem management in all proposals affecting the river.

The Upper Mississippi River needs and deserves nothing less. A hundred million Americans are currently linked to the Mississippi River; and we must take action now to protect this magnificent river for the future. We must show due respect for the river, consciously appreciate all that it has provided us over the years and ask only for what the river can provide without sacrificing the sustainability of the river's ecosystem.

The Upper Mississippi River is nothing less than the ecological lifeline of North America. It is a vital migration corridor and is home to a stunning variety of fish, wildlife and plants.

We, the people, have asked a lot of the river over the years and have returned very little to this magnificent resource. As a result, the benefits of the river's diverse ecosystem are decreasing, and the rate of decline appears to be accelerating. While many government agencies and organizations are responsible for some aspect of the Mississippi's management, none has either the authority or the responsibility at the levels necessary to significantly forestall adverse changes and take advantage of positive ones.

A resource as complex and important as the Mississippi River cannot be successfully managed in bits and pieces. A comprehensive ecosystem management strategy needs to be developed and implemented for the Mississippi River. All appropriate federal, state and local government agencies and private organizations must join in partnership to carry out these efforts relative to their respective responsibilities and missions.

This call to action has been prepared by the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee (UMRCC), a consortium of state and federal natural resource managers who work daily with river issues and who are increasingly troubled by the changes they are witnessing on the river. The UMRCC, more than ever before, realizes that we must begin reinvesting in the river for all the benefits that it has provided us over the years. We cannot continue to demand more and more without damaging its ability to sustain itself.

The Upper Mississippi River courses 1,036 miles from its headwaters in northern Minnesota to the confluence with the Ohio River at Cairo, Illinois. In doing so, it passes through the five states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. This portion of the Mississippi watershed drains 121 million acres (189,000 square miles), excluding the Missouri River's watershed.

On the lower 856 miles of this reach (from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Cairo), there exists a main stem corridor of 1,859,000 acres of rich ecological habitat interspersed with urban developments and surrounded primarily by agricultural land. The corridor contains 1,272,000 acres of land and water surface within the river's floodplain; of this floodplain acreage, 215,000 acres were designated by Congress in 1924 as part of the national wildlife refuge system.

The Mississippi River downstream of Minneapolis-St. Paul was carved from the heartland of North America by melting glacial ice more than 35,000 years ago and perhaps as long as 500,000 years ago. As glaciers grew and receded over central North America, the Upper Mississippi River corridor was repeatedly missed by advancing glaciers, but fed by tremendous volumes of water during periods of glacial melting. As a result, the Mississippi River carved a floodplain valley 1.5 to 5 miles wide and a channel 150 to 250 feet deeper than the current channel.

After the last glaciers receded, the Mississippi could no longer carry the sediment load from tributaries and the huge ancient channel began to fill with sediment. For the past 9,000 years, coarse sands and fine-grained sediment have largely filled the once deeply incised channel of the Mississippi River.

The post-glacial Mississippi River can best be described as an alluvial floodplain river with interlacing branching channels bound by natural levees, river terraces, and Paleozoic bedrock bluffs. A network of meandering channels migrated laterally downstream within the floodplain. Floodplain features evolved through time. Recently abandoned channels formed sloughs and deep backwater lakes while older abandoned channels filled with sediments, forming freshwater marshes and wet prairies.

During seasonal high water the conditions within the floodplain were dynamic and served to rejuvenate the ecosystem; outside meander bends eroded, islands formed and reconfigured, tributary sediments moved into the floodplain, new sloughs were scoured, isolated lakes refilled, and natural levees grew higher. During low-flow periods, exposed sediments oxidized, consolidated and were colonized by vegetation.

The Mississippi was a free-flowing river diverse in floodplain features and water depths. It constantly adjusted to the pulse of tributary water discharge, sediment load and other geomorphic influences within the watershed and floodplain to maintain a relatively stable but dynamic system with a diverse mix of riverine habitats. The largest river environment in North America had become an immense and extremely complex ecosystem that was home to an incredible variety of fish, wildlife and plants.

Today, the Upper Mississippi River is still a unique, internationally significant ecosystem that contains a diverse array of natural resources. Few large river floodplain ecosystems in the world still retain some semblance of their natural structure and function, especially in the northern temperate zone, where virtually all rivers have been altered for human uses. River-floodplain ecosystems are characterized by floodplains and an annual flood pulse, that together enhance biological productivity. In addition, rivers of the size and habitat complexity of the Upper Mississippi have many more fishes than small streams, including representatives of some of the most ancient lineages of freshwater fishes, such as gars, sturgeons and the paddlefish. The flora and fauna of the Upper Mississippi are unusually rich because the river's north-south orientation provided a southward retreat for species during the glacial epochs, thereby conserving species during those harsh climate periods. It is a critical migration corridor to 40% of North America's waterfowl and shorebirds, and home to 118 or more species of fish and nearly 50 species of freshwater mussels.

A recently completed study of the economic impacts of recreation estimates the national economic impact of boating, fishing and sightseeing in the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway at $1.2 billion annually, directly generating 18,000 jobs. Over 12 million visitor-days are recorded on the river annually, and that doesn't include millions of people drawn to the river's edge for festivals and fairs, urban corridor trail use and a variety of other activities.

Maintaining the health and diversity of the Upper Mississippi River ecosystem is essential to sustaining nationally significant recreational use and tourism.

Any discussion of key legislation that has created the framework for current planning, regulation and management on the Upper Mississippi River System must include mention of the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge Act of 1924, the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1930, the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act of 1958, the Flood Control Act of 1944, the Federal Water Project Recreation Act of 1965, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, and the Water Resources Development Act of 1986.

From those laws, and from many other federal, state and local actions, there now exists a planning, regulatory and management framework that includes at least 20 different categories of agencies (from federal to local) with jurisdiction over one or more of some 33 different functional areas of activity on the river. This includes at least six federal agencies with significant roles, 23 state agencies in five states, and 233 local governments.

And that's just the beginning of the list. There are many other organizations that provide support to these agencies, including the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee, the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association, the Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission, the Mississippi River Research Consortium, and others.

The closest we have come to developing a comprehensive plan for resource management have been the efforts of the Great River Environmental Action Team (GREAT) studies in the 1970s, the Upper Mississippi River System Master Plan in 1982, and the subsequent establishment of interagency forums to address a variety of specific river resource issues (such as dredged material placement, recreation management, and fisheries management). Despite these efforts, there remains no significant comprehensive focus to place a priority on managing the entire river ecosystem.

Some fundamental strategies have been developed in recent years such as UMRCC's Fisheries Strategic Vision, UMRBA's Water Quality Initiative, and a multi-agency plan of study for a Comprehensive Recreation Management Plan. These efforts, and others not listed, should be combined into a comprehensive management strategy for the entire river ecosystem. Many of these plans and strategies have been largely unfunded and are still in the initial stages of planning and implementation.

The Upper Mississippi River valley was a biologically diverse, large river-floodplain ecosystem long before its basin was farmed, its banks settled, and its waters designated, dammed and dredged for navigation. This river continues to be an ecosystem of international significance, but a system upon which we have imposed many changes. These changes are leading to a long-term deterioration of the river's ecological integrity as we know it today.

Navigation modifications on the Mississippi River began in 1824 when Congress authorized the removal of snags, shoals, sandbars and several rock rapids. Attempts were made to confine flows to the main channel.

In 1878, Congress authorized the Corps of Engineers to maintain a 4.5-foot channel for navigation. To accomplish this, the Corps installed thousands of brush and rock wing dams perpendicular to the shoreline to direct flow toward the center of the channel. Shoreline revetments, closing structures and meander cut-offs were also built.

Congress acted again in 1907 to authorize a 6-foot channel, and the Corps responded with more river-training techniques, including raising and extending wing dams. Dredging was required in some areas to maintain channel depth. The 4-1/2 and 6' channel authorizations were an important milestone in controlling the river to suit man's need for transportation. With the advent of dredging and wing dikes and closing dams, we began to define where the river's main channel should be. In the approximately 300 miles of the Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District alone, there are over 1,150 regulating structures totaling approximately 178 miles. The river's tendency to meander was gradually being eliminated.

In 1930 Congress authorized the current 9-foot navigation channel. A series of dams would be constructed to maintain a minimum navigation channel depth of nine feet during low river stages. The nine foot channel would be supplemented by dredging as needed.

Between 1930 and 1950, 29 locks and dams were constructed, along with 13 small boat harbors and five commercial harbors and turning basins.

The navigation dams are the heart of the navigation system. They are designed to help maintain a nine-foot channel for commercial navigation during periods of low flow. They do not have a flood control purpose and have little effect on high water flow. Much of the floodplain upstream of each dam was permanently inundated following construction. Prior to impoundment, most of these areas were only seasonally or occasionally flooded. With this permanent inundation, lake, wetland, floodplain forest and slough habitats that had been isolated from the main river much of the year are now subject to artificially high water levels, waves and fine-grained sediment deposition. Natural dry-season sediment consolidation no longer occurs.

Water flowing through the river system accelerates as it plunges over a dam, then slows dramatically upstream of the next dam. These slower velocities allow finegrained suspended sediment to fall out of the water, causing the large lake-like areas (typically referred to as "pools") above each dam to fill with sediment. Creation of these pools provided additional aquatic habitat and was responsible for an initial boom in biological productivity. However, these initial short-term benefits are now declining, yet the negative impacts to the long-term viability of the natural ecosystem continue to occur. With the short-term benefits came the loss of terrestrial habitat, a reduction in the overall biological diversity in the river and the floodplain, and a reduction in the long-term productivity and sustenance of a free-flowing large river ecosystem.

And today, even the "pools" created by impoundment face severe problems such as being "sinks" for certain pollutants.

Most Upper Mississippi River backwater lakes are threatened by sedimentation. Sedimentation rates in Lake Onalaska backwaters in Pool 7 ranged from 2.8 to 6.9 centimeters per year between 1938 and 1978. Lake Pepin in Pool 4 has lost 12 percent of its volume since 1930.

The situation is even more dramatic in Pool 19 near Keokuk, Iowa. The oldest man-made river pool, Pool 19, has lost 58 percent of its volume since the dam was completed in 1913. Sediment accumulates in Pool 19 at an average rate of 15 centimeters per year. It is projected this pool will lose 80 percent of its volume by 2050; by then, half of what was originally water will have become dry land.

Wave action in the wind-swept pools resuspends lake bottom sediment and erodes islands and shorelines. Loss of these islands, many of which were at one time natural levees along flowing channels, creates even larger areas of unprotected expanses of water, with greater wind fetches subjecting remaining islands to even greater wave action.

Backwater lakes are becoming shallower with less topographic relief. Dissolved oxygen declines in these shallow, more algae-prone lakes and the water becomes colder during winter than in deeper lakes. Biological diversity appears to be declining, and the rate of decline may be accelerating.

Runoff from tributary watersheds and urban areas not only contributes sediment to the river system, but also introduces a variety of toxic pollutants such as insecticides and herbicides. Water Quality monitoring during the flood of 1993 indicated no significant decrease in concentrations of these chemicals in spite of the vastly increased volume of flow. Municipal and industrial discharges contribute other contaminants including heavy metals. Oil and chemical spills threaten local areas. Two major spills which occurred on the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers in the Winter of 1962 and Spring of 1963 were reported by the UMRCC in 1964.

Water quality is of concern because of its implications for both human health and ecosystem viability. Recent studies suggest that toxic pollution is at least partially to blame for a variety of declines in riverine biota including mink populations, benthic macroinvertebrates (unionid mussels and fingernail clams), and mayflies. Toxic pollutants are present in both water and sediment. The presence of toxic contaminants in suspended and bedload sediments is a concern because they persist in the ecosystem and threaten aquatic organisms. Some contaminants can be transferred from the sediment throughout the food chain as they bioaccumulate. This threat to the ecosystem can also affect human health. It is evidenced by the widespread existence of fish consumption advisories. PCB, chlordane, dieldrin, and mercury contamination have all resulted in such advisories. Recent water quality standards on the UMR are not stringent enough to protect riverine biota. Recent investigations reveal that contaminants such as lead, cadmium, and mercury continue to build up in river sediments, affecting fish and invertebrates.

Non-native species introduced to the river system are adversely affecting the ecosystem balance. These include bighead, silver, and grass carp species, zebra mussels, Eurasian water milfoil, purple loosestrife and Asiatic clams.

Floodplain encroachment, wetland drainage, and channelization of the Mississippi and its tributaries have resulted in accelerated flood water conveyance and lost storage throughout the system. As a result, we now experience higher and more erratic river stages. Not only do these disrupt natural functions of the large river floodplain ecosystem, but they also periodically pose greater threats to the very developments for which the channelization and drainage was done in the first place. The flood of 1993 is a prime example.

Dredging to maintain the navigation channel also has impacts. Prior to the 1970s, dredged material was frequently placed wherever convenient without much regard for the habitat being destroyed. Since the 1970s, efforts to place dredged material in environmentally acceptable areas or to remove it from the river system have become the norm. However, many preferred placement sites are reaching capacity, and therefore the potential for further habitat impacts is again growing.

Impacts to river resources also result from the movement of both recreational watercraft and commercial tows. Changes in the river environment resulting from vessel movement include creation of waves and water level drawdown, altered velocity and pressure regimes, and sediment resuspension and lateral movement of sediment. Commercial barge tows create both waves and drawdowns, while recreational craft create only waves (although the character of the waves created by recreational craft tend to be more damaging to shorelines than those created by tows).

Overuse from recreation threatens portions of the river. Over 12 million visitor use days occur annually (St. Paul Corps of Engineers 1993). Over 86% of this use occurred between St. Paul, Minnesota and Hannibal, Missouri.

Apparent declines in the river's quality and habitat diversity have also impacted the millions of recreational users who visit the river each year. As species diversity declines, so do hunting and fishing opportunities. Sediment has choked inlets to some backwater areas, making them inaccessible to recreational users.

Several factors combine in "domino-falling" fashion to make the river unable to support a diversity of organisms. Already-shallow backwater lakes are experiencing increased sediment deposition. Without natural dry-season consolidation of this sediment, the bottom remains flocculent and unstable. Wind action easily suspends the sediment that in turn reduces light penetration essential to plant growth. Submersed vegetation and aquatic insects soon disappear. Without the vegetation essential to waterfowl and other animals, and without the aquatic insects essential to fish and waterfowl, the ecosystem falters.

This sequence of events is inevitable whenever a river is impounded, and it is happening to the Mississippi River with increasing speed. Although the sediment loading increases gradually, major biotic changes may occur rather suddenly. Rooted aquatic vegetation helps control turbidity by promoting settling and reducing sediment resuspension. As turbidity increases, light penetration and photosynthesis are reduced, weakening or killing submerged aquatic plants. With wave action undampened, larger waves resuspend more sediment and uproot more plants, further increasing turbidity. Remaining plant beds are rapidly degraded and the backwater's ecology collapses with a cascading effect. With the loss of plants and plant-associated invertebrates, waterfowl disappear, fish populations decline and dominance shifts to species that can locate their food by scent. Figure 1 illustrates how rapidly this degradation can occur. Curve B shows a gradual decline in environmental quality and Curve A indicates a collapse of the river ecosystem once a yet undefined, threshold is passed. Many UMRCC biologists believe that the sudden collapse scenario is likely to occur on the UMRS. An example of such a collapse that is well documented by multiple scientific investigations is the Illinois River ecosystem.

There is some documented scientific evidence that the ecological collapse of the Upper Mississippi is beginning.

A study of resources of Lake Onalaska, Pool 7 showed that wild celery dominated the submersed aquatic plant community beginning in the mid 1960's. Its distribution and abundance continually increased until the spring of 1989 when it became apparent that a major decline had occurred. Changes in the water regime of the Upper Mississippi River resulting from the 1988 drought are believed to be responsible. Research in 1992 and 1993 show a slow recovery may be occurring.

Radio telemetry studies of largemouth bass showed these fish move up to nine river miles to find suitable wintering habitat. Wintering habitat was located in backwater lakes and sloughs with no current velocity, warmer water temperature than the main channel, and adequate water depth to prevent oxygen depletion during the winter. Only three wintering sites were located in one 18-mile river segment in lower Pool 12, which indicated the limited availability of this habitat. Sedimentation is the number one problem on the Upper Mississippi River and backwaters are the most severely affected by sedimentation. If loss and degradation of backwaters and associated wintering areas continues, populations of largemouth bass, bluegill and crappie can be expected to decline in direct response to loss of habitat.

In addition to these gradual, undesirable habitat changes and potential ecological collapse resulting from impoundment, other human activity such as shoreline development, hydropower, and waste discharge contribute to a cumulative impact on the river's resources.

The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge was established in 1924, prior to the construction of most of the locks and dams. The primary intent of the refuge was to preserve natural river habitats through federal ownership and management. In 1958 the Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge extended the refuge system downriver by consolidating federal purchases for the nine-foot navigation channel project at a time when the ecological diversity and conditions of the river resources were still excellent. Fish and wildlife programs of the states were also initiated in this time of abundance, before and shortly after the construction of the nine-foot channel project.

The Water Resource Development Act of 1986 established the Upper Mississippi River System Environmental Management Program (EMP), which contains two key elements: (1) long-term resource monitoring (LTRM) and (2) habitat rehabilitation and enhancement projects (HREPs). The LTRM and HREP elements were never intended to be long term solutions to river management, but they could be important contributors to comprehensive ecosystem management if the Program was made permanent and its goals and objectives modified.

The long term goals of LTRM are to understand the system, determine resource trends and impacts, develop management alternatives, manage information, and develop useful products for river managers. Resource trends are being monitored out of six field stations located throughout the river system. Priorities are currently placed on water quality, fish, and aquatic vegetation. program lacks sufficient funding for critical species groups such as invertebrates.

HREPs seek to enhance and restore selected habitats within relatively small portions of the Mississippi River. A variety of engineering techniques are employed to slow the rate at which areas will degrade. Some projects are designed to set back sedimentation by dredging filled areas or blocking conduits through which sediment travels into backwaters. Other projects rebuild islands, which have eroded away, and resulted in large areas subject to wind fetch, hastening the erosion of other islands. Water flows have also been reintroduced into side channels and backwater lakes to provide fresh, oxygenated water into these stagnant areas. Some projects create small water-level management areas where the pre-impoundment conditions of low-flow drawdowns can be periodically recreated to regenerate aquatic plant growth through seed bank germination and consolidation of sediments.

HREPs are predominantly engineering solutions that treat relatively small areas. While these types of projects have restored some of the habitat lost, cannot fully address widespread ecosystem decline, nor were they ever intended to do so. From the inception of the EMP, it was envisioned that HREPs could be a viable, albeit sometimes costly, means of restoring critical highvalue habitat areas. Experience with the design and construction of HREPs has borne this vision out. The projects to date have proven very helpful in identifying how successful certain interventions can be when employed for habitat improvement. However, the projects have also demonstrated that, by themselves, HREPS do not constitute a holistic ecosystem management approach.

Current federal and state efforts have been unable to provide for comprehensive management of recreational use of the river, or generate a better understanding of the relationship between a healthy ecosystem and quality recreational opportunities on the Upper Mississippi. While some information exists concerning negative impacts on the resource from large motorboats, little is known about attitudes, behavior and the needs of the river's millions of recreational visitors.

Water quality protection efforts have included both regulation of point source discharges as well as an increasing variety of nonpoint source control programs. These efforts can be improved with better coordination across jurisdictional lines and with integration with riverine habitat restoration.

In 1992, a Water Quality Initiative for the Upper Mississippi was begun by the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association to examine comprehensive strategies for sedimentation and toxic pollution. Some initial efforts have been achieved, but the entire plan must move forward to reduce sedimentation and toxic pollution. Some common goals for pollution reduction that cross state and federal jurisdictions would be a good start.

Throughout most of the recent history of natural resource management on the Upper Mississippi River, programs have consisted primarily of habitat protection through public ownership, species management programs, regulatory programs (fishing and hunting regulations, etc.) as well as inventory, research and monitoring of resource conditions over time.

Overall, active management of the river ecosystem and its habitat conditions have been localized in comparison to the size and complexity of the ecosystem. System-wide, coordinated and integrated management of this large floodplain river ecosystem is not currently a defined objective of any agency, nor is such an approach a part of agency operational plans at the regional or local levels.

The President, the Congress, federal agencies and the states are now challenged to develop --by the year 2000 --- and implement, over the next fifty years, a scientifically sound ecosystem management strategy for the Upper Mississippi River.

In this decade and in the coming new century, we need to take action to protect what remains of this river's ecosystem and to restore that which has been lost. This will require that we do far more than ever before to protect and restore the river's ecosystem.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers are the two primary federal agencies with Mississippi River resource management responsibilities. Frequently the management objectives of these and other federal agencies come into conflict. A unified federal policy is necessary to aggressively advance the strategy. Partnerships between the federal agencies, the states, and the public must be made an integral part of any ecosystem management implementation.

Federal and state partners, with public involvement, must aggressively identify ecosystem needs and develop management alternatives. The key to success will be all agencies adopting comprehensive management within their respective missions. It must be understood that this approach is quite different and more effective than having individual agencies advancing relatively narrow, single-purpose missions in hopes that the end result will be comprehensive management.

Ecosystem management has three components: (1) obtaining scientific information about the ecology of the ecosystem, (2) establishing goals and objectives for the ecosystem, and (3) developing alternatives and implementing management actions. Component I is being partly achieved through the Long Term Resources Monitoring Program (LTRMP) of the Environmental Management Program (EMP). Setting goals will be accomplished with the premise that the plant and animal populations and habitats are interacting parts of a greater whole that responds as a unit to disturbance, whether it be natural or human-induced. In the case of the Upper Mississippi River, our overall ecosystem goal is restoring and maintaining a large, floodplain river ecosystem. This includes restoring natural floodplain functions, that impoundment eliminated or reduced, by some yet unidentified management actions.

Watershed restoration is also an important component. Problems such as sedimentation and pesticide runoff are directly linked to land practices on the watershed. Ultimate resource management will include a combination of work on the watershed and in the river mainstem.

The third component of ecosystem management includes development of alternatives. Management techniques, ranging from traditional methods with proven track records to experimental procedures not yet imagined, will be needed to accomplish habitat protection, enhancement and restoration in this complex system. Some traditional techniques can be used immediately. Others may be experimental, requiring demonstration before they can be successfully used system-wide.

Management can be in the form of facility construction, resource manipulation, use regulations and public education. Strategies under all four of these categories will be used to achieve comprehensive management, which would allow the ecosystem to sustain and repair itself.

It is imperative that any ecosystem planning effort take into account the important relationships between the resource and the people who use it. Understanding the needs, expectations, and behaviors of all river users is critically important if management alternatives to improve and maintain America's preeminent heritage river is to be responsive to public demands and values. Likewise, commercial interests throughout the river must be taken into account.

The final aspect of an ecosystem strategy is implementation. Managing the river's ecosystem requires significant change in the way agencies approach their responsibilities on the Mississippi River watershed. All agencies regardless of authority or specific mission, must reexamine how their mission fits into the larger picture of comprehensive ecosystem management. Private organizations and business interests also have important roles in river management. Ecosystem management is not separate from navigation management or refuge management; ecosystem management includes every aspect of every management activity.

A revised UMR institutional framework is needed to accomplish two basic tasks: (1) develop a comprehensive ecosystem management strategy that will describe in some detail what habitat and management modifications are needed to maintain the UMR ecosystem. As already mentioned, this will be accomplished by first identifying critical ecosystem functions that have been lost and then establishing goals and objectives for restoring them. A cooperative effort between state and federal agencies and the public will be critical here, and (2) Implement the strategy by a unified interagency river management policy that professes ecosystem management as a primary objective.

To accomplish Task 1, all UMR agencies must be involved in developing the overall strategy; however, one agency, or possibly commission, should be appointed to organize, coordinate and maintain the effort. That agency must be capable of coordinating and conducting a multi-objective planning effort. Congress will need to provide that agency with the necessary authorities (if they do not now exist) and the necessary resources (staff and money) to coordinate development of the strategy. Agreements can be established between the coordinating agency and other participating agencies to transfer funds for specific products and to assure that all partners have equal status.

To implement the strategy (Task 2.), new directives, policies and authorities will likely be needed. Perhaps a "river council" comprised of federal, state, and private membership will be needed to assure effective, efficient implementation.

Commitment of money will of course be a key factor in a successful effort. Funding sources will need to be located, pursued, and in some instances, newly developed for the cause.

Congress will eventually need to give new directions and funding to appropriate federal agencies for some facets of ecosystem management. Specific work tasks and proposed products will be developed as the concept advances. Perhaps Congress's initial role will be to mandate comprehensive resource management as part of the missions for all Mississippi River resource management agencies.

Conservation and natural resource agencies in the five states will also need to commit staff resources to participate in developing and implementing ecosystem management.

The pursuit of an ecosystem management strategy and its subsequent implementation will be a long-term Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee (UMRCC) objective. The UMRCC will continue to encourage and educate the state and federal river management agencies, the public, and private river organizations and environmental groups regarding the need to adapt ecosystem management. The UMRCC will actively seek support for: (1) staff and funding for developing the ecosystem strategy, (2) an appropriate environmental agency to coordinate the strategy and (3) appropriate legislation to implement the strategy.

To be successful, the "Call for Action" must come not only from the river managers but all the boaters, fishermen, hunters, and other river users. They will have to carry the message that ecosystem management is critically needed and must become a priority within their respective management agencies. Support for elected representatives who will be called upon to enact legislation and provide funding is just as essential.

While the Upper Mississippi River ecosystem is in trouble, it is not doomed. Given new tools, river managers can develop a framework to restore and maintain the health of America's greatest river. We must begin to redirect our resources and management philosophies/policies toward an ecosystem consciousness. This is the least we must do if we expect the river to provide us the benefits of the past, for the foreseeable future.

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P.A. 1992. A Review of Changes in Unionid Mussels of the Upper Mississippi River System, Environmental Management Technical Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, In Proceedings, Mississippi River Research Consortium, Vol. 24.

Vohs, P.A., Moore, I.J., & Ramsey, J.S. 1993. A Critical Review of the Effects of Turbidity on Aquatic Organisms in Large Rivers, Iowa State University, for Environmental Management Technical Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. LTRMP Special Report 93-5002. 139 pp.

Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee. 1964. Proceedings of the 20th Annual Meeting.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Paul District. 1993. Economic Impacts of Recreation: Recreation Use and Activity Report.

Wiener, J.G., R.V. Anderson, D.R. McConville (eds.). 1984. Contaminants in the Upper Mississippi River; Proceedings of the 15th Annual Meeting of the Mississippi River Research Consortium. Butterworth Publ. 368 pp.

Wilson, D.M., Naimo, T.J., Wiener, J.G. & Sandheinrich, M.B. 1992. Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Fingernail Clam, Musculium Transversum Populations in the Upper Mississippi River, River Studies Center, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, and National Fisheries Research Center, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in Proceedings, Mississippi River Research Consortium, Vol. 24, 1992.

This document is the result of a truly collaborative effort of the members of the Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee (UMRCC) Ad Hoc Committee on Ecosystem Management. They contributed many hours to translating some vague concepts and ideas into meaningful text. In particular, Kevin Szcodronski, Steve Johnson, Jon Duyvejonck, and Dan McGuiness should be mentioned for their writing contributions. Special thanks also to Dr. Jud Monroe and Dr. Richard Sparks for their technical comments on the report and to Carol Lowenberg of the Environmental Technical Center for providing the map of the UMRS.

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