Attached find an excellent news article on the declining barge business.  Also there is a partial list of the meetings planned for the Army Corps on the authorized purposes study.  Several are in Iowa or close to Iowa, so you are urged to attend.

Three species on the river are endangered or threatened.  Overall native fish populations are at only 15% of historic levels.

The messages you might share at the corps meetings:

HEAL THE RIVER

a. Public wants to enjoy the river, currently the barge channel makes it too dangerous.

b. Habitat mitigation should increase; the river needs to meander to a higher degree.

c. Water Quality should not be ignored.  Factory Farms and ag practices have turned the river into a stew of pollutants.  

d. Barge channel is a failed commercial endeavor; congressional decommissioning of the barge channel is the cheapest way to recover a more natural river.


Please email or call me if you want more information about addressing the MRAPS meetings.

         Jim Redmond         712-258-8303
Sierra Club Representative on the Corps/Fish and Wildlife Service
Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee


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