This is the September 2024 newsletter of the League of Women Voters Upper Mississippi River Region. Visit our website to learn more about our work. 

The Nature Conservancy’s Mississippi River Basin Project: An Overview and Implications for Conservation in the Upper Mississippi River Basin 

The Mississippi River faces unprecedented challenges. Increasingly intense flooding, nutrient runoff that creates a Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico, invasive species, and changing flows strain the river’s infrastructure and threaten homes, communities, and livelihoods. The Nature Conservancy has set ambitious goals to transform how they conduct and influence conservation across the whole basin to ensure its long-term resilience for nature and people alike. They are developing projects, partnerships, and policies that protect essential lands, habitats, and waters, while deepening our understanding of the connections between people and place.

October 8 at 7pm​, LWV UMRR will  host a talk by Steve Herrington, Associate Director of Water for the Minnesota-North Dakota-South Dakota Chapter of The Nature Conservancy and Amy Cazier, TNC Water Quality Technician.   They will tell us about The Nature Conservancy's Mississippi River Basin Project, outlining their work and ways that others can help to support it.  This presentation will provide an overview of our Mississippi River Basin project and touch on select actions in Minnesota and elsewhere in the Upper Mississippi River that contribute to a vibrant future for the Mississippi River Basin as a whole.  To register for this program, check out this post on the  LWV UMRR Blog.

A View from Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin on SaltWise and SaltSmart Practices

Salt is a big problem for streams, lakes and rivers in the Upper Mississippi Basin.  Salt breaks down into sodium and chloride, which moves freely through soil and builds up in water bodies. Chloride pollution is a serious threat in the Upper Mississippi Basin - what can be done?  On August 15, LWV UMRR hosted panelists from Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin talking about programs in these states in a Zoom event at 7pm.   The video from this presentation is now available - click the button below to be transported!

Click here to find the SaltSmart video