THE TABLE’S SET FOR TEA inside the two-story Georgian 

Colonial Revival home, built in the practical style of the 

country’s Great Depression. The only ornamentation is the 

Irish-green shutters, the breezy screen porch and the fact 

that it’s just steps from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 

Lock and Dam 10 on the Mississippi River.

But the value of this home—and the restoration work 

being completed this fall—goes well beyond either its look 

or location within Guttenberg, Iowa, one of America’s prettiest river towns. 

This is the only remaining lockmaster’s home still in its 

original location at a Mississippi River lock and dam. When 

renovations are complete and the home is re-opened this 

spring, the museum now run in conjunction with the 

Guttenberg Heritage Society will further bring to life one of 

the country’s largest ever public works projects as well as 

the Great Depression era in which the river’s modern 9-foot 

channel system was originally built.

 “This house is a symbol of the cultural history and heritage 

of not only the 1930s Great Depression, but of the construction of the lock and dam system on the river,” says Corps 

archaeologist Vanessa Alberto. 

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY DIVISION · FALL 2020

Lockhouse renovations will help the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers tell tales of 

Great Depression hardship—and of the 

sophisticated lock and dam system that 

arose from New Deal labor projects.

Continued on page 2 >>

Live like a lockmaster on the scenic Mississippi

The lockmaster’s home at Lock and Dam 10, prior to renovation.

Enjoy views like this near the last 

lockmaster's home in its original 

location, Guttenberg, Iowa.

Our Mississippi is a newsletter of the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about 

its work in the Mississippi River Basin toward 

both economic and ecological integrity of the 

river system. It is published by the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division, 

in accordance with AR 360-1 for its Mississippi 

Valley workforce and external audiences and 

collaborative partners including other Corps’ 

districts and stakeholders within the division’s 

area of responsibility. The views and opinions 

expressed are not necessarily those of the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Army 

or the U.S. Department of Defense.

BEN FORD
TOP LEFT: Crews hired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers replace an aging roof to help preserve its last original 

lockmaster's house; a lock construction photo from the ’30s; and a journal kept by an early lockmaster.

When Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, more than 10 million Americans 

were unemployed. Over the next eight years, the Roosevelt Administration 

poured hundreds of millions of dollars into public works projects across 

the country. Though many agencies and individuals scrambled for a part of 

Roosevelt’s new deal, proponents of a major new lock and dam project got in 

line early, according to a National Park Service history of the locks.

The Corps had already been seeking a way to provide consistent navigation 

on the Upper Mississippi River, and the New Deal offered the potential solution and for funding. In 1933, the federal government committed more than 

$30 million to the Upper Mississippi River, the first in a series of investments 

that would total more than $164 million by the time the project was complete. In 1940, the last of the lock and dam system was finished, and the Upper 

Mississippi River had been tamed for commercial barges.

Lockmasters at the then 26 locks and dams were charged with making sure 

all went well as vessels toting goods up and down the river went through navigation locks. Then, and throughout the years that followed, the person’s job 

would be to schedule maintenance and help with lock and dam operation. 

In the beginning, lockmasters literally lived the jobs much like a lighthouse 

keeper of the day did—constantly on watch, available to take quick action in 

case of a river-related emergency day or night. 

That you were never off duty likely added another layer of stress to an 

already challenging job, notes current day lockmaster 

Brian Sipos.

“You’re living next to the equipment you’re working 

on, living with the people you work with. You’d always 

be hearing horns to let the boats out, always hearing the 

towboats call in, always seeing the river conditions.”

Pearl Walker was the first lockmaster to live on site at 

Lock and Dam 10, and his assistant lockmaster resided 

in a nearly identical house next door, Alberto says, with 

a garage built between the two houses. Several lockmasters and assistants would follow, all the way to 1990 

when the last lockmaster moved off site.

The same things, people and goods, have traversed the Mississippi River 

since Native Americans were the only ones that traveled the river by canoe, 

Alberto noted, but the construction of the lock and dam system changed 

what was able to move on the river by keeping the river at a navigable enough 

depth to open the river network connection to the world. Through the early 

tenure of Pearl Walker and his compatriots, though, traffic grew slowly.

The Roosevelt administration had limited agricultural production to 

boost prices, so grain started as a minor part of river traffic. But WWII 

boosted commerce with the river as a shipping hub for raw material, oil and 

coal. By 2018, nearly 16 million tons of commodities passed through Lock 

and Dam 10. That included nearly 8.5 million tons of farm products such 

as corn and soybeans. It’s estimated that industries making the shipments 

saved approximately $430 million by using the inland waterways instead of 

overland shipping methods.

When the last lockmaster moved out of the on-site lockmaster’s house in 

1990, the Corps partnered with the heritage society to operate it as a museum, 

one that has attracted visitors from around the world. But like most older 

homes, it was falling into disrepair. Renovations replaced the aging roof and 

siding and shored up the chimney. Lead paint was removed, and new exhibits 

will be added to further tell the story of its importance and the era before it’s 

reopened to the public in spring.

Alberto hopes the museum can go well beyond being a visual reminder of 

the era to even better tell the story of Depression-era life and the importance 

of the New Deal-era lock and dam construction.

“The 9-foot channel project supported navigation, and it was especially 

important at lock and dam 10 and up,” she said. “In the very northern part 

of the river there were really strong fluctuations in water level. What forced 

the hands of policy makers was the Great Depression and the New Deal. With 

Roosevelt saying we need to get people back to work, the Corps got funding 

and could say, ‘Let’s get these things done.’” 

Dangerous jobs led to safety push 

When U.S. Army Corps of Engineers historian Alberto looks at old photographs of the construction of the Mississippi River locks and dams in the 

1930s, what stands out is what wasn’t in them: hard hats, brightly colored 

construction vests, steel-toed boots.

“When you look at the photos, you’d be shocked by people showing up in 

regular clothes, doing these very dangerous jobs,” she says.

A couple of decades ago, Corps historians interviewed some of these early 

construction workers and heard stories of colleagues that were injured or lost 

on the job. They also heard of the quick progression of safety efforts and how 

norms shifted over time.

The Corps’ St. Paul District, responsible for construction of the river’s northernmost locks, published a monthly periodical “Old Man River,” while the 

Rock Island District published a similar one called “The Safe Channel.” Both 

documented construction progress but had the stated mission of promoting 

safety among district and contractor’s employees. 

The Corps districts also offered classes that demonstrated use of hard hats, 

safety boots and kapok life vests. District engineers displayed charts noting 

the number of accidents at each lock and dam project, and the number of 

man-hours lost to accidents. As the projects neared completion, concern over 

safety did not diminish. In fact, the continuation of safety meetings helped 

influence safety norms elsewhere across the country. The importance of 

safety in the Corps’ workforce hasn’t gone away, Alberto said, but has only 

become more prevalent. This is reflected in the most recent award presented 

to the Mississippi Valley Division, St. Paul District, for the Chief of Engineers 

Safety Award of Excellence for fiscal year 2019. —K.S.

The construction of the lock and dam system changed what 

was able to move on the river by keeping the river at a navigable 

enough depth to open the river network connection to the world.

Brian Sipos, lockmaster

2 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division
Long-Term Resource Monitoring data 

fosters rare research opportunities

Through its Long-Term Resource Monitoring Program, the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers has been monitoring fish communities and water quality long before invasive silver carp became 

established in the Mississippi River system. That provided 

a unique opportunity to study the precise effect of this voracious species—and others.

Through its systematic monitoring over time, the program 

develops a broad understanding of the condition of the river 

and its structure and function,” says Jeff Houser, the science 

director. “That is the big-picture context within which decisions about where, when and how restoration projects are 

implemented and management actions are taken.”

While other agencies monitor fish and water quality, this is 

unique in the way it monitors the entire fish community rather 

than a target species, adds John Chick of the University of 

Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Illinois Natural History Survey. 

The only other restoration, monitoring and research program partnership that is comparable in the U.S. is the Florida 

Everglades restoration program.

LTRM is a federally-mandated component of the Upper 

Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program. UMRR joins 

the Corps of Engineers with the U.S. Geologic Survey, U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources 

Conservation Service and the states of Illinois, Iowa, 

Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. 

The river’s fish population is 

healthy—until invasive carp arrive

Sport fish populations on many waters in the Upper Mississippi River Basin have 

increased 35 percent over the past two decades. Elsewhere, sport fish numbers have declined 

approximately 30 percent. What’s the difference?

Invasive carp. 

Using 20 years of data from the Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) program of the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, researchers discounted the possible differential effects of flooding, 

suspended solids and water temperature. Then they identified one key variable: the arrival of 

the voracious, lifetime consumers of the same tiny zooplankton and phytoplankton that support larval and juvenile sport fish until they are large enough to eat other prey.

“These invasive species are having a tremendous influence on the lower reaches of the river,” 

said John H. Chick of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is based at the Illinois 

Natural History Survey’s Great Rivers Field Station in Alton, Ill. 

Chick was an author of the study, “Invasive silver carp is empirically linked to declines of 

native sport fish in the Upper Mississippi River System,” published in the journal Biological 

Invasions.

The populations have been followed through a standardized “catch per unit effort” (CPUE) 

protocol that analyzes fish netted from the water during an electrofishing sweep.

Sampling data from Mississippi River Pool 4 (Lake City, 

Minn.), Pool 8 (La Crosse, Wis.) and Pool 8 (Bellevue, Iowa) 

identified increased numbers of 19 species of fish. These species likely have benefited from the low levels of sedimentation 

found in these pools.

“Most people who work on the Upper Miss think that is 

a major reason why aquatic vegetation flourishes in those 

reaches and is basically absent in the lower three reaches we 

monitor,” Chick said.

Sedimentation levels build as the Mississippi absorbs the Des 

Moines, Illinois and Missouri rivers, but increased sedimentation alone does not account for declining fish populations in the other monitored locations. 

The project counted fish in the La Grange Pool on the Illinois River (Havana, Ill.), Mississippi 

River Pool 26 (Alton, Ill.) and an open reach of the Mississippi (Cape Girardeau, Mo.).

“Only silver carp abundance had a direct negative relationship with the abundance of adult 

sport fish,” the paper concluded. “Our analyses suggest that the mechanism for this decline 

may be competition for zooplankton between silver carp and larval/juvenile sport fish. Silver 

carp filter out phytoplankton but they consume a lot of zooplankton as well.”

Zooplankton are tiny animals that include crustaceans and rotifers. Phytoplankton consist 

of various microscopic algae.

“Silver carp likely adversely affect adult sport fish by reducing the abundance of zooplankton 

both through direct consumption and by competing with zooplankton for phytoplankton,” the 

paper explained. “The observed reductions in adult sport fish (may) result from competition 

for zooplankton during early life stages of sport fishes.”

If not for invasive carp, how might fish populations be faring in the downriver waters?

“That is a hypothetical question, so it is hard to say,” Chick said. “But without the invasive 

carp we think they would be in better shape. Because of the sediment we have in the lower 

reaches, I doubt they would be comparable to what we have in the upper reaches.”

Electrofishing

The electrofishing studies apply 3,000 watts of pulsed direct current into the river during a 

standard 15-minute sweep. Fish within range of the electric current float to the surface.

“They will be in a state of stun but they are not unconscious,” Chick said. “We dip them out 

and put them in the tank. The vast majority of fish have recovered and are swimming around 

in the tank when that run is over.”

The fish are returned to the river after they are counted and analyzed. Electrofishing, particularly on an enormous flowing river, cannot provide estimates of fish populations but can 

identify trends, he said. —R.S.

John H. Chick

My MISSISSIPPI

Elliott Stefanik, Supervisory Biologist, 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul, Minnesota

“There was a river that ran through my town, and I went 

fishing every chance I could. I liked it so much that when I 

was ready to graduate from high school, I tried to figure out 

how I could do something related to fish as a career. 

“At the Corps, we spend a lot of time improving backwater fish habitat, which is really exciting. We also have projects 

where we’re trying to not only minimize flood impacts, we’re 

doing mitigation and trying to improve aquatic habitat and 

fish passage. 

“When you’re a fisherman you learn things about fish 

behavior that can help you as biologist. As a biologist, you 

learn tendencies and habits of fish and how they behave 

that also helps you as a fishermen. It’s an interesting blend, 

the observations you get in both hobby and job that come 

together. It opens your eyes to how complex and diverse the 

river is and how fish tend to show up where they want to. 

What they do is not always written in textbooks. 

“My Mississippi is where I go to escape, to enjoy fish and 

wildlife, and to see so many values that the river provides to 

so many people.”

Our Mississippi · Fall 2020 3

PHOTOS: U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.
Finding a future home for Illinois River sediment

The Illinois River flows steadily past steep forested bluffs and 

flat floodplains in the pool behind the Starved Rock Lock and Dam. Barges 

and tow boats ply these waters, moving an average of 19.5 million tons of 

grain and other cargo annually. Straddling the river at River Mile 239 lies the 

city of Ottawa, Illinois, a processing hub for the agricultural fields of northcentral Illinois. Here, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers faces the challenge of 

Bulls’ Island, a sweep in the river that perennially fills with sediment.

The Corps’ mandate to maintain a nine-foot deep channel requires constant 

vigilance to keep river navigation flowing smoothly. Annually, Corps or contract 

crews remove an average of 14,600 tons of sediment from the Bulls Island and 

Milliken Creek reach. But where does that dredged material end up? 

The existing material placement site near Ottawa has nearly reached its 

capacity. This summer, the Corps solved that problem too, at least for the next 

20 years, with the adoption of a new Dredged Material Management Plan for 

Bulls Island and Milliken Creek.

The plan expands the existing site on the north bank of the river by 48 acres. 

Acquisition of the additional property is already underway. The expanded site 

could be operation within one to three years. 

Arriving at this plan was a careful and complex process, according to 

Breann Popkin, Dredged Material Management Program manager for the 

Corps’ Rock Island District. The study team estimated the likely volume of 

dredged material and looked for sites that met both the logistics of the dredging process and environmental factors. Any new locations needed to avoid 

bankside areas that routinely flood and needed to reduce impacts on cultural 

and environmental resources, including endangered species. 

Efficient operation was another important consideration. Any new site had 

to be accessible for either mechanical dredging, with a crane, scoop and barge, 

or hydraulic dredging, with pipe and suction pump, to reduce operational costs. 

The new site has the added bonus of being located on a reclaimed surface coal 

mine. “The site had been so disturbed in the past, there were not very many significant environmental resources left. Placing dredged material here is a good use 

for a site that was not be appropriate for many other uses,” Popkin said. 

Community connections were also critical in developing the plan. “We 

make a special effort to coordinate. That process includes holding public 

meetings and reaching out to state, federal, and local governments and tribal 

nations,” Popkin said.

For this plan, that coordination resulted in a buffer on the north side of 

the new site being added to reduce aesthetic or other impacts on adjacent 

residential houses.

As development of this new site is underway, Popkin is looking for ways to 

extend its life and reduce future environmental impacts through more “riverto-reuse” projects that put dredged material to commercial or industrial uses 

so it’s a resource rather than a burden. For example, the Corps’ Engineer 

Research and Development Center is working on a “manufactured soil” that 

uses dredged material as one of its components.

“Overall, sediment is an issue and will continue to be an issue,” Popkin 

said. “Ultimately, the best long-term plan is to try and actually reduce the 

amount of sediment entering the system, because dredging is just a bandage. There are definitely best management practices that different agencies 

could do to reduce the sediment inputs to the river and thereby reduce 

the quantities that are required to be dredged and also the environmental 

impacts of that dredging.” —D.D.

David Freese, photographer, chronicles the 

“third coast” in new book on the Mississippi River

Some people actually call the Mississippi River the “third coast,” and photographing it allowed me to continue exploring themes such as coastal erosion and 

climate change, which were part of my prior two books (West Coast: Bering to 

Baja and East Coast: Arctic to Tropic). 

I started at the headwaters up in Lake Itasca, Minnesota, and ended at the Gulf 

of Mexico. I was fortunate to get on the tow boats and barges that are so associated with the river and flew with a lot of skilled pilots for aerial shots. My wife and 

I also did two big road trips. We put 8,000 miles on the car and just enjoyed it so 

much. The people are terrific, the towns are charming, but there are problems, 

and sometimes, for economic reasons, there is a hesitation to deal with them. 

There are always surprises when you’re photographing. I knew I wanted the 

American eagle represented, with its long history on the river. I ended up photographing Al Cooper, who for years has been the caretaker of a rescued eagle 

named Angel, at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minn. 

When I first took the photo, I just wanted to capture the connection between 

man and this majestic bird. But since then, with all the protests that are going 

on in this country, and the treatment of African Americans, that photograph has 

taken on a different meaning for me: You have a proud black man and that eagle—

the symbol of America—looking each other in the eye. It’s certainly one of my 

favorite photos in the book. 

My lasting feeling is that the river is American history. It’s a simple statement, but the history is complex — the good and the bad, the extremes, the 

paradoxes and the contradictions. Most Americans, I think, are so naive about 

the river. I’ve told my friends, if you want to take a really unusual, extraordinarily 

interesting road trip, drive that river north to south or south to north, and you 

will be astounded. —L.H.

 LEFT AND BELOW: Photographer David Freese drove 

the Mississippi from the headwaters to the Gulf, 

capturing its many twists and bends, its spectacular 

bird life and the touching relationship between a 

resident of the National Eagle Center and its handler. 

4 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division
Migration mania takes place each fall on the Mississippi 

River; here’s how to spot some migration super-athletes.

Shorebirds are the class of critters that even novice birders likely know by the way they run on spindly legs along shorelines and mudflats, especially during migration seasons. Many have fun names 

like snipe and sandpiper and dowitcher, and they pass in large numbers all along the Mississippi 

River. The trick in both spotting and counting in the identification.

“A lot of times they’re tiny, and they’re way out there,” says Ryan Brady, a wildlife biologist at the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Rivers Project office. “It’s hard to tell what species they are depending on how far out in the wetland they are, and sometimes they’re hidden by vegetation.”

The challenge makes for prized spotting by avid birders, he says, while some species are fun spotting fodder for birder beginners. Because they have molted from breeding plumage in fall, identifying 

them means looking at the color or shape of the beak, the color of the legs and behavioral clues.

These birds are migration athletes of the most impressive kind. Some migrate at the altitudes 

of jets, while others fly their entire migrations speeds approaching more than 60 mph. The 

Semipalmated Sandpiper, which weighs less than an apple, makes nonstop flights of 5,300 kilometers from Canada to South America—the aerial equivalent of 126 consecutive marathons.

They do make frequent stops at spots along the Mississippi River, most favoring fresh mud 

where water has recently receded. Find them along the lower river into November, upper river into 

early October. Here are a few of Brady’s favorites to spot this fall. —K.S.

My MISSISSIPPI

Juita Martinez, Co-organizer, 

Black Birders Week, Louisiana 

“My Mississippi is a creator of barrier islands. Barrier islands 

are eroding at a very rapid pace because there’s not enough 

sediment deposition happening [due to diversions from the 

Mississippi River]. Currently I am studying the effects of 

barrier island restoration on brown pelican breeding populations in coastal Louisiana. 

“Billions of dollars have been spent to restore coastline to 

protect human lives and human infrastructure in the event 

of a hurricane or storm surge. What I’m doing is comparing 

restored islands versus unrestored islands, both of which 

are used by pelicans during the breeding season. I am seeing what the differences are in nest success, hatch success, 

and fledgling success, as well as doing vegetation and elevation surveys and looking at how pelicans are utilizing the 

islands as a whole. 

“My preliminary data does show that restored islands 

have higher nest success than unrestored islands. These 

big islands tend to be slightly more flood resistant; they are 

more resistant to really big storm surges and hurricanes; 

they are just more stable. At the end of the day, all the barrier islands that we save are helping mitigate the storm 

surges but at the same time conserving breeding habitats 

for the birds.

“I’ve always been interested in wildlife since I was a little 

kid. I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian. A National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates 

completely changed my world. I got exposed to what it was 

like to be a real scientist. 

“When I was a kid, there was no Black Steve Irwin. I never 

saw someone who looked like me in the media. I never had 

a black teacher. I never had a black professor. I barely had 

any Black students in any of my classes. So just to see that 

there were actually so many of us out there [during Black 

Birders Week*] was amazing. We have a platform and a 

voice. People actually cared to listen 

and be great allies. And we saw people 

out there educating themselves, which 

was the whole point. It was awesome.”

FOR MORE: 

birdnote.org/

black-birders-week

Spot some 

shorebirds

AMERICAN AVOCET 

This bird, one to two feet in length, 

is best identified by its bill. The 

avocet’s beak is black, pointed and 

slightly upturned. (The only other 

shorebird with an upturned bill is the 

black-necked stilt, distinguished by 

its black and white head and neck.)

This shorebird’s legs are a pastel 

gray-blue, leading to its colloquial 

name, blue shanks. Its head and 

neck are a brassy orange during 

breeding season, fading to white 

and gray in fall. Identifying them 

means taking time to watch them 

probe through the mud, Brady 

notes. They sweep their beaks from 

side to side as they troll through 

shallow water. Listen, too. Their call 

is often described as a shrill and 

melodic “bweet,” rising in tone.

SPOTTED SANDPIPER 

Don’t necessarily rely on looking for 

spots to identify this birdwatching 

favorite. They do have bold, dark 

spots on their undersides during 

breeding season, but come fall, 

they lose most of their spots. 

Instead, you’ll know these 

mid-sized shorebirds by their 

movements. In flight, they fly low 

over the water with stiff-winged 

bursts of a single flap then a glide. 

Once they land, find these pictureperfect birds at the water’s edge, 

where they’re known for the way 

they bob their rears up and down. 

They also defy sex role stereotyping. The female Spotted Sandpiper 

is the one who establishes and 

defends the territory, while the 

males raise the young.

GREATER YELLOWLEGS 

Seeking out the Greater Yellowlegs 

requires a little bit of effort 

and good timing, Brady notes. 

Like most shorebirds, Greater 

Yellowlegs frequent ephemeral 

mudflats and shallow marshes 

during migration. Look for them in 

spots where floodwaters are receding and fresh mud is exposed.

Once you find them, though, you’ll 

know them by they way they run 

through the flats on their distinctive yellow legs. Bring your scopes, 

though. These are often referred to 

as the “marshpiper” for the habit 

of wading in deeper water than 

other sandpipers. Or just listen. 

They have an annoying alarm call 

that sometimes scares the other 

shorebirds away.

Our Mississippi · Fall 2020 5
Planting trees in a Mississippi River floodplain forest always involves 

uncertain weather and water conditions. But the partners trying 

to plant trees this spring for a climate change adaptation study in 

a Minnesota urban floodplain were challenged with pandemicscrambled logistics and a planting schedule warped by social unrest in the 

Twin Cities.

 “It’s ironic that doing a project that is about adaptation has demanded 

us to be so adaptive,” Angie Tillges, a Great River Passage Initiative Fellow 

with the city of Saint Paul. The Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Department 

hosts the study in its Crosby Farm Regional Park in support of the city’s city/

river connection master plan and climate change action plan. 

Adaptation will be vital to addressing current concerns about the Upper 

Mississippi’s floodplain forest health. Dutch elm disease has eliminated 

much of the region’s elm, and emerald ash borer is now eliminating its ash. 

Even the floodplain’s signature cottonwoods are struggling to regenerate. 

“With the Mississippi River being such an important waterway and area 

for recreation, the loss of tree cover here is a huge concern. This project is 

an opportunity to consider how we manage floodplain forests for ecosystem services,” said Leslie Brandt, a 

climate change specialist with the U.S. Forest Service and Northern Institute for Applied Climate Science. 

Located on the Mississippi River just downstream from Lock and Dam No. 1, the study will track the 

growth of 1,200 trees planted in 24 0.1-acre plots. Each plot is either a continuation of current conditions, a 

resilience treatment designed to rebound from disturbances, or a transition treatment to a warmer, wetter 

future. The transition treatment includes some species, such as sycamore and swamp white oak, currently 

are found further south along the Mississippi. 

The Crosby Farm project expands an international network of Adaptive Silviculture for Climate Change 

studies, all seeking to develop strategies that help managers address changing forest conditions. It is also 

the first to be located in an urban floodplain. 

Brandt said the perfect mix of partners is involved to make the study happen. In addition to the City 

of Saint Paul and the U.S. Forest Service, partners include the National Park Service’s Mississippi National 

River and Recreation Area, Mississippi Park Connection, University of Minnesota, Colorado State University, 

and Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science. Initial funding for this work came through the Wildlife 

Conservation Society and its Climate Adaptation Fund through a grant by the Doris Duke Charitable 

Foundation.

“I cannot be more grateful for the people on this partnership and how wonderful they are,” agreed Marcella 

Windmuller-Campione, Assistant Professor of Silviculture in the University of Minnesota’s Department of 

Forest Resources. She and her team of researcher Mike Tuma and undergraduate assistants collect scientific data and will analyze the results. As of the end of August, they have completed baseline measurements 

and installed protective deer fencing. In October, she will remeasure tree height and diameter and assess 

how each individual tree is doing. Annual data collections plans are set for the first five years for this 20-year 

project.

The project is also succeeding on one of its other goals, building community connections. Mary Hammes, 

Environmental Stewardship and Volunteer Manager for Mississippi Park Connection, organized 200 volunteers to plant trees. “People were really appreciative of the refuge and peace that Crosby has to offer. It was 

a gift, especially as people were feeling powerless,“ she said.

Windmuller-Campione is excited to have a new forest in her backyard for research and extension teaching. The City of St. Paul is planning events and signage to engage park users with learning about climate 

change and the value of floodplain forests. Mississippi Park Connection is hoping to introduce people to its 

“new neighbors” through an art installation that brings potted trees into the community. Tillges said the 

city also wants to explore other ways this project with its real scientific significance can connect people and 

build consciousness for the community.

The partners anticipate continued change throughout the life of the Crosby Farm adaptive silviculture 

project. But that is not surprising for a project with “adaptation” in its name and operating style. —D.D.

Studying 

the forest 

foundation

Corps biologist studies soil for better 

floodplain forest restoration success.

A recent study showed that trees 

grow better in their home soils, even after 

you change variables like temperature and 

rainfall. That helped to inspire Corps biologist 

Aaron McFarlane who recently completed a 

six-month research stint at ERDC University, 

an intensive study program offered by the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and 

Development Center in Vicksburg, Mississippi. 

“The major effects we’re thinking we might 

see is that having those right soils and right 

biotic components in soils can really help 

establish the resilience to climate change we’re 

looking for in our system,” he said.

McFarlane is studying floodplain forest systems, looking specifically at the difference in the 

soils of forests that have been established over 

the centuries by nature and those the Corps has 

built through various 

restoration programs. 

The goal is to apply the 

findings to projects 

across the Mississippi 

Valley Division and 

potentially nationwide.

“We’re trying to 

create soils from what 

we have, but there are 

some differences from 

soils created over 

hundreds of years,” he 

said. “We’ve got some 

data on it, but not a 

whole lot.”

McFarlane’s study 

focus has been microbial communities and 

fungi—the life within the soils. 

“Many fungi form symbiotic relationships with 

the trees in the forest and other plants. These help 

trees get nutrients out of the soils, help them get 

water in periods of drought, and even help move 

nutrients from adult trees to younger saplings.”

The biggest gap in the research is specifically in floodplain forest communities, those 

that have to cope with flooding in some cases, 

excess moisture in most. Might there be different organisms helping in these forest soils? “It 

jumped out at me,” McFarlane said, “as something we could get more information on.”

Acceptance into the ERDC University program 

gave McFarlane access to ERDC researchers 

and laboratories, where he can get analyses on 

physical and chemical characteristics of soil 

samples he gathered at several sites, things like 

present nutrients and enzymes. The experts are 

also analyzing samples for DNA sequencing and 

signs of bacteria and fungi. “They’re figuring out 

what’s in the soil, linking soil characteristics and 

helping to influence our understanding of floodplain forest soil.” —K.S.

Partnering for resilience in the floodplain 

forests of the Upper Mississippi

Aaron MacFarlane

Team member plants 

the project’s first tree.

6 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division
My MISSISSIPPI

Tab Benoit, Cajun blues guitarist and founder 

of the non-profit Voice of the Wetlands, 

Houma, Louisiana

“We live at the bottom of the Mississippi, and all the riches 

of everything that it carries ends up down in here in our 

backyard. That’s what I think gives us the uniqueness that 

Louisiana holds—the food and the culture and the way of 

life on the water. I can’t see living anywhere else. I’ve been 

every other place in the country and a few outside of the 

country and there’s no place that suits me better.

“I write songs, and the river is where I go to do my writing. 

I like to go sit in the Cypress Swamp and just kind of let it do 

the writing. Songs just flow and it’s got authenticity, it’s not 

contrived. The land can speak, you know? You just have to 

get away from people so you can hear it. In the swamp, I go 

out there in a boat and sit there and play for the snakes and 

alligators—and it seems like they just sit there and enjoy listening to the music.

“But we’ve got a problem here in the Louisiana wetlands; 

we’ve got to find some kind of balance. I think that that’s 

what we’re missing here, is the idea of balance. In the late 

20s and early 30s, they started leveeing the river, to keep 

the river channel deep enough for shipping. The river is 

always trying to shallow itself, by dropping the sediment 

as it carries it down, all the way from Canada to the Gulf. 

And all that sediment, as soon as it hits open water, it loses 

speed and falls and it tries to create barrier islands. And 

that’s what is out of balance nowadays. When you take the 

river and you channel it out of the Delta, the Gulf reclaims 

everything that the river has built over the years. So that’s 

where we are right now. We have erosion happening from 

the river not being able to replenish the Delta.

“All I’ve been trying to do (through Voice of the Wetlands) 

is try to find ways of getting fresh water back into the Delta 

where it was before. I’ve always pushed for good water control structures in there. We don’t have to flood anybody, 

because just a trickle of fresh water will at least stop erosion. That may not start building land, but it will at least let 

enough fresh water out to knock down the salinity of the 

Gulf and keep the grass growing and if you keep the grass 

growing, that rebuilds marshy areas.”

“When anyone asks me, ‘Well, what can I do?’ I’m like, ‘You 

know what, you can go find out some things that are going 

on in your river backyard and you will help my backyard. Go 

to a city council meeting where you have work on it locally, 

and you will be working on the coast of Louisiana.’”

U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers 

provides critical 

support during 

Hurricane Laura 

WHEN HURRICANE LAURA

struck Lake Charles, Louisiana, 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

Mississippi Valley Division response 

and recovery teams were already in 

place to execute the critical mission assignments assigned by the 

Federal Emergency Management 

Agency.

Damage caused by the hurricane 

was worse than Rita, according to 

some of the locals. And as of Sept. 

7, approximately 160,000 people in 

Louisiana are still without power. 

In the Calcasieu and Cameron parishes, there were 12,000 spans of downed 

wires and 3,000 damaged transformers.

Additionally, more than 140 overhead transmission lines remained out of 

service into September, and Entergy reported that they needed to rebuild 

transmission lines running into Lake Charles completely.

Damages sustained in southwestern Louisiana warrant USACE expertise. 

Mission assignments range from temporary roofing and emergency power 

installation to supporting the temporary housing mission and conducting 

infrastructure assessments and provide debris removal assistance to the state.

“Just two days ago, the first of what will be thousands of temporary roofs were installed, 

which was done faster than ever before in terms of hurricane recovery efforts thanks to 

the innovative efforts and other advancements our teams have made in the last few years,” 

Memphis District Commander and Lead Recovery Operations Commander Col. Zachary 

Miller said. “As of today (Sept. 7), both contractors are on track with a ramp-up schedule and 

are meeting all requirements.”

The program’s purpose is to provide homeowners in disaster areas with fiber-reinforced 

sheeting to cover damaged roofs until permanent repairs are made. Homeowners interested 

in applying for temporary roofing can call toll free 1-888-ROOF-BLU (1-888-766-3258) for 

more information regarding this program. 

Additionally, USACE also has an Operation Blue Roof in-person Right-of-Entry sign-up 

station at the Lake Charles Civic Center. It is located alongside Veterans Memorial Blvd/N. 

Lakeshore Dr. You can pull into Veterans Memorial Park where there’s ample parking. The 

application period expires Sept. 21.

Outside of temporary roofing, the Corps’ other primary mission is emergency power 

installation.

“Structures including water pump stations, sewage lift stations, hospitals, radio towers, 

corrections facilities... all these places impacted when a hurricane hits and are usually the 

first places to need power after the hurricane leaves,” Memphis District Program Analyst and 

Mission Specialist Sandra Hibbard said. 

As of Sept. 7, USACE contractors had completed 43 installations with nine in progress, 17 

assessments are ongoing, and five total deinstalls. In addition to these primary missions, 

Corps response teams are also responsible for supporting both the temporary housing mission and conducting infrastructure assessments.

There are nearly 200 USACE employees from more than 30 different commands officially 

deployed in support of this mission, 35 of those being reach-back support and remaining back 

in their home district but still working 12-hour days, seven days a week.

“When called upon, we are charged with helping residents return to a normal way of life,” Maj. 

Gen. Diana Holland, Commanding General, MVD said. “To achieve this goal, we draw on talented professionals with unique skills and abilities from across USACE working hand in glove 

with local and state governments. USACE is honored to support the incredible efforts led by the 

state of Louisiana and the FEMA.”

As a Baton Rouge native, Miller said when arriving that he would 

be here until the mission was complete, so residents of southwestern Louisiana should expect the same of the USACE recovery 

teams as well. —J.H.

For more information 

regarding the recovery 

effort, please visit 

hurricanelaura.la.gov.

ABOVE: Corps teams 

provide temporary 

roofing assistance to 

hurricane victims. MG 

Diana Holland appears 

on Fox News to speak 

about relief efforts.

Our Mississippi · Fall 2020 7

BENOIT: COURTESY TAB BENOIT. OTHER PHOTOS: U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.
Partnering to 

bring back the quail

In a creative new partnership, the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers is working with the Black River chapter 

of Quail Forever to manage a flood-control reservoir area 

around Wappapello Lake for quail (and other wildlife) 

habitat.

“We actually started working on this area to try to 

restore it to old field habitat, just to have a different type 

of ecosystem on the project,” said Wappapello Natural 

Resources Specialist Eric Lemons. “We have lots of open 

land with farming, and we’ve got tons and tons of forest, 

so this area we want to manage more as old field growth.”

The quail habitat restoration project was the perfect fit 

the local Quail Forever chapter which was seeking to put its 

money to work in local lands, said the group’s Corey Tucker. 

The management plan involves 640 acres in the Asher 

Creek/Blue Water area north of Highway KK and includes a 

diverse mix of habitat, including forest and fields.

“A great thing about Asher Creek is it doesn’t flood, so 

most of our efforts are well over the 400-foot elevation. We 

can do all this work and floods won’t knock it back,” said 

Park Ranger Eric Limanen.

Habitat work, Limanen said, includes planting wildflowers, which are beneficial to all wildlife, mowing, discing to 

provide bare dirt, prescribed fire, forest stand improvement, edge feathering and more.

“It is a quail habitat restoration management plan, but 

it’s going to be advantageous to all wildlife down here. It 

should supplement quail in the future, and hopefully songbirds and any other kind of wildlife throughout the year. 

That’s our goal,” Limanen said.

Work began in the area about four years ago, Lemons 

said. It will additionally include periodic controlled burns 

to manage vegetation and stimulate growth. 

Quail Forever has helped the project with the purchase 

of wildflower seeds—selected because of their attraction 

to wildlife, including sunflowers, tickseed coreopsis, butterfly milkweed, prairie blazing star, brown-eyed Susans 

and black-eyed Susans. 

The goal of both the Corps of Engineers and Quail 

Forever, Tucker said, is to provide the best habitat for quail 

to get them back into the area. 

The project is easily accessed by the public, and officials 

hope it spurs others to consider similar work.

“Anyone can come out here and look at this,” said Tucker, 

who described the project as a showcase area. The hope is 

that local landowners will join the effort to improve habitat across the state.—P.D.

This story, authored by Paul Davis, was excerpted with 

written permission by the Daily American Republic for 

USACE use only. 

Revised timeline for Upper Saint Anthony Falls 

Lock and Dam study

Work continues this fall on the disposition study for the Upper Saint Anthony Falls lock and 

dam in downtown Minneapolis. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ planning team, headed 

by project manager Nan Bischoff, now expects to release the draft study report in November 2020. 

Selection of a recommended plan became a little clearer in June 2020, when the city of 

Minneapolis provided a letter indicating willingness to talk with the Corps about being a local 

sponsor of the site. The recommended alternative must be supported by the Corps headquarters, Chief of Policy and Planning. “We should still be recommending what is in the government’s 

best interest,” Bischoff said. 

The disposition study has been underway since 2018 when Congress first directed the Corps 

to conduct an expedited study of Upper Saint Anthony Falls, separating it from an earlier study 

that also encompassed two downstream lock and dam facilities. Disposition studies are conducted on Corps projects that no longer serve their authorized purposes. In 2014, Congress 

ordered the lock at Upper Saint Anthony Falls to be closed following local pressure to protect the 

upper Mississippi River from invasive carp. 

Release of the draft report kicks off a 60-day concurrent review by other agencies and the 

public, during which interested parties can share their views. Current outreach plans include 

a virtual public meeting to accommodate public health considerations. “I would like the public 

to start tuning in during the November to January timeframe after this report comes out and, 

maybe, to consider how this [site] might or could be run with little or no Corps of Engineers 

presence,” Bischoff said. —D.D.

Bank Grading 

Unit paves way 

for commerce, 

safety

I

f you’re not familiar with bank 

grading, it’s kind of like getting a gravel road ready to be 

paved. The U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers’ Bank Grading Unit 

moves in to prepare the river 

bank to the design grade and elevation needed to contain and hold concrete mattress and 

upper bank paving.

Concrete mattress is what keeps the river from meandering and creating its own path, which 

is what the mighty Mississippi River has done in years past.

The equipment used to ‘grade’ the river bank is a vintage 1949 barge mounted Bucyrus-Erie 

dragline with a 183 foot boom and a 15 cubic yard bucket. Additional earthmoving capacity is 

provided by a compliment of bulldozers.

Memphis District Commander Col. Zachary Miller recently visited Island 68, a project site 

in Arkansas, where he reviewed progress made at the site particularly susceptible to erosion in 

moving water.

“The soils in the area are very unstable and highly erosive,” said Project Manager and River/

Civil Engineer Cole Stonebrook,he said. “We are addressing a large bank failure by grading irregularities in the bank alignment to a smooth straight alignment. The Grading Unit is grading the 

banks to a one on four slope, which requires moving 220,000 cubic yards of material.”

Stonebrook said this specific project is 2,900 feet long and will be completed with a budget 

of $9.4 million. In addition to this location, he said there are four other locations in the Memphis 

area of responsibility where the Mat Sinking Unit will be placing concrete mattress this year.

“We work closely with navigation industry to address problem reaches in our district,” 

Stonebrook said. “If this bank failure in the revetment was left alone, it would continue to grow 

due to the swift velocities in the reach, and the channel alignment would become a major hazard 

to navigation. We also work closely with the landowners in the area and environmental agencies 

to obtain all clearances needed before construction begins.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been completing revetment operations since the 

1800’s, but started using the current method of revetment in the 1940s. —J.H.

8 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division
I

f you find yourself along the “Father of the Waters,” the 

name the Ho-Chunk Native American nation called the 

Mississippi River, up in the northeastern corner of Iowa, 

then you’re sure to hear about the enduring legacy of 

Emma Big Bear Holt. The artist whose handmade baskets 

and beaded jewelry are still prized more than 50 years after 

her death is also remembered as the last full-blooded Native 

American to live a traditional life in this part of Iowa anchored 

by the mighty river.

Why is Emma Big Bear still celebrated across this region—

in a foundation that bears her name, an annual event and a 

trail featuring one of her bronze statues? 

As Rogeta Halvorson of the Emma Big Bear Foundation explains, “Emma touched so many 

lives around here. She was really someone special, who had a legacy that’s certainly lived on a 

long time after she’s been gone.” The foundation uses that legacy to preserve traditional native 

crafts and tales of the Ho Chunk people, many focused around Emma.

Many knew her by the way she spent most of her 99 years living in a wigwam on the bluffs 

above the Mississippi River, very close to the sacred, ceremonial Effigy Mounds constructed by 

her Ho-Chunk ancestors. Whether there or on the river banks, Emma Big Bear lived her life the 

traditional Ho-Chunk way, creating her art in the place she loved, no matter what challenges 

she faced.

For the story of Emma’s tribe, the Ho-Chunk Nation (known for over 350 years by the misnomer of “Winnebago,”) is a familiar one, as the U.S. government uprooted and exiled the nation 

away from its Iowa-Wisconsin roots by moving them onto reservations farther and farther from 

their original homes. Those displacements began in the 1830s; by the time Emma Big Bear was 

born in 1869 near Tomah, Wisconsin, the U.S. military had pushed many tribal members out of 

Wisconsin and Iowa and far away into Nebraska and South Dakota.

Emma was the daughter of Chief Big Bear and the granddaughter of Chief Waukon Decorah, 

the famed Ho-Chunk warrior and diplomat who today lends his name to three Iowa cities, 

including Waukon Junction on the banks of the Mississippi. When Emma was young, the 

Big Bear family lived in the area, nearby both Paint Rock, the ancient burial grounds of the 

Ho-Chunk, and what is now Effigy Mounds National Monument. 

“From our newspaper archives, we know that Emma Big Bear left with her mother when she 

was a teenager and moved to the reservation in Nebraska,” McGregor Public Library director 

Michelle Petit recalls, “but she returned in the summers to gather ginseng, to sell.”

And she returned for good in 1917, with her Ho-Chunk husband Henry “Floating in Air” 

Holt; the pair set up their traditional wigwam near the Father of the Waters (Mississippi) River, 

had a daughter and lived happily without running water, indoor plumbing, electricity or any 

of the other modern conveniences until the mid 1940s, when both Henry and their daughter 

Emmaline passed away. Left all alone, at 75, Emma Big Bear moved to the banks of the river 

in McGregor, built herself another wigwam and continued live in the old way, still digging 

ginseng to sell in the summers and crafting and selling her baskets and jewelry all year round 

for 20 more years.

“Emma often would say that she didn’t want to live away from here. She always gave the 

river as her reason, the river and the land nearby, as to why she always wanted to stay here,” 

Petit says.

Her baskets, created of black ash from the trees that dotted the riverbanks, are her legacy, 

“works of art” as Halvorson reflects, “made with black ash strips in different sizes and with 

different colors. They are balanced and beautiful, still sturdy today.” —J.P.

The legacy of 

Emma Big Bear 

She did it her way, and always beside 

her beloved “Father of the Waters”

REVERED BY ALL 

Rogeta Halvorson, whose parents Roger and Connie Halvorson 

created the Emma Big Bear Foundation to preserve her history 

as well as to “promote and educate about American Indians 

and their history and culture, especially Emma’s tribe, the 

Winnebago and the Ho-Chunk Nation,” recounts how Emma 

survived alone, living for many years by the Mississippi River in 

the traditional Native American way in McGregor, Iowa:

“Emma Big Bear lived by a traditional tribal means until 

maybe the last year or two of her life. So many 75-year-old 

men from around here have come to us with stories they 

remember from when they were 10 years old. They would 

take care of her, bringing her firewood for her little hut that 

she lived in by herself. They would go fishing and if they 

caught a carp or some other fish they didn’t want, they knew 

she did and would bring it to her. And in the last year, when 

she was so old and actually moved into a house, the townsfolk took care of her. It’s just, she was part of our family here, 

and she’s still very revered.”

LEFT TO RIGHT: Emma Big Bear lived her entire life near the sacred 

waters of the Mississippi River, part of her life within what is now 

the Effigy Mounds National Monument (visible from several scenic 

overlooks). She passed on her knowledge of traditional crafts, and her 

work is prized 50 years after her death.

Visit the Ho Chunk's sacred homeland 

Start a visit to Effigy Mounds National Monument 

at the visitor center, where a short film interprets 

the story of American Indian moundbuilding cultures. Hiking on short accessible trails or extended 

hikes on steep trails is the only way to access 

the sacred burial and ceremonial grounds.

Our Mississippi · Fall 2020 9

ST. ANTHONY FALLS: KRIVIT PHOTOGRAPHY. FLOWER AND CRANE: U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS. BIG BEAR: TRAVEL IOWA AND EMMA BIG BEAR FOUNDATION.
Mississippi River Sports Fish

The Mississippi River is home to over 120 different species of freshwater fish,

many of which are popular for sport fishing. Use this guide to help you identify 5 of

the most popular Mississippi River fish!

How do you know you catch a catfish? Well, just look for “whiskers”! Catfish have very long

barbels, or feelers, on their head which look like whiskers - hence the name catfish. We have

three major species of catfish in the Mississippi River: blue, channel, and flathead. Both blue and

flathead catfish can exceed 100 lbs while channel catfish rarely exceed 30 lbs. The Mississippi

River is one of the best places in the world to go fishing for catfish. In fact, a previous world

record for blue catfish – weighing in at 124 pounds - was from the Mississippi River in Alton, IL!

Minnesota’s state fish and a favorite among sport fisherman is the walleye. It is named for its cloudy,

glassy eyes, an effect that is caused by a layer of pigment that reflects light and helps the fish see

better in the dark. Walleye have a distinct white spot on the lower tail fin and a dark spot at the

base of the dorsal fin. They have an olive-green back and golden colored sides mottled with brown

and/or black. The Upper Mississippi, north of St. Louis, offers the best walleye fishing along the river,

with opportunities to fish walleye available all year long!

Bluegills are easy to identify thanks to their name: just look for the powder-blue color on the

throat extending to the lower half of the gill cover. They also have a dark tip on the gill cover

that distinguishes them from other sunfish. Bluegill can be found in freshwater throughout the

United States, and are among the most popular sports fish in the entire country They are feisty

fish, strong for their size, and popular for fishing because of how easy they are to find and

catch. They average around 4-8 inches and half a pound in weight, though they can be larger.

Crappie (pronounced 'croppie') is a delicious freshwater fish found all along the river, but especially

great for fishing in the Lower Mississippi. They are typically 9-10 inches long and weigh about 4 lbs on

average. The two main species found in the Mississippi River are black crappie and white crappie. They

can be difficult to distinguish just based on size and color though black crappie tend to be darker and

white crappie often have vertical striped markings. The best way to tell them apart is by counting the

spines of the dorsal fin: a black crappie will have 7 or 8 spines while a white crappie will have 5 or 6.

They often form schools, meaning they travel in groups, and feed early in the morning or after dusk.

f hfh flhfl() blllLh

Catfish

Walleye

Crappie

Bluegill

Bass

If you see whiskers, you've got a catfish!

(in this case a blue catfish)

Distinct white spot on

lower tail fin

Dark spot at base of

dorsal fin

ID crappie by counting the

spines of the dorsal fin

Pale-blue lower jaw

extending to lower gill cover

Dark tip on the gill cover

OUR MISSISSIPPI KIDS

1

5

6 7

8

2 3

4

1. Eye 2. Pectoral Fin 3. Dorsal Fin 4. Caudal Fin 5. Nostrils 6. Gill Cover & Gills 7. Pelvic Fin 8. Anal Fin

Test the “scale” of your sh knowledge by lling in the blanks. en color this pike!

Do you know the parts of a fish?

The Mississippi River is home to over 120 different species of freshwater fish, many of which are popular for sport fishing. 

Use this guide to help you identify four of the most popular Mississippi River fish!

ACTIVITY CREATED BY INSIYAA AHMED, BIOLOGIST, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS’ RIVERS PROJECT OFFICE.

10 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division
OUR MISSISSIPPI TRAVEL

“When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain,” Mark Twain once said. 

And the Mississippi has drawn many travelers by instinct to its banks and open 

waters, long before—and since—the days when Twain’s fictional Tom Sawyer and 

Huck Finn were tossing in a line.

The Upper Mississippi alone is home to 120 different types of fish, and a single boat ride can 

take the traveler through varied habitats favored by dozens of species. The view’s not bad either.

Fishing the upper Upper Miss

Many species lure fishermen to the upper reaches 

of the Upper Mississippi, says Kyle Von Ruden, 

an avid angler and fish biologist in the Whitney 

Genetics Lab, an office of the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service in Onalaska, Wisconsin. Yellow 

perch, bluegill, crappie, largemouth and smallmouth bass, northern pike and flathead catfish 

are on the menu.

It's easy to find them all at the ubiquitous 

Midwestern fish fry. But catching your own in the 

upper stretches of the river means reading the currents, Von Ruden said. 

“Our river fluctuates a lot with the rain. I am 

always paying attention to the river stage. In the 

spring you should be getting out of the current 

because the fish are spawning in the back waters 

and slower waters. In the summer when the water 

is low and closer to normal pool, a lot of fish move 

to the main channel or the main current sloughs. 

It is about having oxygen and flow.”

He recommends bait mimicking minnows and 

gizzard shad, especially a hollow-body frog lure. 

“Twitching and popping a frog along the weed 

mats and flooded grass banks and seeing a bass 

explode on your bait is one of the most exciting 

ways to catch them.”

Fishing the Muddy Miss

The river turns a rich chocolate brown and gains 

speed as it absorbs the Illinois and Missouri rivers. 

The waters have been invaded by non-native carp, 

but catfish think the water is fine as the Big Muddy 

flows to the Gulf of Mexico. 

“We have a lot of big fish here,” says Mark 

McCurry, owner of Bluff City Outdoors, a bait and 

tackle store in Alton, Ill. “About 35 percent of my 

customers are catfishermen. You don’t have to go 

to Lake Michigan to catch a big fish.”

The key, says John Chick, a devoted fisherman 

and fisheries biologist with the Illinois Natural 

History Survey’s Great Rivers Field Station, is finding holes on the river bottom. 

“If you have a depth finder and can see the 

bottom and find some rocks, that can be a good 

place. Anywhere you have tributaries or streams 

coming in, that can be good. It also is good to fish 

downstream of islands.”

The lower river is deceptively deep, so anglers 

need long lines to reach the big cats, said David 

Herzog, a Missouri Department of Conservation 

biologist. 

“Once you get below the Ohio River there are holes 

80 to 100 feet deep ... some holes are 150 feet deep.”

He points to “flow seams” below wing dykes, rock 

tips and bends as good places to find lounging catfish. 

Local anglers also try the waters below corn transfer 

silos where grain can be spilled into the water. 

Not so-secret fishing holes 

of the Mississippi

MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL 

For walleye and channel catfish, the Wakota Bridge 

access along Interstate 494 is recommended by 

Elliott Stefanik, a Corps fisheries biologist. “The 

Fish and Wildlife Service has caught 40- to 50- 

pound Flathead catfish there.”

LAKE PEPIN 

The 22-mile-long Lake Pepin, between Minnesota 

and Wisconsin, offers great fishing for walleye, 

channel catfish and smallmouth bass, Stefanik said.

LAKE ONALASKA 

Stefanik and Von Ruden recommend Lake 

Onalaska in Pool 7, north of La Crosse, Wisc., for 

crappie, largemouth bass, bluegills, perch and 

northern pike.

POOLS 8 AND 9 

Along with Lake Onalaska, Lawrence Lake in Pool 

8 and Big Lake in Pool 9 have slower current or no 

current at all and abundant wild celery and lily pads. 

ALTON TO ST. LOUIS 

“The world record for blue cats has been shattered 

multiple times over the last 10 to 15 years right 

below the Mel Price Lock and Dam 26 at Alton,” 

Chick said. 

CAIRO, ILLINOIS, TO THE GULF OF MEXICO 

The abundance of the lower Mississippi is evidenced by the annual catfish tournaments staged 

along the river. An 86-pound blue catfish was 

caught in these stretches. —R.S.

DROP IN A LINE

Make fishing your 

Mississippi River 

travel theme

Pick a theme, any theme, and chances are you can plan a trip around it as you venture the 

3,000-mile Great River Road from the mouth of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca to the Gulf of 

Mexico. But come fall, it’s all about the view. 

Pack a picnic, and be in no rush. You’ll want to leave time to savor the sweeping views from the 

many state and national parks developed atop cliffs on both sides of the river. Find favorite fall 

color season overlooks at Frontenac State Park near Red Wing, Minnesota; Perrot and Wyalusing 

state parks in Wisconsin; Pike’s Peak state park and Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa; 

and Mississippi Palisades State Park in Savanna, Illinois. 

Even as the topography flattens toward the river’s southern end, memorable fall color views 

remain. You’ll find particularly moving views within the Vicksburg National Military Park in 

Mississippi.

Find overlooks, maps and suggested trip themes like biking, food, history, music and more at 

experiencemississippiriver.com. —K.S.

Great 

River 

Road

It’s all the 

scenic route 

Our Mississippi · Fall 2020 11
Send story ideas to editor@ourmississippi.net

To subscribe to our e-edition, read past editions and find river-related education materials, 

visit https://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/Media/Publications/Our-Mississippi/

PRSRT STD

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

GREENVILLE, MI

PERMIT NO. 338

Contributors this issue:

EDITOR/

LEAD WRITER

Kim Schneider

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Diane Kolak

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Insiyaa Ahmed

Debra Dietzman

Jessica Haas

Lucinda Hahn 

Jenny Peters 

Richard Stoff

Mailing list changes:

Kevin Bluhm, 651-290-5247

To read online:

https://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/Media/

Publications/Our-Mississippi/

Click “Subscribe here” to subscribe via email.

Insiyaa Ahmed, St. Louis, Mo. 

636-899-0076

Vanessa Alberto, St. Paul, Minn. 

651-290-5388

Kevin Bluhm, New Orleans, La. 

651-290-5247

Elizabeth Burks, Memphis, Tenn. 

901-544-0761

Katelynn Dearth, St. Louis, Mo. 

636-899-0086

Angie Freyermuth, Rock Island, Ill. 

309-794-5341

Questions or Comments:

U.S.A.C.E. REGIONAL OUTREACH SPECIALISTS

US Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul

PM-E Bluhm

180 East Fifth Street, Suite 700

St. Paul, MN 55101

Millions sought to 

improve Mississippi River 

water quality 

A PARTNER ORGANIZATION of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is 

asking Congress to form a Mississippi River environmental program office 

and designate $600 million annually to reduce the flows of water, sediment 

and nutrients into the Upper Mississippi River watershed.

“The volume and velocity of water, sediment and nutrients going through 

the system degrades water quality, the economy of the navigation channel, 

the river communities that are flooded and is costly to the municipalities 

having to treat water for drinking uses and manufacturing that has to filter 

that water,” said Kirsten Wallace, executive director of the Upper Mississippi 

River Basin Association (UMBRA).

The request would designate a Mississippi River Program Office to coordinate the work of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency amd Matira; 

Respirces Conservation Service with the Upper Mississippi River states. The 

office would “improve and sustain the availability of clean water on the Upper 

Mississippi River and its watershed for people, fish and wildlife through 

state-federal coordinated investment,” according to the UMBRA proposal. 

Additionally, it would help agencies and states better manage and understand sediment and nutrient flows from sources like agriculture throughout 

the basin while still supporting the nation’s goals for farm production. 

The quality of Upper Mississippi waters has been thoroughly studied, so the 

proposal emphasizes action, Wallace said. 

“A lot of work has been done by the states, the agricultural community, 

conservationists and others to develop strategies. The funds would support 

existing programs and projects and would not create additional bureaucracy.”

The Upper Mississippi program office would be established within U.S. EPA. 

EPA program offices typically are based within a regional office. However, 

Wallace said, “The Mississippi divides two regions, so there is no real ownership within EPA for the river.”

Nutrients are often cited as a water quality concern on 

the Upper Mississippi River, particularly in terms of the 

UMR’s contributions to Gulf of Mexico hypoxia.

“Phosphorous and nitrogen are necessary for aquatic 

life, but at elevated concentrations these nutrients can lead to adverse effects 

on both aquatic life and human uses of a water body,” the UMBRA project 

summary explained, listing “water quality impacts such as algal blooms, fish 

kills and effects on drinking water supplies.”

The program office would channel funds to the states to implement their 

Clean Water Act responsibilities and nutrient reduction strategies, working 

and investing with local municipalities and farmers, Wallace said. The $600 

million request is comparable with the funding of other regional water quality 

program offices, she said.

ABOVE: The Mississippi 

River winds through 

Louisiana farm country.