U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS RANGER KATELYNN DEARTH

wasn’t sure what to expect at her Rivers Project Office situated alongside the 

Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary this past year. A global pandemic led to 

cancellations of what would have been dozens of school and other group trips 

to this site near St. Louis. The thousands of visitors they’d normally host for 

programs on paddling and birds wouldn’t be coming.

“No one really knew what to expect in the absence of all of that,” she said. 

“Would people be interested in socially distanced or self-guided programs? 

Would we be able to successfully reach our community with closed visitor 

centers?”

The answer was yes—and yes.

Just this one Corps-run recreation area saw a visitor increase of 32 percent, 

according to traffic counters, even without programs or an open center. One 

visitor she met on the trails, Dearth noted, commented that with hundreds of 

acres for hiking, paddling and bicycling, Riverlands “feels like a sanctuary for 

people too, not just birds.”

The Corps is the nation’s largest provider of water-focused activity. It offers 

scenic camping along the banks of the Mississippi River within the Rock 

Island district’s Mississippi River Project, around bucolic headwaters lakes 

in the St. Paul District, and throughout the division at recreational sites also 

used to regulate river depths for its partner flood control and navigation missions. That’s in addition to the many other federal lands run as wildlife refuges 

and national parks.

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY DIVISION · SPRING 2021

As a global pandemic 

limited opportunities for 

travel and entertainment, 

the Mississippi River 

stepped up to introduce a 

host of new visitors to its 

socially distanced charms.

Continued on page 2 >>

River of Respite

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.

EXPLORE MINNESOTA
Outdoor recreation contributes $4 billion to the economy each year in just 

the Upper Mississippi River basin, according to a recent basin report card 

developed by the non-profit America’s Watershed Initiative—a project with 

which the Corps partners—and it supports 420,000 jobs. The Mississippi River 

Delta, known for fishing, hunting and exploring amid a very special ecosystem supporting critters like the Louisiana brown bear and vibrantly colored 

songbirds, had a similarly dramatic boom in recreation visitation, particularly through 2020s COVID-19 pandemic.

Bruce Reid, outreach specialist with the Lower Mississippi River Conservation 

Committee (LMRCC), a key Army Corps restoration partner, says he knows 

firsthand what drew so many to public lands this past year: a sanity break.

“I think public lands and outdoor spaces have, to me and to a lot of people, 

become crucial to maintaining a healthy state of mind during this pandemic,” 

he said.

As breaks from work and in-home isolation, he’d visit the Tensas River 

National Wildlife Refuge in Tallulah, La., about 30 miles west of Vicksburg, 

Mississippi. There, he says, he’d wander weekly amid 60,000 acres and see virtually no one, save the black bears, exotic birds and much more as he hiked, 

shot photographs, recorded bird sounds and enjoyed a “refuge for the soul.”

In the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, there are some 2.4 million acres of 

protected refuge land managed by the federal government, states or conservancies. Within that there also are several projects sponsored by the LMRCC 

and partners including the Corps that have goals such as reducing the spread 

of Asian carp for the benefit of native fish and recreational fishermen.

Corps programs that use dredged sediment to create islands and wetlands 

amenable to bird and fish life were called out in the report card as both 

bright spots and potential models to use throughout the watershed. It’s all 

key to the balance the Corps works to strike in the multi-use Mississippi 

River and its watershed, says Andrew Schimp, operations manager for the 

Mississippi Rivers project. He’s responsible for the operation of 380 miles of 

the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers including navigation, environmental and 

recreation missions.

The popularity of outdoor heart-healthy activities like hiking, biking and 

paddling has been on the rise for a few years, he says, but this year “was off 

the charts.” “Everybody feels safer if outdoors and able to enjoy federal water 

resources without being in big crowds,” he says.

The development of safe water trails has been a major thrust of the district, with the Corps working with towboat pilots to educate people on how 

to avoid tow boats and paddle safely; the Corps has also developed signage, 

access areas and primitive riverside camping spots. While the popularity increase will likely level off at some point, he notes, “We’re hoping we’ve 

grabbed enough people’s attention of what’s out there and how important it 

is to use.”

The pandemic offered an unexpected opportunity to make improvements 

to Corps recreation areas. Through CARES act funding, crews installed amenities like touch-less faucets in shower facilities and rest areas, partnered 

with local law enforcement to enforce rules; installed signage on best Covid 

practices, and bought computer equipment to allow rangers to work from 

home or the field and minimize exposure when needed.

Some Corps facilities like the Lake Shelbyville Visitor Center were transformed for occasional use as mass vaccination clinics. Others like the 

Wappapello Campground saw a 20 percent increase in day use and camping 

visitation, even with a closure for part of the season, according to Amanda 

Kruse, a natural resource specialist with the Corps St. Louis District. While 

campgrounds were completely filled on weekends, rangers did outreach 

they’d ordinarily do through in-person programs with a virtual campaign that 

went national, offering lessons on bats, snakes, water safety and more.

The Corps’ National Great Rivers Museum reopened in February, but rangers like Dearth hope the introduction to new visitors who came for socially 

distanced activities will further cement the connection with Corps projects 

and natural lands and usher in a new generation of river stewards.

“Personally,” she said, “I observed more vehicles filled with families than 

ever before. Birders and fishermen that I’ve seen coming out here alone for 

years now occasionally have kids or grandkids with them—teaching them 

and sharing their pastimes.” —K.S.

To comply with federal orders and slow the 

spread of COVID-19, the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers requires all visitors, volunteers and 

employees on Corps buildings and recreational lands to wear a face mask. Outdoors, 

masks must only be worn when physical 

distancing rules can’t be met, such as when 

hiking on busy trails or visiting popular sites. 

Visitors engaged in water-related activities such as swimming, waterskiing, kayaking and 

boating (if there’s imminent risks of the masks getting wet) can temporarily forego wearing one. Physical distancing must always be maintained when possible, a requirement 

that complies with executive orders and guidance of the Center for Disease Control and 

Protection. The Corps also continually evaluates facility capacity and implements measures to reduce density as needed. For current rules and guidance relating to USACE 

recreation areas, check before you visit at: www.CorpsLakes.us.

“I think public lands and outdoor spaces have, to me 

and to a lot of people, become crucial to maintaining a 

healthy state of mind during this pandemic.” —Bruce Reid

Mask up

on Corps lands

ABOVE: Paddlers explore the Mississippi River near the Twin Cities metropolitan area. 

2 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division
He tells the Great 

River’s stories

Former Corps historian, author 

urges all to ‘do right by the river’

“Don’t you dare go near the river,” warned 

the parents of a young John Anfinson when visiting his grandmother’s house in north-central Minnesota. The river was the 

Mississippi and John and his twin brother, in the way of young 

boys, overlooked their parents’ admonition. Anfinson has 

shaped that early fascination with the river into 

a notable career as an environmental historian, 

seeking to understand the environment, how 

we’ve changed it, and why.

As a history student at the University 

of Minnesota, he often wondered why the 

Mississippi River flowing between the east and 

west bank of campus didn’t change more, not 

knowing about Lock and Dam One just five 

miles downstream. While still a student in 1980, 

he began working for the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, Saint Paul District doing cultural 

resource reviews and learning about the navigation system that defines today’s Mississippi 

River.

“It was through the Corps that I got to know 

the Mississippi River, because it’s the Corps’ 

biggest project,” Anfinson said. His work as 

District historian and cultural resource program 

manager spanned a five-state area of the Upper 

Mississippi. Often, he translated his Corps professional reports 

into presentations or a brochure, sharing the river’s stories with 

a wider audience.

Sharing those stories took on an even larger professional 

role when in 2000, he moved to the National Park Service as 

the cultural resource program manager for the Mississippi 

National River and Recreation Area. Later, he became the head 

for resources management for MNRRA and eventually served 

as Superintendent from 2014 to 2020.

While with the National Park Service, he finished “The River We 

Have Wrought,” a history of the evolution of the visions Americans 

have held for the Upper Mississippi River and its purposes. The 

book tracks the forces of farming and railroads, commerce and 

conservation that created the navigation-shaped river of today. 

It also highlights how development of river infrastructure was 

driven by public pressure on Congress to authorize and fund projects, which the Corps was charged to build.

He is contemplating a book, potentially titled “A Long 

Adventure of the Great River,” which expands on that theme 

of how people have viewed the river and how integral the 

Mississippi is to the American story.

“Even before French explorers Marquette and Joliet became 

the first explorers to actually know they’ve reached the 

Mississippi, the river is already renowned. That renown builds 

constantly through time and through every traveler talking about 

it, through every event along it,” Anfinson said. “Photographer 

Charles Dee Sharp says it’s as significant as Old Glory to America 

because traveling the river, you are going through the narrative 

of America itself, who we have been as a country, where we’ve 

been, where we’re going.”

Today’s vision for the Mississippi has 

shifted. Now, smaller towns, especially 

tourism-oriented ones, still rely on the 

river, but big cities have lost some of that 

connection. “Historically, the river was 

everything to river communities. It was 

their only communication. It was their lifeline to the world; it is how they sent their 

goods out and they brought new goods 

in. I think we’ve just grown away from the river. That’s not to 

take away from what a lot of river communities are trying to do, 

including Minneapolis and St. Paul. But they’ve got a lot of other 

things to do too,” Anfinson said.

The loss of appreciation for the river’s current economic value 

exemplifies that shift. More than 50 percent of Minnesota’s 

agricultural exports ship via the Mississippi River, according 

to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. “I think it’s 

extremely hard for the Corps right now to convey to the general public the river’s role in commerce. The public has no 

clue overall as to how much grain or other commodities are 

shipped on the river,” he said.

Yet, communities all along the river continue to commit 

resources to sharing the value of the Mississippi River. As co-chair 

of the national Mississippi River Parkway Commission’s cultural 

heritage committee, Anfinson sees the stories offered by the 

90 official interpretive centers of the Great River Road, which 

runs the full length of the Mississippi and recently achieved AllAmerican Road status. As part of his research for his latest book, 

he plans a post-COVID road trip to visit them.

“I think we need a new way to bring people back to the river, to 

get them interested in it and to care about it. It is the culture and 

heritage aspect of it that people resonate with,” Anfinson said.

His advice to those building new river-focused developments 

today?

“Consider how we respect one of the greatest rivers in the 

world. Demonstrate that respect by our behavior, whether it’s 

through how we might reduce pollution or build something that 

belongs on the river. It’s got to be great. Do right by the river.” 

—D.D.

fun fact

The uniform worn at recreation 

sites by U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers rangers evolved 

from the military uniform 

worn during the early years of 

Yellowstone National Park, and 

that was no accident. The St. 

Paul District of the Corps built 

Yellowstone’s first roads and 

trails, allowing for the initial 

public access to the country’s 

original national park. It also 

created a recreation area 

even earlier while working 

to control the depths of the 

mighty Mississippi for boat 

traffic; in 1883, the Corps 

constructed a reservoir that 

allowed for strategic releasing 

to create navigable waters 

further south. But people also 

wanted to boat and fish there, 

and so three years before 

Yellowstone became a park, 

the Corps developed a park 

and boat landing. Recreation 

became an official Corps 

mission in 1944, and today, the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

is the nation’s largest provider of water-based outdoor 

recreation in the nation with 

more than 400 lakes and river 

projects in 43 states.

John Anfinson, a former U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers historian, stands along the 

Mississippi River, the waterway he’s long 

studied and interpreted.

Our Mississippi · Spring 2021 3

RIVER: EXPLORE MINNESOTA. ANFINSON: U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.
The pools of the Upper Mississippi River Basin have 

become favored migratory stops for the revered canvasback duck over the past half-century. About 75 percent 

of canvasbacks, according to a 1985 study, feed for weeks each 

spring and fall on pools created by lock and dam construction.

After historically important feeding areas across North 

American were largely abandoned due to lack of food resulting from poor water quality, the ducks discovered the Upper 

Mississippi. The impounded waters had become perfect resting and feeding grounds for canvasbacks by providing growing 

conditions for their favorite food: the submerged winter buds of 

wild celery.

Wild celery also provides cover for fish and invertebrates, 

making its health a goal of habitat restoration and enhancement projects (HREP) conducted by the Upper Mississippi 

River Restoration (UMRR) Program of the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers.

Long a valued resource

European settlers named the canvasback for the color and texture of the male’s back feathers. They correctly attributed its 

delicate taste to its celery diet during migrations. Its scientific 

designation, Aythya valisineria, translates to “bird celery.” The 

name recognizes its affinity for wild celery: Vallisneria americana.

Until the 1950s, wild celery flourished in the Detroit and 

Illinois rivers, many Midwestern lakes and Chesapeake Bay in 

Maryland and Virginia. About half of North American canvasbacks wintered on the bay at one time, though numbers there 

have plummeted 90 percent.

Submerged aquatic vegetation now thrives from Mississippi 

River Pool 4 to Pool 13, said Kirsten Schmidt, a University of 

Wisconsin-Stevens Point graduate student. “When those locks 

and dams were installed in the 1930s, submerged aquatic vegetation began showing up.”

Schmidt studied an improved method of quantifying wild 

celery buds in Upper Mississippi pools with a research grant 

from UMRR’s Long-Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) program. 

“That’s one reason LTRM was started,” she said. “We saw how 

valuable this resource was to ecosystems.”

Winter buds

Each fall, wild celery creates “winter buds” submerged in bottom 

sediments. The buds remain dormant until spring, when they 

will sprout into new plants. Canvasbacks are omnivores that can 

eat mussels and insects, but it is celery buds that make their 

migrations possible.

Schmidt’s research validated a means of using “rake studies” to estimate underground wild celery bud counts and food 

energy by measuring leaves in the water. “Soil coring and 

substrate quadrant sampling are more expensive and time consuming,” she said. The canvasback’s large webbed feet, strong 

legs and narrow bill help it dive about six feet and pull buds from 

the substrate.

“The canvasback is structurally and behaviorally adapted 

for foraging under water,” Schmidt said. “The wild celery buds 

are packed with carbohydrates, like a potato. By foraging on 

these buds the birds put on the fat they need to complete their 

migrations.”

Migrating canvasbacks spend up to two weeks resting and 

feasting on the buds in hopes of increasing their body weight 

16 to 24 percent. Without that fat to fuel their migration, they 

couldn’t fly as far or fast, said Stephen Winter, a U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (FWS) wildlife biologist at the Upper Mississippi 

River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge that covers parts of 

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois.

“If they do get to where they are going, they might be in a 

lower body condition and less likely to survive the winter. If they 

arrive at their spring breeding ground in poor condition, they 

may lay fewer eggs or may not even breed.”

The seasonal canvasback range stretches from Alaska to 

northern Mexico. Scientific counts began in 1955, and population estimates averaged 520,000 until the 1990s. Numbers 

have rebounded and were estimated at 700,000 by the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service in 2017.

Restoration and enhancement

Schmidt’s research on pools 4, 8 and 13 will assist in planning 

and evaluating measures deployed in HREPs to support submerged aquatic vegetation. A current HREP in Pool 13 combines 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

and natural resources departments of Iowa and Illinois, Winter 

said. The team is trying to figure out what structures can be constructed to make the water velocity and wave energy optimal for 

wild celery, and barrier islands are often placed on such sites to 

improve habitat.

“We are hoping the rake method can be adapted to monitor aquatic vegetation responses to other restoration projects,” 

Schmidt said. “We want to see how these barriers islands affect 

the vegetation community.” —R.S..

Fowl Royalty Game gourmands revere canvasbacks as the 

“King of Ducks.” Always a priority species in waterfowl management, 

their numbers while doing reasonably well have never recovered to what 

they apparently were in the 19th century when they appeared on the 

menus of fancy restaurants of the time.

Until market hunting was outlawed by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 

1918, cannon-sized punt guns could wipe out a flock with a single blast. 

Habitat losses, some due to siltation, and droughts also have diminished canvasback numbers.

Canvasbacks have shorter bodies and wing spans than mallards but weigh a bit more, averaging 2.7 pounds. They were sought as a delicacy because their diets made them so much 

tastier than other ducks whose diets of clams and fish leave an unusual taste to the flesh, 

according to Stephen Winter, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) wildlife biologist. Native 

Americans apparently savored the taste of canvasbacks too. Archaeologists excavating a 

Nevada cave found hunting decoys resembling canvasbacks that were dated to 2,000 years old.

TOP, FROM LEFT: Canvasbacks, the 

King of the Ducks, are thriving in 

the impounded pools of the Upper 

Mississippi River, even as their numbers 

decline elsewhere. Researcher Kirsten 

Schmidt with the Corps’ Upper 

Mississippi River Restoration program 

has developed an improved way to 

quantify the presence of the ducks’ 

preferred food sources. 

Celery basics

Grass of long, slender 

leaves bearing a light 

green stripe. The leaves 

grow in clusters up to five 

feet in length and thrive in 

fresh or slightly brackish 

waters.

Withstands waves and 

water flow better than 

other water grasses.

Blooms tiny white flowers 

on stalks that grow to 

the water’s surface. Male 

flowers release pollen to 

fertilize female flowers, 

which produce seed pods.

Remains dormant 

through winter and 

produces new plants in 

spring.

Celery ducks Revered canvasbacks find a 

home on the Upper Mississippi

4 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division
The inland population of America’s littlest tern 

recently left the endangered species list. Here’s 

how conservationists brought the birds back.

ON A CLOUDY DAY LAST JULY, a group of conservationists near St. 

Louis, Missouri, hopped into a small boat armed with cardboard boxes and 

yellow leg bands just a few millimeters in diameter. They motored toward 

a concrete barge anchored offshore, where they rounded up 18 squeaking, 

fuzzy, golf-ball-size Interior Least Tern chicks into a box for banding.

“Good luck, little guys,” said Jeff Meshach, deputy director of the St. Louisbased wildlife hospital World Bird Sanctuary. After placing a delicate yellow 

band on one leg of each chick, he gently spilled them back onto the barge—

their nesting habitat parked in a pond along the Mississippi River. When they 

grow up, it’s possible they’ll return to nest here; the bands let the conservationists keep track of them. “Hope all of you come back next year and raise 

your own kids here,” he said.

When Interior Least Terns were listed under the Endangered Species Act 

in 1985, the birds had vanished from much of their historic range, including this area near St. Louis where the Missouri River meets the Mississippi 

River. But they have since bounced back, and today roughly 18,000 birds raise 

their chicks on nest barges and sandbars across nearly 3,000 miles of river in 

18 states. Earlier this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognized the 

Interior Least Tern’s recovery by removing it from the federal list of endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), effective Feb. 12.

The Least Tern is America’s smallest tern: Adults weigh less than two 

ounces and measure eight to nine inches long. The species is widely distributed, nesting on Pacific and Atlantic coast beaches as well as along rivers’ soft 

shorelines. But the birds that nest in the country’s interior are managed as a 

distinct population. During the summer nesting season, Interior Least Terns 

can be found along the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Arkansas, and other rivers 

throughout the Central United States.

Those rivers have undergone significant change over the past century, and 

the birds have, too. Beginning in the mid-20th century, the U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers dredged and streamlined complex river networks to construct a 

single wide, deep passage to make room for ships moving goods. These management efforts did away with many secondary tributaries and sandy islands 

where terns liked to nest.

The few beaches that survived remained connected to the mainland, which 

made the terns’ shallow nests easy pickings for predators like foxes and coyotes. By the 1980s, Interior Least Tern populations had plummeted to fewer 

than 2,000 adult birds; they were listed as federally endangered in 1985.

The listing forced the Army Corps to protect the remaining Interior Least 

Tern habitat, and their numbers began climbing back up—but not significantly enough to ensure the population’s long-term survival. Then, about 

20 years ago, Paul Hartfield with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) 

approached the Mississippi Valley Division of the Corps with a proposition: 

Rather than working at odds, FWS and the Corps could work together.

An experiment that worked

In a recent interview with Audubon magazine, Hartfield recalled his argument. At the turn of the millennium, the Corps generally fought against the 

ESA and the FWS, viewing conservation 

policy as bureaucratic red tape that interfered with their construction projects. 

Instead, he argued, the Mississippi Valley 

Division of the Corps could save time and 

money by integrating conservation into 

their programs at a fundamental level. By 

making a few small changes, they could, for 

example, dredge rivers more intentionally 

to construct a healthy, complex ecosystem 

for a number of endangered species like 

pallid sturgeon, fat pocketbook mussels, 

and Least Terns.

“What had been lost in the river ever since they started managing it was 

habitat and depth diversity,” says Hartfield, who served as the Interior Least 

Tern lead recovery biologist for 10 years. “So, we agreed that what we would 

do is manage for habitat complexity and explore the possibility of opening up 

some of the [river] channels that had been closed.”

The Corps was skeptical at first, but they agreed to try. First, they carved 

experimental 200-foot notches in dikes that had been installed to streamline river flow and reduce erosion. The notches redirected some water into 

secondary streams that disconnected islands of sandy habitat from the mainland, protecting nesting birds from predators and human beachgoers. Dikes 

with notches proved to be just as structurally sound as those without—and 

ended up being cheaper to build because they used less material.

By 2013, nearly a third of all dikes in the Lower Mississippi (roughly 300) 

had been notched, and new dikes were constructed with this feature already 

in place.

The Corps also began to construct new sandbar islands for terns using sand 

routinely dredged from the bottom of the river, which they would otherwise 

dump in a heap offshore. During a trial of this technique on the Ohio River in 

2002, terns began nesting on the new sandbars the very next day. One month 

later, there were 64 active nests.

They also began experimenting with placing barges in rivers to serve as 

nesting islands for terns. The nesting barge near St. Louis is an example of 

a project managed by the Corps in cooperation with conservation groups, 

including Audubon. “It’s a very unique and collaborative partnership we 

have,” says Tara Hohman, a conservation scientist with Missouri’s Audubon 

Center at Riverlands located in the center of lands managed by the Corps.

The collaborative efforts have paid off. About 80 percent of the Interior Least 

Tern’s habitat is now managed by the Corps in this way, and the population 

numbers roughly 18,000 individuals. The Corps is also applying this management approach to other endangered species conservation efforts, such as the 

Least Bell’s Vireo in southern California.

Hartfield, who drafted the recommendation to delist the Interior Least 

Tern before retiring this year, is confident that ecosystem-based management 

of the tern’s habitat will continue independently of its endangered species 

status. “Conservation is now part of that ecosystem,” Hartfield says.

The Corps-managed nesting barge near St. Louis, for instance, will persist 

as tern habitat for the foreseeable future. And conservation groups will keep 

tabs to make sure the birds also stick around even after their federal protections have disappeared. —REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM AUDUBON MAGAZINE

AND EDITORIAL INTERN RACHEL FRITTS

Corps interior least tern’s project deemed model conservation success

MORE: 

riverlands.audubon.org

TOP, FROM LEFT: The U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers’ commitment 

to helping bring back the Interior 

Least Tern includes docking a 

retired barge for a nesting platform. Right: a baby raised in a 

barge nest.

Our Mississippi · Spring 2021 5

PHOTOS: U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.
 C ountless citizens and tourists alike have 

driven down Tchoupitoulas Street in 

New Orleans, along the massive gray concrete floodwall that holds the Mississippi 

River back from the city. That floodwall, 

located along the biggest bend in the Big River’s trip 

past the Big Easy, is the ongoing legacy of the Army 

Corps of Engineers’ work on the Mississippi River, 

which began with a Congressional act in 1824 and 

continues today.

Managed by the Louisiana Flood Protection Authority 

East along with the Army Corps of Engineers, this 

floodwall is something else altogether to renowned 

New Orleans artist (and native) J. Pierre. For from the 

time he was a youngster and began his artistic career as 

a spray-paint wall tagger/graffiti artist, Jamar Pierre has 

seen it as a canvas waiting to be brought to life.

In that time before cities like New Orleans embraced 

wall murals, he was already imagining a vision for 

the floodwall and creating his artistic style, which he 

describes as “contemporary folk art.”

Convincing the powers that be to allow the mural

As J. Pierre’s career took off over the ensuing 25 years, 

his idea for the floodwall became more feasible. But in 

order to bring his vision to life, he needed the go-ahead 

from those combined powers that be who make the 

decisions about that floodwall, so he set out to convince 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Authority to 

permit him to create a massive one-mile-long mural celebrating NOLA’s past, present and future.

Pierre knew that getting permission was something 

of a long shot, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

and the Authority had never given permission for the 

floodwall to be used as an artistic canvas in modern 

history. In fact, it took Pierre and his business partner, 

Daniel Pate, a few years of presentations and negotiations to finally win the coveted permit that allows the 

mural to be painted.

“It definitely helped that I had been chosen by the 

NOLA Foundation as the official artist for the city’s 

tricentennial celebration in 2018,” the 47-year-old 

artist recalls. For that commemoration, he painted 

“Resilience,” a large canvas featuring everything from 

steamboats to musicians to alligators and Mardi Gras 

Indians; it served as his calling card to the Army Corps 

and the Authority, showing them his direction for the 

floodwall mural.

“It took going to a lot of council and board meetings, 

getting things like insurance and other paperwork in 

place with both the state and the federal government 

to make it happen,” Pierre says. The process of getting the permit took about three years, he recalls, and 

required specific content agreements required by the 

Authority. For example, they insisted that he had to 

convince the Army Corps to allow the project. Images 

had to be nonpolitical, he couldn’t use it as a billboard 

and he had to remove any graffiti that might appear on 

the wall after completion.

Once he had the go-ahead, the mural wouldn’t be 

J. Pierre’s alone, for he knew from the start that he’d 

need help in many ways to create his vision celebrating a mile’s worth of the history and culture of this 

vibrant city. Leading the group known as the New 

Orleans International Muralists (NOIM), who are 

commissioned to create wall murals all over town, 

Jamar Pierre has enlisted other local artists to help him 

paint his floodwall designs.

Those designs center on one through line, as J. Pierre 

explains. “The water has to be a theme, throughout the 

whole mural, because the story of our city is that river. 

In the early panels, I want people to feel and see how it 

would have looked before the early Europeans came.”

As the mural’s visuals progress through time, 

the story encompasses what Pierre calls “the diversity, inclusion and resilience of New Orleans, with 

a positive message.” So he’ll transform those long, 

gray arched wall with images he’s already painted 

of pristine wilderness (complete with alligators and 

pelicans), indigenous Native Americans and Spanish 

explorers, as well as coming panels celebrating the 

French, Africans, Italians, Germans, and Creoles and 

Cajuns that make up this melting pot city.

Funding for the project kicked off with Walmart’s 

contribution, which allowed J. Pierre to paint a “whole 

city block” between their store on Tchoupitoulas and 

the police station at St. Mary Street, completed in 

December 2020. That mural celebrates current New 

Orleans, complete with the melding of a tribute to 

pandemic healthcare workers and the city’s musical 

culture. And while keeping the permit he received 

from the Flood Authority valid hasn’t been a problem, 

Pierre continues to solicit both corporate and individual donations to keep the paint flowing. —J.P.

FLOODWALL TURNS CANVAS

A New Orleans artist takes his Big Easy river vision to the wall

FROM TOP: Official New Orleans tricentennial artist J. Pierre’s 

reflections of the city’s history on a very special mural. He won 

permission by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to translate the 

city’s history through art onto the city’s floodwalls.

6 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division
Abe Lincoln,

Mississippi Riverman and Longboat pilot

Experiences on the river shaped Lincoln’s groundbreaking views 

on slavery, historians say

The teenager’s long, muscular arms and callused hands often were covered with sweat and sawdust in the spring of 1828 as he spent 

three months chopping down trees and hand-sawing 

them into boards to build a flatboat. He then steered 

the boat, carrying kegs of produce and salted pork, 

on a perilous three-month river journey to market in 

New Orleans. 

Three decades later he became president of the 

United States.

Historians often rank Abraham Lincoln as the 

greatest United States president. But their biographies tend to overlook the influences of Midwestern 

rivers on his views of law, politics and slavery. Carl 

Sandburg covered Lincoln’s river days in just eight 

pages of his six-volume, Pulitzer Prize-winning biography published in 1926.

That doesn’t mean they weren’t impactful. As a 

poor Indiana teenager Lincoln earned precious silver 

coins ferrying passengers to steamboats passing on 

the Ohio River. Twice he built crude flatboats and 

steered them down the rivers to New Orleans, where 

he witnessed slave auctions—moments that experts 

say shaped his later anti slavery views and actions. 

He was also awarded a patent for a steamboat 

device and as a young lawyer argued a landmark case 

on river transportation rights.

“Abraham Lincoln was a riverman for only a short 

time, but his relationship to the river had great significance in American history,” stated the National Rivers 

Hall of Fame in Dubuque, Iowa, when it inducted him 

in 2007.

When Lincoln was 18 and operating his part-time 

ferry, he was lured across the river and abducted 

by brothers John and Lin Dill. Claiming Abe was 

violating their Kentucky charter to operate a ferry 

there, they took him to the nearest court. justice of 

the Peace Squire Samuel Pate dropped the charge 

because Lincoln had not carried passengers beyond 

the middle of the river and therefore had done business in Indiana—not Kentucky.

After the ruling, Lincoln decided to study law. 

River pilot

At 19 he was hired by farmer James Gentry, who 

“believed Abe could take his pork, flour, meal, bacon, 

potatoes and produce to trade.” Lincoln built a 

flatboat to do so with Gentry’s son Allen, who accompanied him down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

By 1831 the Lincoln family had moved to a farm 

near Springfield, Illinois, and Abe was hired to build 

a flatboat and guide goods to market. 

In 1830 New Orleans was the river valley’s major 

market. It had 50,000 mouths to feed: twice as many 

as St. Louis and Memphis combined. 

Lincoln’s boats probably measured 

12 by 30 feet and could carry a couple 

of tons of cargo, said Capt. John 

Cooper of Gallatin, Tennessee, who 

has built 23 flatboat replicas. “It took 

them three to four months to build 

the first flatboat. He was a very strong, tough man. We 

can’t imagine doing today what those men did.”

Floating with the river’s current was not leisurely 

work, Cooper said. The crew had to fight strong winds 

and steer away from the shore, shoals and dead tree 

snags. Unless the boat was rowed faster than the current, four to six miles an hour, the rudder was useless.

The crude hulls were assembled with hickory plugs 

banged into hand-drilled holes. Seams were constantly plugged with cotton rope soaked in tar. River 

banks were littered with wrecks.

“Of every 10 flatboats that set sail for New Orleans, 

probably one or two never made it,” Cooper said.

In New Orleans, the boats were dismantled for their 

wood and sold along with their cargo. “Flatboats were 

built to go downriver and never come back,” Cooper 

said.

In 1849 Lincoln received a U.S. patent for inflatable 

canvas bladders that would lift a steamboat through 

shallow water. A working version was never built.

Lincoln’s memories of New Orleans remained vivid 

during his presidency and the Civil War, Sandburg 

wrote. At the end of the first trip, he “lingered and 

loitered a few days, seeing New Orleans, before taking 

a steamer north.” He saw “slaves passed handcuffed 

into gangs headed for cotton fields” and heard talk of 

“how to rawhide the bad ones with mule whips.”

Years later Lincoln said, “If slavery is not wrong, 

nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not 

so think and feel.” —K.S. 

Historic preservation teams 

have key link to Memorial Day

For archaeologists with the St. Louis 

Districts of the Army Corps of Engineers, 

Memorial Day—or Decoration Day as was 

first designated as a way to honor fallen 

Civil War soldiers—means many different 

things, depending on the project. But many 

days at work bring the chance to honor 

fallen heroes, and by many definitions, 

according to Mark Smith, the supervisory 

archeologist with the Mandatory Center of 

Expertise for the Curation and Management 

of Archaeological Collections.

The Corps’ mission to preserve and 

protect trust resources, ensure reasonable 

access to sacred sites and to comply with 

the Native American Graves Protection 

and Repatriation Act can lead teams into 

unexpected places. But no project has 

as significant a link to Memorial Day as 

the ongoing restoration of the gates at 

Arlington National Cemetery. 

At Arlington, Memorial Day services 

alone attract approximately 5,000 visitors 

while approximately four million families, 

friends and tourists visit the 624 acre site 

each year. To keep up with these increasing demands, Arlington Cemetery was 

expanded in 1966, and by 1971, (the same 

year Memorial Day officially replaced 

Decoration Day) the cemetery had lost two 

of its most iconic, beautiful and meaningful 

entry gates. Named the Ord-Weitzel and 

Sheridan Gates, they were brought down 

and placed in storage as they were deemed 

too narrow to support increasing vehicle 

traffic.

Through the mandatory center for 

expertise, conservation work on the valuable gates began in 2012. 

The historical preservation teams did 

scanning and documentation work on the 

gates and contracted for their removal 

from the elements and their move to a 

storage area. Four of the six columns that 

are part of the gates contain the inscribed 

names of war time leaders including 

Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses 

S. Grant. The names are reflective of the 

intent to honor Civil War dead during the 

first Decoration Day in 1868. —M.B.

Our Mississippi · Spring 2021 7

PHOTOS: U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.

Historians often rank Abraham Lincoln as the 

greatest United States president. But their biographies 

tend to overlook the influences of Midwestern 

rivers on his views of law, politics and slavery.
MyMISSISSIPPI

Ricco Chalmers, 41, Chief, Yard and Docks,

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Memphis 

District and Mission Manager, Corps 

Temporary Emergency Power Team

“When FEMA gets a hurricane on its radar, they notify 

us that it’s a possible mission. You want to get the 

power on, and then everything else follows. With Hurricane Laura, we got called ahead of the storm. We 

packed our bags and we prepared our personal lives. 

We headed onto the road with essentials like our vests, 

our hard hats and red shirts so people know we’re with 

the Corps of Engineers. We dispatched a truck which 

acts as our mobile command center.

“Usually FEMA has a location already set up in each 

region where storms normally hit so you are close to 

the area impacted. The first thing I did was I had to get 

some real estate. Normally for a huge power mission we 

would like five acres for a staging base. There, we put all 

the generators that FEMA sends us. Depending on how 

badly they think it’s going to get hit, they send us power 

packs—roughly 30 generators in a pack. We also need 

room for the tow trucks that deliver generators to the 

site, forklifts, the service trucks for electricians and 

mechanics and then offices. It’s a big operation.

“The power team focuses on critical facilities—

hospitals, fire departments, police stations, schools, 

wastewater, potable water: things that are life sustaining and lifesaving. We initially take in the generators 

they send us and wait for the state to make a request.

“When I do get a request through the system, I make 

sure my team is on top of it and gets the generator out. 

I picture that could be me and my family without the 

necessities like water and food. Without power, your 

food goes bad. You can’t get water to the house. You 

can’t see.

“My team was down there start to finish. I left in 

August and came back the beginning of November. We 

had over 176 requests, and I believe we installed roughly 

91 generators. Some got canceled because power was 

restored. I get a warm feeling when we’re able to help. 

I’m greeted with the warm arms and thank you’s from 

the community when they see my red shirt. They don’t 

really know what my job was. They just know I’m one of 

the red shirts that brought them a generator.”

Grading the world’s third 

largest watershed 

At grade card time, how’d the Mississippi’s watershed fare? 

This “semester,” just a bit below average.

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER WATERSHED

is threatened by frequent and extreme flooding, aging infrastructure, and both chemical 

pollution and nutrient runoff that threaten 

the nation’s water supply. Partly because of 

below average scores in areas like water quality and flood risk (both D’s), the Mississippi 

River basin scored a C- overall in a recent 

river report card. 

But there are bright spots, according to 

America’s Watershed Initiative, the non-profit 

group that created this second-ever report 

card to measure status and progress. Areas 

measured include the economy, water supply, 

transportation, recreation, flood control and 

risk management and water quality and ecosystems. Scores were also divided by basin: the 

Upper Mississippi, the Lower Mississippi, the 

Gulf Coast, the Missouri River, the Ohio and 

Tennessee Rivers and the Arkansas and Red.

The C- represented a slight improvement 

from the D+ earned five years ago. Improvements were noted in recreation—particularly 

due to a rise in national park visits and fishing license purchases over the past year—as 

well as in navigation. In that area, delays were 

reduced in large part, the report noted, by 

effective maintenance work by the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers and federal funding that 

made the work possible.

America’s Watershed Initiative was convened following the 2010 America’s Inter 

Coast Summit, launched with leadership 

from The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers. It started as a coalition of agencies and individuals and has since 

incorporated as a nonprofit. 

In a presentation to the Upper Mississippi 

River Basin Association, Executive Director 

Kimberly Lutz emphasized the importance 

of evaluating the third largest watershed in 

the world. Some 250 rivers drain into it, and 

it’s a powerhouse both economically and in 

the number of plants and animals that call 

this home. The report card seeks to capture 

the holistic importance in a format most can 

readily grasp. 

“Everybody got a report card growing up,” 

she said. “We intuitively know what the grades 

mean. We see it as a great communication tool 

for telling a very complex story.”

While serious needs remain, the 2020 

Mississippi River Watershed Report Card 

describes progress toward achieving the 

goals established in the original 2015 report 

card, highlights some of the important work 

that partners across the watershed are doing 

to make positive change, and documents the 

work and investment that remains.

Flood risk reduction is a major issue because 

of the recent spate of extreme storm events. 

There’s also the simple fact that humankind 

likes to live near rivers and coasts and has 

built in the floodplain, Lutz said. Offering 

promise is a project in the state of Missouri in 

which levees are being set back further from 

the river to give the river more room to move 

within the floodplain and absorb more water 

in a flood event.

Other work by the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers was called out in the report as examples for floodplain models. At Gunn Island in 

southern Louisiana, sediment dredged by the 

Corps to keep the navigation channel open is 

being used to restore 10,000 acres and provide 

habitat for a massive number of shorebirds. 

In the grading evaluation of 10 years of lock 

and dam delays, the analysis found a reduction in delays, particularly unscheduled ones. 

Andrew Schimp, operations manager for 

the Corps’ Mississippi Rivers project, says that 

has been the case in his St. Louis District. The 

reason is that there has been a slow, steady 

increase in operation and maintenance funding, he said, as well as efficiencies gained 

from working closely with other districts and 

the navigation industry.

“Even with scheduled closures, we’re trying 

to coordinate those the best that we can,” he 

said. “As for keeping locks in good working 

condition, that’s a product of putting maintenance into them. We’ve also had a series of 

major rehabs up and down the river that has 

put the reliability back into the project.” —K.S.

River Commission heads out to listen U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers Commanding General and Chief of Engineers Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon toured the 

Melvin Price Locks and Dam and National Great Rivers Museum in a visit that highlighted the 

9 foot Navigation Channel project and the Corps’ Navigation Ecosystem and Sustainability 

Program. He later joined the Mississippi River Commission for a tour of Levee 536, a visit that 

highlighted 2019 flood repair successes and challenges.

The visit preceded the commission’s spring inspection tour held over a series of four public 

meetings in locations from New Madrid, Missouri, to New Orleans, Louisiana. The Mississippi 

River Commission was established by Congress on June 28, 1879, with the mission of improving 

the condition of the Mississippi River, fostering navigation, promoting commerce and preventing 

destructive floods. Shortly after its creation, it began coordinating local efforts and setting standards for levee constructions, efforts that led to inspection trips that have taken place since 1882, 

all aboard motor vessels named Mississippi.

8 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division
Restoration project protects Mississippi Headwaters

The fish flashing past their feet told them their work was 

already a success. A Minnesota Department of Natural Resources fisheries crew watched last fall as young northern pike dashed up the newly 

restored connection between the Mississippi River and its source, Lake 

Itasca, and a shimmer of minnows scurried downriver to escape the 

newly arrived predators.

The river habitat restoration crew was still in the midst of completing a project at the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Itasca 

State Park when they spotted the fish. But already, the reshaped 

connection between the lake and the river was improving life for 

its aquatic residents.

The refurbished channel strengthened the traditional ecological connection between lake and river but also reduced 

shoreline erosion. The crew had placed boulders atop the original 

dam to create a properly shaped channel to produce a natural flow to the water. 

New boulder placement directs water away from the shoreline, preventing scouring of the streambanks.

“Erosion at the headwaters has occurred gradually over a long period of time 

due to heavy visitation rates and the action of water scouring and undercutting 

the shoreline and widening the river. The river channel was 40 feet wide after the 

dam was built and measured 70 feet in 2018,” said Cindy Lueth, project manager 

with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources regional Parks and Trails 

division. “While the river downstream of the headwaters is still intact and does 

not show visible impacts of the erosion, this project will ensure it remains protected into the future.”

The dam dates back to 1930s and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Young 

men assigned to an Itasca-area camp built a horseshoe-shaped dam and topped 

it with stepping stones to mark the start of the river, said Connie Cox, leader interpretive naturalist at Itasca State Park. “Of the park’s 500,000 (annual) visitors, 

probably 90 to 95 percent of those visitors crossed those rocks,” she said. The 

iconic engraved log marking the headwaters also dates to that era.

The CCC crews took seven years to restore the headwaters area in the early 

decades of Itasca State Park. Part of that work was restoring the original course 

and elevation of the upper stretch of the Mississippi. Log drives in the early 20th

century had scoured the channel and left a “muddy mess,” said Cox. Lumber 

companies had even straightened out a 90-degree bend in the river to accelerate the flow of logs to the sawmills in Minneapolis.

Cox credits the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with the success of the 

CCC restoration efforts. “The Army Corps of Engineers was required 

to map the entire Mississippi River. They started from the Gulf of 

Mexico, because you’re going to do the navigable water section 

first. In 1900, they did the survey of Lake Itasca and that first 

stretch of the Mississippi River. Then, in 1901 was the first log 

drive. By having had the river mapped before any damage had 

been done, the Conservation Corps boys could take that map 

and restore the river to its original channel,” she said.

Shoreline plantings of natural vegetation are also part of the 

current restoration project, providing further erosion protection. 

But despite its significant benefits to the river, the visible differences have been 

minimal.

“As far as impacting the river and its appearance to the general public, it really 

wasn’t noticeable. Some of those who came last fall were visitors who come year 

after year and they couldn’t even tell the difference,” Cox said. The project closed 

the headwaters area of the park to visitors for just 3.5 days in October 2020.

Design and execution of the Mississippi River headwaters restoration project 

cost just $10,000 in materials and was a collaborative effort of multiple MDNR 

divisions, Leuth said. Luther Aadlund, a MDNR river ecologist, created the first 

concept plans in June 2018. The MDNR Parks and Trails Division worked with 

project engineers and State Historic Preservation Office to design a solution to 

the erosion that maintained the essential historic nature of the headwaters, one 

of Minnesota’s most photographed sites. The MDNR fisheries construction crew 

completed the project.

Protecting water quality in the Mississippi River was one of the reasons for the 

establishment of Itasca State Park in 1891. Its 32,000 acres hold 20 percent of 

Minnesota’s remaining old growth forests, a fitting beginning for one of America’s 

greatest rivers. —D.D.

Our Mississippi · Spring 2021 9

PHOTOS: U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.
OUR MISSISSIPPI KIDS

Engineer your own dam 

You’ll see many locks and dams along the Mississippi River 

and its recreation and flood control projects nearby. That’s 

partly because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers protects 

people from water, protects water from people and makes 

water useful through its building and management of dams.

The Corps operates and maintains approximately 700 

dams nationwide and in Puerto Rico that provide significant, multiple benefits to the nation—its people, businesses, 

critical infrastructure and the environment. These benefits 

include flood risk management, navigation, water supply, 

hydropower, environmental stewardship, fish and wildlife 

conservation and recreation. USACE’s dams are part of our 

nation’s landscape, integral to many communities and critical 

to watershed management.

MAKE A DAM 

Materials: 

• 4 oz Playdoh 

or clay

• Small measuring 

cup with milliliters

• Water

• Pencils and paper 

• Ruler with metric 

measurements 

• Stopwatch 

• Tray/container to build dam (must be able to hold water) 

Your first job is to determine the measurements of a rectangular dam that will hold 50 milliliters of water, which equals 

50 cubic centimeters. In other words you need to find 3 

numbers that multiply together to equal 50. One possible 

successful design would be a dam that is 5 x 5 x 2 centimeters (width times length, times height). Only look for whole 

numbers, not answers with fractions.

Build and test the dams. An adult will need a cell phone, 

or stopwatch to calculate how long each dam holds water. 

See what happens when the clay dam is overfilled or if 

the dam is damaged. 

ALL ABOUT DAMS

 ABUTMENT, BERM, CREST, GALLERY, GATE, HOOVER, Word Bank:

OVERTOPPING, RESERVOIR, SPILLWAY, TAILINGS

1

4

2

5

6

8

9

10

7

3

A Crossword Puzzle about Dams

Across

4 a body of water impounded by a dam

6 part of a valley side against which a dam is 

constructed

8 a nearly horizontal step in the slope of an 

embankment dam

9 process resulting from inadequate 

spillway capacity

10 a structure designed to release water 

from behind a dam

Down

1 dam named for U.S. president who took 

office in 1928

2 the top of a dam

3 a passageway in the body of a dam

5 a movable, watertight barrier for the 

control of water in a waterway

7 type of dam that contains mining wastes

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

RIVER 

THE GROUP BIKE IOWA describes the Mississippi River trail bike route through the country’s heartland 

as the ultimate setting for a modern-day Mark Twain novel. On this, as along many other stretches of the 3,000-

mile cycling route, you’ll cycle within sight of riverboats and barges, through quaint river towns and past farm 

fields and rolling green hills. Elsewhere, the trail that starts at Lake Itasca and meanders south through 10 

states rises with bluffs and ends with a view of the New Orleans skyline.

Here are just a few examples of ways you’ll explore the river’s beauty, geography and culture as you ride a 

trail that generally runs along existing highways, at times dedicated trail networks.

The Minnesota segment follows the river some 600 miles from Itasca State Park to the Iowa border. Within 

the 72-mile Twin Cities Metro area, the route runs on both sides of the river and within the Mississippi National 

River and Recreation Area. At its south, there’s access to Great River Bluffs State Park. In Wisconsin, the trail 

runs primarily on the Great River Road, W-35, over steep bluffs with sharp drops and eventually a series of state, 

county and town roads. (Note: Here, fried cheese curds are a recommended snack stop treat).

Venture into Illinois, and ride from the steep bluffs in the unglaciated north around historic Galena and Quincy 

(site of the famed Lincoln-Douglas debates) to flatter roadways and scenic farm country once you hit Rock 

Island. At the state’s south, you near Cahokia, a pre-Columbian settlement world heritage site most worthy of a 

stop. At Savanna, the trail connects to Iowa, where paved sections of road pass the riverfront areas of Davenport 

and leads to riverfront parks and festivals.

In the state of Missouri, make a side trip to Riverlands, the West Alton bird sanctuary situated on lands managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A focus on wellness encourages trail use by bicycles, and a June 24 

event offers birding by bike followed by a local libation. RIVERLANDS.AUDUBON.ORG/EVENTS/BIKES-BIRDS-AND-BREWS

The Kentucky portion of the trail, 65 miles long, begins at the bridge Connecting Cairo, Ill., with Wickliffe, 

Kentucky and continues south to the Tennessee state line and is a designated scenic byway much of the way. 

And the clear highlight in Tennessee and Arkansas is the trail that connects the two states by way of the Harahan 

Bridge. The “Big River Crossing” trail is the first permanent bike path across the Lower Mississippi River, and 

it affords a stunning view from straight down the middle.

In Mississippi, a highlight ride takes on you an 18-mile loop past fields, river overlooks and Civil War battle 

sites within the Vicksburg National Military Park. And in Louisiana, focus on cities including Baton Rouge, site 

of a beautiful river trail, and New Orleans. There, the trail runs across the main river levee for more than 20 

miles and New Orleans itself offers a host of fun bicycling tours including night rides on cycles that glow. —K.S.

OUR MISSISSIPPI TRAVEL

KIDS’ PAGE, BICYCLING: ADOBE STOCK. EXHIBIT AND EAGLE: U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.

Need an eagle fix?

Check out a Corps 

north Mississippi lake

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) 

Vicksburg District recently held its annual 

mid-winter bald eagle surveys at its north 

Mississippi lakes in January. A total of 50 

eagles, along with other species, were counted 

across Arkabutla, Sardis, Enid and Grenada 

lakes in the annual mid-winter bald eagle 

survey at these north Mississippi lakes. Many 

Corps lake projects participate in January 

surveys to monitor the status of bald eagle 

wintering populations in the contiguous 

United States. Several hundred personnel 

counted the eagles along standard, non-overlapping survey routes, and this year’s national 

count determined that populations nationwide have quadrupled in just over 10 years. 

The Mississippi lakes offer ideal habitats 

for bald eagles, including abundant food 

sources and nesting areas. Resident populations can be found year-round, but visitors are 

encouraged to view the birds from a respectful distance and reminded not to disturb 

them.—K.S.

FOR MORE INFORMATION 

Arkabutla Field Office: 662-562-6261

Sardis Lake Field Office: 662-563-4531

Enid Lake Field Office: 662-563-4571

Grenada Lake Field Office: 662-226-5911

River exhibit lives on

The “Mighty Mississippi” exhibit at the Missouri History 

Museum comes to a close in early June. But the exhibits about 

the rich history and cultural impacts of the Mississippi River 

will remain accessible to the public thanks to a partnership 

agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Digital and hard-copy infographics from the exhibit will be 

used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for public display in 

temporary visitor center exhibits, educational programs, outreach events, and on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers social 

media platforms.

“Education on the significance of the Mississippi River and 

how we can all be environmental stewards is at the heart of the Mighty Mississippi exhibit,” said Katherine Van Allen, 

Managing Director of Museum Services for the Missouri History Museum.

By ‘recycling’ some of the exhibit’s most popular displays, the Missouri History Museum and U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers are both practicing the sustainability spirit of recycle-re-use while simultaneously launching an important partnership focused on the river’s environmental restoration needs through a joint public education effort, 

says Col. Kevin Golinghorst, commander of the Corps’ St. Louis District.

The exhibit examines the role of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in shaping the river in the Confluence Area 

in which the St. Louis region sits. Some of the many video interviews featured in the exhibit explores the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers’ reestablishment of lost riparian habitat in the river’s floodplains. One of the more than 200 

artifacts on display in the current exhibit is also the pilothouse of the steamer Golden Eagle, the last wood hulled 

packet boat on the Mississippi River. The pilothouse is one of the largest artifacts in the Missouri Historical Society 

Collections and was salvaged from the sunken Golden Eagle in 1947 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

Our Mississippi · Spring 2021 11
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Contributors this issue:

EDITOR/

LEAD WRITER

Kim Schneider

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Diane Kolak

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Insiyaa Ahmed

Michael Andre 

Billeaudeaux 

Debra Dietzman

Jenny Peters

Richard Stoff

Mailing list changes:

Kevin Bluhm, 651-290-5247

To read online:

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

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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

Caleb Smith, 16, owner of 22-acre Peacebunny Island 

on the Mississippi River, founder Peacebunny Island’s 

Inc. therapy program with rare breed rabbits, and author 

of “Peacebunny Island: The Remarkable Journey of 

Rescue Rabbits, the Boy Who Saves Them and What 

They Can Teach Us About Hope and Kindness”

“The whole business originated from a Shark Tank-like pitch to my 

parents when I was eight. There were 362 rabbits on Craigslist after 

Easter in the Twin Cities, and I wanted to prevent the abandonment 

cycle. I started a foster program and did education with rabbits so 

people could get their ‘bunny fix.’ Things evolved. Eventually I had 

the idea of getting an island. I thought, ‘This would be great. Rabbits 

won’t swim off and land predators won’t get on. It could be a place 

where we could train them.’

“I had to raise funds, so I started pulling out business cards and 

found an investor, and I pay a mortgage by going to many different 

events and now through royalties for my book. For a biodiversity class, for example, we’ll bring between eight 

and 14 rabbits, all different breeds, and have people interact with them. As we get into middle school age we 

talk genetics and reproduction. We go into Senior Centers and memory care facilities and get people thinking 

about their childhoods and what they remember about rabbits.

“Another idea started from seeing comfort dogs in action at Sandy Hook, seeing the power of presence. I 

thought, ‘I have rabbits. If we trained them, they could do the same things too.’ It was adding one more layer. 

A couple of months ago, I went to a child’s funeral and brought the rabbits. The child had a lot of brothers and 

sisters and cousins, and the rabbits met them each where they were in their grief, just listening and snuggling.

“On my five Minnesota islands in the Mississippi River is where most of the training has happened, training 

the rescue rabbits we have and the Kinderbunnies; they’re eight weeks old, weaned but not full-grown yet rare 

breeds. It’s a super cool rustic island where there are no structures. It’s just another place for them to go and 

adventure; the benefit of the island is if they hop down, they aren’t going to go anywhere, so we can just let 

them play rather than chase.

“To me, My Mississippi is home, a place to relax, this calming spot for me, my friends and the rabbits. It’s a 

place where we can explore and venture and learn, be a kid and run around and just be.” —K.S.

MORE

Peacebunny

Island.com

Caleb Smith holds one 

of his many exotic bunnies trained as comfort 

animals. His new book 

will support the work.

My MISSISSIPPI

PHOTOS COURTESY CALEB SMITH.