Loading....
Our Mississippi River is vital to our nation's environmental and economic health. It provides drinking water to more than 20 million people in 50 cities, is an essential migration corridor for 60 percent of all North American birds, and is the heart of a $500 billion-a-year natural resource and recreation-based economy employing more than 1.5 million Americans.
The river is also in a state of severe decline. It’s time to create a federal program to restore America’s River, as we have with other treasured and critically important waterways — the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, and the Everglades. In fact, we can't afford not to.
Join IEC, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. on April 23, to learn about the Mississippi Resilience and Restoration Initiative (MRRRI). Modeled on the successful Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, MRRRI would create the framework and focus we need to reverse the decline of America’s River. With public input, MRRRI federal funding would:
• Improve water quality
• Reduce flood and storm risks and increase community resilience
• Protect and restore wildlife habitat
MRRRI would leverage existing federal and state programs to both preserve and create economic opportunities and support restoration projects in mainstem river states while prioritizing our most at-risk communities.
IEC will be joined by Maisah Khan with the Mississippi River Network and Trevor Russell with Friends of the Mississippi River to discuss the benefits a federal Mississippi River program would provide from headwaters to Gulf, including right here in Iowa.
Zoom login info will be sent when you register. Questions? Contact Alicia Vasto, IEC Water Policy and Advocacy Specialist at vasto@iaenvironment.org.