The Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee (LMRCC) will launch a multi-year marketing campaign to promote restoration efforts of aquatic and wildlife habitat along the Mississippi River from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico.

LMRCC (www.lmrcc.org) is a nonprofit organization of state and federal wildlife and water quality agencies, private contributors and corporate sponsors formed to address the challenges of renewing and effectively managing the invaluable natural resources of the Lower Mississippi River.

"The health of the Mississippi River impacts nearly everyone in the United States," said Jim Wise, LMRCC Chairman. "Millions of people depend on the Mississippi and its tributaries for drinking water, agriculture, recreation, transportation and flood control. The River is also home to more than 150 species of fish and hundreds of species of plants and animals. Its health is directly related to the health and well being of everyone and everything that it touches."

LMRCC has selected Vision Creek Enterprises, a marketing and public relations firm based in

Oxford, Mississippi, to develop and implement the multi-media campaign. "We are delighted at the opportunity to work on a project that focuses on the Mississippi River," said John Weathersby, president of Vision Creek (www.visioncreek.com). "The Mississippi River is one of our nation’s most important natural resources and all efforts to restore and enhance its waters and habitat deserve our immediate attention."

The Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee (LMRCC) was chartered in 1994 under a constitution signed by 11 natural resource conservation and water quality agencies in Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee in conjunction with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Although numerous opportunities exist for restoring the aquatic resources of the Lower Mississippi River, no individual state has the management authority or funding to deal with natural resource problems that transcend state boundaries. This is partially due to the fact that the Mississippi River generally forms boundaries between states rather than flowing completely within them.

LMRCC’s mission is to promote the protection, restoration, enhancement, understanding, awareness and sustainable use of the natural and environmental resources of the Lower Mississippi River, through coordinated and cooperative efforts involving planning, management, information sharing, public education advocacy, and research. Region 4 of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides a full-time coordinator to the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee to ensure the existence of a permanent forum for facilitating regional activities involving the natural resources of the Lower Mississippi River.