Initiated by Resolution

The Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee was initiated by a 1990 resolution of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Fisheries Society. The resolution called on the states of Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee to consider creating an inter-agency committee to develop a cooperative approach for managing the fisheries and recreational resources of the Lower Mississippi River. Interest in a coordinating body had been growing for some time and the idea quickly took hold.

First Annual Meeting

Representatives of 12 state natural resources conservation and environmental quality agencies eventually joined the committee, which held its first annual meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1994. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service committed to providing a full-time coordinator, and other agencies, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, signed on as formal cooperators.

The LMRCC Today

LMRCC staff, member agencies, partners and cooperators have been working for more than 25 years, developing detailed habitat restoration plans, implementing restoration projects and promoting coordinated management of the lower river. Today, the LMRCC remains the only organization dedicated to addressing shared natural resources and water quality needs and concerns along the Lower Mississippi River.