PROJECTS
Restoring America’s Greatest River Initiative
This initiative focuses on implementing aquatic habitat restoration and river-access improvement projects. To date, 30 aquatic habitat projects have been completed and water flow has been restored to more than 100 miles of side channels.
Lower Mississippi River Batture Reforestation Project
Monetary incentives are offered to landowners in the lower Mississippi River floodplain in order to reforest cleared land. These funds are available through the Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP). The project began in 2012 and has enrolled more than 23,000 acres thus far.
Lower Mississippi River Basin Asian Carp Management and Control
This initiative focuses on ways to control and manage non-native, invasive Asian carp (Silver Carp, Bighead Carp, Black Carp and Grass Carp) in the Lower Mississippi River Basin and its major tributaries and their watersheds, including the Arkansas River, Red River, White River, St. Francis River, Yazoo River, Obion River, Big Black River and Hatchie River.
Fishing the Lower Mississippi River
The guide is available as a PDF (with clickable links) and covers topics related to fishing freshwater habitats of the Lower Mississippi River main channel, side channels, floodplain lakes and chutes from Cairo, Illinois, to the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana.
Lower Mississippi River Resource Assessment
This assessment examined the types of information necessary for river-related management; the needs of natural habitats and the species they support; and the need for more river-related recreation and public access. The final study was presented to Congress in 2016.
Lower Mississippi River Economic Profile
The Lower Mississippi River and its associated natural resources generate $151.7 billion in annual revenue and provide 585,000 jobs, according to a new profile produced for the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee.
RECENT NEWS
Pallid Sturgeon: Living Dinosaur at Home in Lower Mississippi
Ancestors of the endangered Pallid Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) coexisted with dinosaurs millions of years ago. Fossil sturgeon specimens from North America are believed to be nearly 80 million years old. Despite this ancient lineage, biologists are just now unlocking some of the mysteries of this ancient species on the Lower Mississippi River. Through increased monitoring…
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River Shrimp: Long-Armed, Long-Distance Traveler
Jan Jeffrey HooverUS Army Engineer Research and Development CenterVicksburg, MS Shrimp are typically thought of as marine animals, characteristic of Gulf waters, but there are also species inhabiting the fresh waters of the Mississippi River. The largest of these (60-100 mm) is the Ohio River shrimp, or simply “river shrimp” (Macrobrachium ohione). Like its saltwater relatives,…
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Endangered Fat Pocketbook Mussel Found Along the Lower Mississippi River
The endangered Fat Pocketbook mussel is one of three priority species listed in a Strategic Habitat Conservation Plan for the Lower Mississippi River. Although it was listed as federally endangered in 1976, and at that time known only from the St. Francis River system in Arkansas, it was first found in the main channel of the lower…
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The Paddlefish: Primitive Fish Inspiring Future Technology
Jan Jeffrey Hoover and Edward J. PerkinsEnvironmental LaboratoryUS Army Engineer Research and Development CenterVicksburg, MS The North American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) is a primitive species with an unusually sophisticated multi-purpose tool: its snout. Common in the lower Mississippi River basin, it is harvested for its eggs which provide gourmets with caviar rivaling that of related…
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