How do you spell cooperation? RRAT!  

This arch-shaped structure, called a chevron serves navigation by directing the rivers energy into the channel to scour its bottom. At the same time it diverts energy to maintain a side channel and protects the upstream end of a nearby island. Finally, careful examination of the left end of the structure will reveal fishermen, attracted to the deep hole and trailing sand bar that has built up downstream of the structure. (Photos by Alan Dooley)

Art Lippoldt, left, a member of The American Land Conservancys (ALC) Board of Directors listens as the ALCs Mississippi River Program Director Jenny Frazier, center, and Craig Uyeda from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission engage in an animated conversation during the St. Louis Districts RRAT barge trip. (Photo by Alan Dooley)

RRAT participants observed larval sturgeon taken during sampling of young fish populations on the Mississippi River. (Photo by Alan Dooley)

Dec. 22, 2008

By Alan Dooley
St. Louis District

Each summer, the River Resources Action Team (RRAT) quietly meets on the Mississippi River, in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District's stretch of the river. 

This year the group met for two days, moving downriver from the northernmost extent of the District, just below Lock and Dam 22 at Saverton, Mo., to the Corps' service base in St. Louis.  Next year they will start in St. Louis and travel to the end of St. Louis' area of responsibility, almost 200 miles away, at the confluence with the Ohio River. Then they will return to the northern half of the District a third year.  And so on.

During the journey, about 50 representatives of the Corps, other federal agencies, state agencies from both sides of the Mississippi River and non-governmental organizations like The Nature Conservancy and the American Land Conservancy, along with the occasional news reporter, focused their attention on the state of the Mississippi River and its future.

This year, as in many recent years, the journey was made via Barge 53, a flat barge with a weather cover at one end, pushed by a Corps tow boat.

"It wasn't always an endeavor this size," said Claude Strauser, a retired river engineer who made the trip again this year.  "The first time we did this was in June of 1972.  It involved about six people who went out onto the river to view results of our first attempt to modify traditional river engineering structures to accommodate environmental goals.  We went to see how a series of dikes that were notched to create islands were performing," Strauser recalled.

On that occasion, someone commented that it was valuable to get out of the office to be able to focus on the river.  On the return trip the discussion drifted to how this might be a good thing to do again.

And the "Annual Mississippi River Coordination Trip" was born.  But that name didn't really lend itself to a catchy, easily-remembered acronym, so eventually the RRAT emerged.

During the trip there's a lively interchange and exchange of information between many agencies and groups that at best had ignored each other and at worst opposed each other.

"In the early years we did a lot of scowling at each other, but that takes more muscles than smiling; finally we gradually broke down and agreed to see if we had any goals in common," retired Corps veteran Strauser said.

"Today, while we may not start everything together, we are all honestly determined to seek what we refer to as 'and' answers to challenges," Strauser said.

"We want to identify ideas that will make navigation safer and more efficient, avoid causing problems for water users and provide environmental benefits," Strauser said.

"We definitely don't want to find 'or' answers.  If we define an answer that will do one thing 'or' another, then we are picking a winner and appointing a loser," he said.

In the course of RRAT trips, discussion topics cover a gamut of concerns.  This year for example, they included: proposed fish passages at Locks and Dams 22 and Mel Price, an update of the Navigation Ecosystem Sustainability Program, dredged material placement, the Mississippi River Water Trail and the status of levee repairs following the floods of 2008.  Rather than simply something for everyone, there was a lot of things for a lot of people.

The agenda, distributed in advance, allows for instant interjection of passing sights.

"There!  Those are Asian Carp.  There's a whole school of them."

"If you look to the right, that's where the levee at Winfield, Mo., was overtopped and breached this summer," another person announced as the barge passed.

Brian Johnson, who headed this year's program for St. Louis District, told of the many unforeseen benefits of such gatherings.

"It is amazing to bring people together who are separated by geographic boundaries and agencies that may not have had a history of working with each other.  The sense of partnership that arises is really remarkable," Johnson said.

"A lot of times we suddenly realize that we have common or complementary interests.  One group may want to get rid of water while a neighboring interest desperately wants water.  You see it now in our PL-84-99 levee repair work.  We are working hard to repair the damaged levees but also striving to find ways to improve the environment at the same time," he said. 

Johnson, the ecosystem restoration business line manager , says he never ceases to be amazed what people can achieve if they collaborate without concern for who gets credit or whose name will be attached to a project.

Business line managers are a relatively new entity in the Corps.  They seek to bridge areas of interest, such as planning, engineering, environmental, contracting and resource management to make things happen.

"You have to be willing to be truly collaborative and understand that success comes from getting projects on the ground that improve habitat and the environment.  No single agency or individual can make it happen alone," Johnson said, discussing the recent success of more than 20 agencies working together on a watershed planning study aimed at improving the middle Mississippi River.      

A key element of success of the RRAT trip is a willingness to give anyone the floor to present their ideas.  Questions are asked in an unfettered environment.  Nobody seeks gain over other participants.

Craig Uyeda from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission was onboard for this year's trip. 

"We have held cooperative meetings of this type in Arkansas, but this takes it to a whole new level. I'm going to take some of these ideas back and see if we can form a group like this."

Another representative told how important it is to openly share plans and propose solutions, such as was being done on the trip.  He admitted that failure to do so had subjected his agency to criticism and court intervention at several junctures in recent years.

Another key to the success of the RRAT trips seems to be their somewhat primitive nature.  For example, the participants are largely exposed to the weather, at the mercy of Mother Nature.

The forward part of the barge is covered with an open shelter, similar to a carport.  The RRAT trip normally takes place in July, and the cover provides relief from the sun.  But this year, due to flooding on the Mississippi River, the trip was delayed until September.

St. Louis District river engineer Leonard Hopkins said, "One year we borrowed the enclosed barge from the Vicksburg District.  It was fully enclosed, with wonderful panoramic windows, air conditioning and flush toilets.  But when we were finished, everyone said they hated it.  They felt cut off from the river, its sounds, its smells, the wind.  So we've been outside ever since."

The environment is changing.  In the early days, participants were cut off from the rest of the world once the barge pulled away from the shore.  Today, cell phones and BlackBerries have several people wandering away to make calls or reply to e-mails.  But the serenity of the journey, where the pace is dictated largely by the scenery and the discussion topics pull most of them back into the group during carefully interjected breaks.

"You have to plan carefully," said trip coordinator Dawn Lamm, St. Louis District.  "There are meals, overnight accommodations, pick ups and drop offs to be arranged, lunches on the river and a steady stream of snacks and beverages to be planned and provided," she said.

But in the end, the ability of the barge to be slowed to discuss a specific site, or to hurry down the river, or to take a short side trip up the Illinois River because they are ahead of schedule, is what makes the event move forward without feeling pushed.

Every RRAT trip ends with a 'hot wash,' or After Action Review.  "What went right?  What went wrong?  What can we do better?" Brian Johnson asked.  "Next year we will go from St. Louis to the Ohio River," he reminded the group.  "If you have any ideas how to make the trip better we would love to hear them."

As RRAT 2008 participants reached St. Louis, they helped each other carry heavy luggage up the 40 steps from the river bank.  Many had made the RRAT trip together several times before, some  for years.  For some, though, it was their first trip.

But for all, RRAT spelled 'cooperation,' and they had become a talkative, sharing, collegial family.  Hand shakes, hugs and looks back to the river are final gestures for the year.   

Most will be back when Barge 53 sets sail next year from St. Louis.  The Mississippi River is, simultaneously, ever-changing and changeless.  For two days the RRAT group was part of it, and the feeling lingers long after the trip ends.

So do the results.