Carterville FRO Project Leader Rob Simmonds recently attended the first summit for the Middle Mississippi River Partnership (MMRP).  The summit drew over 150 people from a variety of groups, agencies, and the public to the town of Chester, Illinois, the "home" of Popeye. 

The MMRP is a collaboration of federal and state agencies and not-for-profit organizations working to restore and enhance the natural resources of this corridor through public and private resource management, compatible economic development, private lands conservation, and education and outreach to the citizens of the region.

The purpose of the summit was to focus on opportunities to address conservation needs, recreation, education, agriculture, transportation, and economic development. 

The summit was followed up by an annual meeting of the MMRP where a number of business items were discussed and progress was made on continuing to move the partnership forward.  A major topic of discussion was receipt of a large grant from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete collaborative resource planning for the area. 

A number of planning efforts are already underway and these funds will help to pull them together and potentially provide for a number of other creative efforts to help focus restoration efforts into areas where they are most likely to succeed. An example of this might be detailed GIS mapping of the area - surface and subsurface - that would identify historic river conditions so that future restoration efforts are in harmony with what the floodplain has to offer. 

This was Carterville FRO’s first involvement with the Partnership.