Project Leader Rob Simmonds participated in an annual boat trip down the Mississippi River in the St. Louis District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). 

The trip allowed members of RRAT (River Resources Action Team) to see river issues first-hand and to discuss both navigation and restoration projects and issues.  

RRAT includes representatives from state and federal agencies who regularly gather to work in partnership to creatively address navigation and natural resources issues.  It not only brings together different agencies, but also different disciplines within those agencies. 

It presents an opportunity for engineers, biologists, and others to work collectively to come up with solutions.  These types of interactions have been successful in developing innovative solutions that have met navigation needs and improved habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms (e.g., bendway weirs -www.mvs.usace.army.mil/engr/ed/river/Bendway/bw00.htm)