Service staff and partners worked with the Natural Resource Conservation Service, who organized an event, to commemorate the 37^th Earth Day, at Whitewater State Park in the Driftless Area of Minnesota. 

The La Crosse FRO staffed a booth highlighting the Midwest Driftless Area Restoration Effort that is part of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan .  The same poster displayed on the Partnership will be used later this month at the Casting Call in Washington, D.C., an outdoor event on the Potomac River to educate Congress, partners, and stakeholders on this national program designed to protect, restore, and enhance our national aquatic systems.

More than 200 people attended the Earth Day event that drew attention to the collaborative four-state effort to unite organizations, communities, and individuals within the Driftless area of the Upper Mississippi River Basin. 

The Driftless Area encompasses nearly 24,000-square miles of the Upper Mississippi River Basin in parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. 

 The absence of glacial disturbance and associated glacial drift deposits lends the region its name and contributes to its unique character.  The rugged hills and steep topography drain to streams and rivers before emptying into the Upper Mississippi River. 

Although this region has a high ecological value and restoration potential, it is also a major source of pollutants to the Lower Mississippi River and the northern Gulf of Mexico.  

Christina Muedeking, Regional Assistant Chief for USGS, signed a symbolic check for $1.3 million for the Driftless Area.  Minnesota Congressman Tim Walz and Brad Pfaff, from Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind’s office, joined in the festivities.  

There were also numerous exhibits and environmental learning stations like mist netting birds, trout and stream invertebrates, grass planting, and Angel, a rehabilitated bald eagle.

The overriding message of the event was that we can make the Earth and the Driftless Area a better place by working together on the ground!