Since the dawn of the steamboat era in the early 1800's, the character of the Middle Mississippi River has been greatly modified to serve the needs of man. In an effort to improve the safety and efficiency of the river for transporting people and products, many of the natural habitats such as side channels, sand bars and backwater lakes were engineered out of existence.
A century of dike construction that re-directed flow from secondary channels to the main navigation channel has resulted in the sedimentation and conversion to agriculture of many former wetland habitats.
Man-made features such as levees, dikes and rock-armored banks
preclude natural river functions.
Through new partnerships beween industry, transportation and conservation groups, creative ways of managing river features have been adopted to benefit wildlife. Innovative methods like the micro-modleing process (where a miniature model of a river is created in a laboratory setting) are being used by progressive river managers to design river features that will benefit wildlife while enhancing navigation.
Although much work still remains, substantial progress and understanding have been achieved already. Staff from the Mark Twain and Middle Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuges work closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other river managers to plan projects that will benefit wildlife while still allowing the river to work for people, too.
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