8092

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8092
• Author: U.S. Department of the Interior.
• Title: Proceedings of the Symposium on Restoration Planning for the Rivers of the Mississippi River Ecosystem.
• USFW Year: 1993.
• USFW - Doc Type: Washington, D.C.
• Copyright Material: NO

Introduction to the Symposium "Restoration Planning for the
Rivers of the Mississippi River Ecosystem" and to MICRA

by

Stan Moberly

Northwest Manne Technology, Inc.
Shaw Island, Washington 98286

and

Wes Sheets

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Box 30370
Lincoln, Nebraska 68503

We wish that the record were better concerning
how rivers have fared in the face of water resource
developments and that the future were brighter;
however, progress has been made. Fisheries sci-
entists and managers are developing new partner-
ships and are more assertive in their respective
roles. Aquatic resources in North America are not
in very good shape when one views the condition
of water quality, riparian habitat, and fisheries,
which will be discussed during the symposium.
Riparian habitats are among the world's richest
ecosystems. In fact, one might say that the quality
of human life is revealed by the condition of rivers
and streams, and as such they have become an
important litmus test for the quality of life. The
life blood of these aquatic and riparian ecosystems
is the water that flows through them. Also, this
liquid, with its load of nutrients, exits the water-
shed and becomes the life blood for estuaries and
the breeding and nursery habitats critical for
many marine fisheries.
River ecosystems are exceedingly complex, and
people have managed to "mess them up." Although,
North American rivers are generally in better con-
dition than those in Europe and the former Soviet
Union, there is no pride to be found in our treatment
of rivers. However, there are great river systems in
the world that are not yet "broken," but plans are
underway to change them as this conference meets.

Our neighbors in the South American countries of
Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, and Bolivia
share the 3,200-km river system of the Parana and
Paraguay rivers, which flow from the "empty lands"
of Bolivia and Brazil, through Paraguay and Argen-
tina, and empty into the South Atlantic Ocean
between Uruguay and Argentina. To make these
waters navigable all months of the year, these five
countries are planning to dredge, levee, and build
ports along the system. Planners expect that these
changes will transform this great river system into
a year-round commercial waterway that will rival
the development on the Mississippi River system.
The governments of these five South American
countries intend that large tracts of undeveloped
land in northern Paraguay and south-central Bra-
zil be opened to farming and commerce by trans-
forming their rivers into commercial waterways.
We must share our experiences with them.
Generally, we have used our rivers in North
America for just about everything one could think
to haul up, float down, pump out, and dump in.
Our coastal waters receive billions of cubic meters
of municipal effluent and millions of cubic meters
of industrial wastewater each year. The quality of
most of this water does not meet current water
standards for use by humans and wildlife.
Riparian habitats were never plentiful in North
America. In the 48 contiguous states of the United

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