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Protecting the Natural, Cultural, Scenic, Scientific and Recreational Values of the First 400 Miles of the Mississippi River Molly MacGregor The goal of this case study is to understand how the Mississippi Headwaters Board. a joint powers board of eight counties in north central Minnesota, has developed and delivered programs to achieve the mission statement of protecting the "natural, cultural, scenic, scientific and recreational values of the Mississippi River". We'll do this by examining the following issues in four presentations: 1. Reviewing how the Mississippi Headwaters Board (MHB) has fulfilled its obligation in Minnesota statute to identify the natural, cultural, scenic, scientific and recreational values of the first 400 miles of the Mississippi River, and now is working to use those values to evaluate its program of river protection through land use management. 2. Examining how water quality monitoring provides an ongoing assessment of the river's health. This assessment helps us to evaluate how well our slrategy of river protection by land management is working; to identify and remedy problems, and to build a working knowledge in the participants of the dynamics of river ecology and human impact. 3. Investigating recreational use of the river, by asking river users and property owners about their use of the river and the quality of that experience. The mandate to provide for management of recreational use stems from the MHB's empowering legislation in Minnesota statute. The concern for recreational management of the river also reflects the origins of the initiative to protect the Mississippi River through the National Wild and Scenic River act. The current research initiative is telling us who sues the river, how it is used and what we as river managers need to know to start evaluating and managing those uses. 4. Considering how a conflict developed regarding implementation of the MHB's fundamental river protection tool -- regulation of privately owned lands in the river corridor. The title of the first inquiry of this case study is "How We Learned to Identify the Natural, Cultural, Scenic, Scientific and Recreational Values of the First 400 Miles of the Mississippi River." The MHB's investigation of the river's values is mandated by its empowering legislation. The MHB has a very specific tool for implementing river protection --regulation of land use on privately-owned lands in a defined corridor adjacent to the first 400 miles of the Mississippi River. The challenge posed by the MHB's obligation to protect the river is broader than what can be achieved by prohibiting commercial development, managing foreslry or by placing a new structure 150 feet back from the river instead of 50 feet back. Zoning and land use are specific activities, defined by numbers, with specific process for implementation and review. When a zoning board is presented with a request for action, the process it must follow is set, and therefore, limited by law. What can be considered in making the decision is limited to the facts of the case itself. At present, zoning law does not provide directive to zoning boards on how to assess the positive or negative impact of a request for a new home, or a remodeled deck on the river. In short, there is a gap between the mission of the MHB -- protection of five values --and the tool given the MHB to achieve its mission -- regulation of land use. The challenge to the MHB, then, is to fulfill its mission to protect the natural, cultural, scenic, scientific and recreational values of the Mississippi River, develop a management plan for assuring how that mission will be reached and to evaluate ongoing river protection efforts, including administration of the land regulation program. Protection of a river requires first a recognition of the elements that give the river value to humans: . The river's natural setting, by which is meant the soils, landforms, plants and communities of plants, the animals, birds and insects, the river channel itself and the quality of the water;