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From its headwaters in northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River Basin Alliance has the river covered. This collaboration of 134 environmental, outdoor, farm, commercial fishing, and civil rights groups is bringing people together to save the Mississippi. To that end, it distributes daily dispatches on river pollution, Corps of Engineers projects, and conservation activities. In a typical month, it may host meetings where Louisiana fishermen and Corn Belt farmers talk about diminishing farm runoff; where conservation groups coordinate their strategy to improve Corps of Engineers projects; or where Memphis environmentalists learn how their community's issues connect with others up and down the Mississippi. The alliance plans to continue coordinating opposition to expansion of the Upper Mississippi's locks, to develop policies to reduce runoff polluting the Gulf, and to encourage more riverside greenways.
Outside magazine called the alliance one of the U.S.'s hottest emerging environmental organizations. But, as the magazine pointed out, taking care of a 2,470-mile river is a huge effort. In that regard, the alliance faces a major shortcoming: With a staff of only five, it's limited in what it can accomplish. When it often succeeds, however, it sparks important river initiatives, including St. Louis's Confluence Greenway. A big river needs big-picture thinking, joint strategies, networking, and a basinwide perspective on river issues—and when it comes to the Mississippi, no other organization does it in quite the same way.
Institute for Conservation Leadership
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| Mississippi River Basin Alliance |
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| Location: |
Minneapolis |
| Grant: $300,000 over 2 years |
| Grant year |
2000 |
| www.mrba.org |
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