National Great Rivers Museum complex shares river story

National Great Rivers Museum celebrating 10 Years

Ten years ago this October, the National Great Rivers Museum in Alton, Ill., opened to tell the story of the Mississippi River—its history, its wildlife, and the complexity of balancing the river’s many uses.

This river-side museum is adjacent to the river’s largest lock and dam, the Melvin Price Locks and Dam complex and across the river from a massive wildlife refuge that’s also managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers St. Louis District. The museum offers an unusual opportunity to learn about how humans relate to the river while actually doing that very thing.

Particularly popular is the chance to view wildlife— the hundreds to thousands of trumpeter swans, eagles and nesting white pelicans that frequent the Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary in West Alton, Mo. The complex of 3,700 acres of marshes, bays, interpretive opportunities and viewing celebrates its 25^th  anniversary this year, while the museum celebrates its 10th.

Over the years, people have flocked
 here, and so has wildlife, bringing even
 more people. Tens of thousands (of both) visit each year, with human visitation growing with new opportunities like the on-premises Audubon Center at Riverlands. More than 80,000 people visited the museum alone in 2012, and 4.1 million to the rivers project office grounds—48 percent of those say “sightseeing” was the reason for their visit.

The partnership allows the Audubon staff to focus
 on bird education and conservation, and the Corps staff to focus on connecting people to the river, says Charlie Deutsch, supervisory wildlife biologist at the Corps’ River Project office. The agency’s multiple missions are also on display—never more clearly than from the tour that lets you walk atop the dam, 80 feet above the river, and see the distant miles of restored wetlands and prairies. The Corps has even created wildlife habitat for endangered terns atop repurposed barges.

Inside the museum, visitors get a close-up look at some of the river’s more common and unusual fish, listen to bird calls and drive a towboat through a
simulated river experience.

Also on display, and covered in regular tours, is information on how soil is made and erodes and how river models help scientists make important decisions affecting the river. At one station, visitors can estimate how much fresh water their household uses a day and at another visitors can learn of ways the Corps seeks to help protect the region from acts of nature like flooding.

For more visit: Our Mississippi

Carlyle Lake trail receives National Recreation Trails designation

All ages can enjoy the Carlyle Lake Multi-Purpose Trail.
The trail was recently designated national recreation
trails by the U.S. Department of the Interior for 2012.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced, June 18, that the Carlyle Lake Multi-Use Trail is one of five Corps recreation trails that have been designated national recreation trails by the U.S. Department of the Interior for 2012. Carlyle’s trail will join eight other St. Louis District trails already on the national network of 1,150 designated trails, encompassing more than 13,650 miles of existing trails and trail systems.

National recreation trail designation recognizes those trails that link communities to recreational opportunities on public lands and in local parks across the nation. The first national trails were established in the early 1970s.

The Carlyle Lake trail is a successful partnership between the city of Carlyle and the Corps. The 10.3-mile multi-use trail system connects the city of Carlyle to Carlyle Lake and passes through numerous recreation areas and diverse, scenic wildlife habitat ranging from lake, forest, agricultural fields, restored prairie and wetland areas. Visitors also pass along historical and interpretive points of interest including the Carlyle Lake Dam, the General Dean Suspension Bridge (listed on the National Register of Historic Places), and the Goshen Trail. The trail will receive a certificate of designation, a letter of congratulations from the Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, and national recreation trail markers.

Eight trails at St. Louis District recreation areas have already received this designation and enjoyed daily by visitors.

Lake Shelbyville:

Camp Camfield Nature Trail

Kaskaskia River Navigation Project:

Kaskaskia River Confluence Trail

Rend Lake:

Rend Lake Bike Trail

Wappapello Lake:

Johnson Tract Trail

Lost Creek Trail

Memory Lane

Ozark Trail

Pine Ridge

These trails continue to connect people with nature and the great outdoors as part of a healthier lifestyle, a core principle behind President Obama’s “America’s Great Outdoors” and first lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move Outside!” initiatives. The national recreation trail program is jointly administered by the National Park Service and the USDA Forest Service in conjunction with a number of other federal and nonprofit partners, notably American Trails, which hosts the national recreation trails website at http://www.americantrails.org/nationalrecreationtrails

As the nation’s largest federal provider of outdoor and water-based recreation, USACE’s more than 420 lake and river projects in 43 states provide more than 7,300 miles of diverse land and water trail systems. USACE officials credit the support of local public and private organizations and the thousands of volunteers annually in helping to make these trails available for public use.

For more information on USACE land and water trails and the many other recreation opportunities available at USACE sites, please visit http://corpslakes.usace.army.mil/visitors/

Federal partners take STEM opportunities to inner-city students, students to Carlyle Lake



Members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary discuss boating
 safety with students before taking them for a ride around
Carlyle Lake.



Thirty-four students from Madison Accelerated High School in Madison, Ill., traveled to Carlyle Lake May 8 to try their hand at fishing, canoeing, boating, and geocaching as a culmination to this year’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Outreach Program hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District and U.S. Coast Guard Sector Upper Mississippi River.

The 11th- and 12th-grade students also learned critical survival skills and the do’s and don’ts of exercise and fitness. For many of the students, the day marked their first time experiencing several of the events.

“The excitement the students brought to our STEM events this year has been amazing,” Brandon Hansen, USCG, said. “It was a great way to end the year with new and exciting activities for them.”



Students from Madison Accelerated High School canoe
at Carlyle Lake at the culmination of the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers and U.S. Coast Guard joint STEM outreach
program.



The students have participated in the joint outreach program for the last eight months, welcoming members from the Corps and Coast Guard into the classroom to lead hands-on activities that enhanced the science, engineering and math concepts specific to school’s geographic location.

Located in the Metro East, the school’s close proximity to the Mississippi River, the third largest watershed in the world, made the federal partnership’s mission dual-fold.

Partners on the river, the two organizations also worked to educate the students on the importance of sustaining the watershed and the navigation channel, which brings more than 58 million tons of cargo between Minneapolis-St. Paul and St. Louis every year.

Through the outreach program, the students had the opportunity to build and better understand structures such as levees, river training structures, watercraft and building designs, and understand the concepts of buoyancy, environmental stewardship, naval architecture and mechanical engineering. The students also toured the Coast Guard Aids to Navigation facility, response boats house, and the Corps’ Applied River Engineering Center and Melvin Price Lock and Dam.

Educating students in STEM-related concepts and career fields is a passion held by both the Corps and Coast Guard commanders.

 “As an engineer, I know how important science, technology, engineering and math are to the development of our country,” Col. Chris Hall, St. Louis District commander, said. “They are critical to our future.”

For more information or high resolution photos, contact Colin Fogarty with the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Upper Mississippi River or Mike Petersen of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.