![Pike Island at Fort Snelling State Park in Minnesota, looking west. The Mississippi River is on the right, the Minnesota River is on the left. Photographer Brett Whaley.](https://i0.wp.com/openrivers.lib.umn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/10109274374_455f7ec5c5_o_flickr_brettwhaley_pikeisland.jpg?fit=330%2C220&ssl=1)
Introduction to Issue Seven
Almost everyone has some experience with open space and with “heritage,” perhaps through visiting historic sites, or through family trips to that place “where Grandma always used to go as a girl.” Water, of course, is intimately connected to all of our most cherished open spaces and heritage places, whether the connection is evident in the landscape or not.