2015 aerial surveys show Wisconsin's eagle population soars to new record, Photo courtesy of Michele Woodford.

2015 Aerial Surveys Show Wisconsin’s Eagle Population Soars to New Record

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced recently that eagle surveys show a very strong resurgence of nesting pairs. Eagles have recolonized almost every county in the state and, in some areas, have appeared to be near a population maximum. In the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, where the Mississippi River corridor is designated as the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, rebounding eagle populations have been documented through several years’ of intensive survey and scientific measurement. The soaring eagle population is widely understood as a strong indicator of better water quality in the river.

Bdote Field Trip, Minnesota Humanities Center

What We Talk About When We Talk About Place

“Place” is central to much of the important work that happens on or around rivers, yet the term is one of the most commonly used and least thought-about words we know. Shanai Matteson has recently written from her perspective as part of the public/community arts collaborative Works Progress about place, about the vexed and rewarding relationships to and with places, about language, and about the complexities of being fully “here.”

A view of St. Paul, with the Wabasha Bridge over the Mississippi River in the foreground. At left is Harriet Island Regional Park and at top right is the Smith Avenue High Bridge. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

St. Paul Mayor, Others Set Clean Mississippi River goals

Mayors from the United States, including several associated with the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, were in Paris for the deliberations at COP21. As Mayor of St. Paul Chris Coleman wrote before the trip, “the stakes [connecting climate change to river health] could not be higher”. In Paris, the mayors from the Mississippi River valley found common cause with mayors from other river cities across the world, arguing that river basins merited increased attention as food-producing regions supporting billions of people worldwide.