Endangered Mississippi

I love the Mississippi River.

All things about it.

Read my post from last July to find out why:

http://matthonnold.blogspot.com/2013/07/m-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i.html

This week, news broke that the Mississippi is now the 3rd most endangered river in the U.S.:

http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/mississippi-river-ranked-third-most-endangered-country

What's that mean -- "endangered" ?

Is it going dry?

Is it getting polluted beyond what's manageable?

Is it being overrun by those whacked-out flying fish?

(see http://matthonnold.blogspot.com/2014/04/asian-destructo-hell-carp.html)

No, this has to do with man trying to control nature.  Which man almost always loses.

A detailed explanation of what's going on  can be read here:

http://www.americanrivers.org/endangered-rivers/2014-report/middle-mississippi/

High level summary:

The Mississippi River, one of the hallmarks of American landscape, is no longer the expansive, grand river it once was. Decades of constructing levees, dams and other systems for managing floods have whittled it down to a series of pools, dramatically altering its ecosystem. 

Proper management of the amazingly powerful tool/resource that we affectionately call "Old Man River" is key.

Having the government (Corps of Engineers) in charge of that management.... worries me.

Out for now.....

Matt