Big Muddy Speaker Series presents:

Original Presentation- “One River – One Problem”- by Tony Messenger, columnist at St. Louis Post-Dispatch

August 8, 2012

The Great Flood of 2011 changed the way citizens and leaders look at how we live with the Missouri River. When the flooding began, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a series of articles titled “One River, One Problem” calling for states, tribes and stakeholders to come together and develop a sensible plan for management of the Missouri River.

St. Louis Post Dispatch columnist Tony Messenger joined us to discuss his ideas for what needs to happen along the river, what positive steps and missteps politicians are already making on this and why this is important to Missourians. The three main goals outlined in the articles are: creating more room in the floodplain to let the river roam during extreme events, as outlined in the original Flood Control Act of 1944; increasing flood storage capacity in the reservoir system; and reducing development encroachment on the floodplain.

A special thank you to Greg Poleski of Greenway Network for making this happen in St. Charles!

Before the presentation, folks had an opportunity to hop on the Big Junebug canoe with Mike Clark from Big Muddy Adventures for a short paddle through downtown St. Charles.