Big Muddy Speaker Series

Presentation by Brad Walker, Missouri Coalition for the Environment

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

4:30 p.m. Free Paddle trip with Big Muddy Adventures! (Last of the year! Details below)
6. p.m. Meet at Big A’s Restaurant
6:30 p.m. Presentation
At Big A’s Restaurant
308 N Main St. –  St Charles, MO
(directions below)

Presentation is FREE and open to the public!

Restoration efforts along the Missouri River, which gained steam in response to the 1993 flood 21 years ago, have recently run into political pressures in the wake of the 2011 flood. Restrictions in funding to restoration efforts have slowed down the public purchase of vulnerable lands from willing sellers, which has been the main tool for creating restoration opportunities.

Brad Walker, Rivers Director at the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, says that management of the Missouri River has largely been driven by the local needs of floodplain agriculture and the transportation needs of navigation. Brad will discuss the damaging relationships between agriculture and navigation on our major rivers and the limited efforts to fix them.

The current Missouri River restoration plan of Congress and the Corps of Engineers, if completed, would span over 60 years and result in restoring only a third of the lost ecosystems area. Mr. Walker will present on the 4 part-series he wrote recently to open up a bigger conversation on generating and implementing ideas to improve the current marginal river restoration efforts on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.

Free Paddle Trip with Big Muddy Adventures!

Join expert Missouri River guide Mike Clark of Big Muddy Adventures before the presentation for a up and downstream paddle through downtown St. Charles on the Junebug canoe. Space is limited – PLEASE REGISTER on the Greenway Network website.

Here’s the link to register – fill out your name and the month you want to join the paddle trip: http://www.greenwaynetwork.org/get-involved/big-muddy-paddler-registration.php .

It will be chilly (current high of 35 forecast). And the sun will set while we’re out there.

This opportunity brought to you by the generosity of Greenway Network and Big Muddy Adventures.

Meet by the river behind Big A’s at 4:30. You’ll be back by 6 p.m.

Directions

To Big A’s on the Riverfront, our host for the Speaker Series.

To get there from I-70

• Take I-70 to exit 229B – the 5th St. Exit
• Merge onto 5th St. headed north toward St. Charles.
• After about 1 mile, turn right on Monroe St.
• Turn left onto N. Main St.
• Big A’s will be on your right (308 N. Main St.) Additional parking is available in the rear.
• View on Google Maps.