Big Muddy Speaker Series

Presentation by Mark Van Patten, Stream Team Coordinator for St. Louis and Southeast Regions (MDC)

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

• 7 p.m. presentation
• lower floor of the Les Bourgeois Vineyards Bistro in Rocheport, MO
• Map and Directions

If you intend on coming early to purchase an amazing dinner at Les Bourgeois Bistro before the presentation, PLEASE call to make a reservation at: 573-698-2300 and…tell them you are with the Big Muddy Speaker Series!

Presentation is FREE and open to the public!

Missouri Stream Team celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2014. http://mostreamteam.org/

Like a lot of Missourians, Mark Van Patten spent a lot of time on, in and next to a favorite river. His heart belonged to the Roubidoux Creek in Pulaski County. As he became disturbed by the amounting of dumping and debris in his favorite river, Mark decided to do something about it. With his friends, the Roubidoux Fly Fishers, he organized a Roubidoux River Cleanup in 1988, removing 14.7 tons of debris in just a couple days. When he heard that the Conservation Federation of Missouri was beginning a new statewide river cleanup program for volunteers, Mark signed up as Missouri Stream Team #1.

Since those inspiring beginnings, the Missouri Stream Team program has exploded in numbers and in the diversity of work that is being done for Missouri waters. 25 years since its founding, there are now over 5,000 Missouri Stream Teams all over the state. Volunteers do water quality monitoring, stream health training, riparian restoration and tree planting, litter pickups and river access adoptions, storm drain stenciling, advocacy, education and much more. Missouri River Relief and Friends of Big Muddy, co-hosts of the Rocheport Big Muddy Speaker Series, are all member organizations of Missouri Stream Team.

The program has been a model for citizen water engagement in the country and receives major support from the Mo. Dept of Conservation and the Mo. Dept. of Natural Resources.

Mark Van Patten will join us to share his Missouri Stream Team story, and the stories of many of the amazing citizens that give their blood, sweat and tears to this amazing endeavor since its beginning 25 years ago.

Mark Van Patten

Mark Van Patten is as a Fisheries Management Biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation working as a Stream Team Biologist for the Southeast and St. Louis region in Missouri.  He coordinates the activities of Steam Team volunteers throughout his region empowering them to take an active stance in protecting and preserving the rivers and streams they love.  As a private citizen he founded the first Stream Team in Missouri in 1989. Mark earned his Bachelors in Biology from Lincoln University and a Masters in Education from William Woods University.  In his personal time he is a published author and for 13 years hosted a national weekly PBS Television show on fly tying Called “The Tying Bench.”  Mark his wife Regina live in Tebbetts, MO, and enjoy fly fishing, hiking, and bird watching together.
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Directions

• 14020 W. Hwy BB, Rocheport, MO
• Take I-70 to the Rocheport, MO, exit (Exit #115). It’s the first exit east of the Missouri River.
• Head north toward Rocheport.
• After about a mile, turn left at the sign for Les Bourgeois Bistro. Follow the signs to the Bistro. You will probably need to park in the lot above the Bistro and walk the trail down.
• The presentations are held in upstairs in the restaurant. The restaurant is no longer open on Tuesdays but the bar is! You are welcome to bring your own food or snacks.