MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Conservation group names Mississippi ‘most endangered’ river in US

Kirsti Marohn / MPR News — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 19:10:31 GMT

ST. PAUL — A conservation organization has named the Mississippi River as the most endangered river in the country.

Every year, the advocacy group American Rivers publishes a list of the 10 U.S. rivers it considers most at risk.

Topping this year’s list is the Mississippi, which provides drinking water for 20 million people. It supports agriculture and industry, and is home to more than 800 species of fish and wildlife. It also has major historical and cultural significance, provides a transportation route for shipping and recreational opportunities for tourists, boaters and anglers.

The group says the Mississippi faces many threats, including increased flooding and inadequate disaster prevention and response. It cites recent cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and earlier calls from President Donald Trump to abolish the agency.

“We cannot turn our back on Mississippi River communities or the health of the river millions depend on at this critical time when they need unified direction instead of uncertainty at the national level,” Mike Sertle, central region director for American Rivers, said in a news release.

Flooding hasn’t been a problem along the Minnesota stretch of the Mississippi this year. But the river faces other challenges, including pollution from agriculture, said Whitney Clark, executive director of Friends of the Mississippi River.

“All that water flowing off of our agricultural landscapes is carrying pollutants,” he said. “It’s carrying sediment. It’s carrying nutrients.”

Clark said farm drainage systems have exacerbated flooding and pollution.

“We have millions and millions of cropland acres that are plumbed to move water off the fields as quickly as possible to keep the plants growing,” he said.

Planting cover crops helps prevent erosion and nutrient runoff that ends up in the Mississippi, Clark said. The University of Minnesota’s Forever Green Initiative is working to develop winter oilseed crops that keep the soil covered year-round and can also be turned into sustainable fuel.

Other potential threats include aging dams and a proposed underground nickel-copper mine in Aitkin County, which Clark said poses risks to the Mississippi and St. Croix River watersheds.

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This story was originally published on MPRNews.org.

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Beltrami County SWCD to host Mighty Mississippi Clean Up Day event

Pioneer Staff Report — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 18:23:00 GMT

BEMIDJI — The Beltrami County Soil and Water Conservation District will host its annual Mighty Mississippi Clean Up Day event between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, with willing volunteers meeting at Paul Bunyan Park.

"Help make our community a cleaner, greener place by volunteering to pick up litter and beautify our neighborhood," said Beltrami SWCD via an event flier.

Volunteers must wear closed-toed shoes in order to participate. Beltrami SWCD will provide other necessary equipment and snacks. The clean-up will take place at and around Lake Bemidji.

The event follows Earth Day, which is Tuesday, April 22.

Those interested in participating simply need to show up. No fees are required. Additional questions can be directed at Katelyn Bergstrom, Beltrami SWCD Clean Water Specialist, at Katelyn.Bergstrom@co.beltrami.mn.us or (218) 333-4157.

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'Minnesota's Titanic': The Sea Wing disaster killed 98, yet the tragedy remains little known

Matthew Stolle — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 12:31:00 GMT

Editor's note: This archival Vault article was first published Aug. 23, 2022.

RED WING, Minn. — When Frederick Johnson told his aunt that he was planning to write a history about Minnesota’s worst maritime calamity, her reaction was one of disbelief.

Well, everybody knows that story. Why would you want to write about that, the Red Wing woman said.

Her attitude speaks volumes about why the historical memory of the Sea Wing disaster on Lake Pepin extends so little beyond Red Wing, Minn., the small river town that suffered the greatest loss of human life from the accident.

On July 13, 1890, the steamer Sea Wing was returning from a carnival-like day at a military encampment when it capsized from a sudden and violent storm.

Many of the excursionists made the understandable but fateful decision to retreat to the ship’s passenger cabin for protection. When the ship flipped over, they were trapped inside the upside-down boat and drowned.

Ninety eight passengers – nearly half of the people on board – died as they were tossed into or submerged in the churning waters.

The sense of tragedy was accentuated by the fact that the day had begun so promisingly: a pleasure cruise down the Mississippi River from Diamond Bluff to a National Guard encampment at Camp Lakeview near Lake City.

Popcorn, lemonade and ice cream stands had been set up around the encampment. Passengers danced to a four-string band on a barge attached to the steamer’s port side as they coasted down the river.

The day was cast as the “social event of the season,” the only discordant note being the warm and humid weather that portended the possibility of foul weather.

Of the 57 women on board, 50 of them drowned. Many young women had boarded the ship wearing their Sunday best. Their heavy fabrics and long dresses made swimming nearly impossible, even if they knew how to swim.

Whole families died in Lake Pepin’s waters. Many were in their teens or early 20s. Some were couples, newlyweds or days away from marriage. It claimed children and toddlers. Red Wing bore the brunt of the loss — 77 out of the 98 who died came from that city.

After the bodies were recovered and the victims identified, Red Wing became a city of mass mourning and grief, holding round after round of funerals and wakes.

Survivors bore a lifelong sorrow. Annie Staiger, 20, and her sister, Frances, 18, of Florence Township, Minn., both perished in the storm. They had been accompanied by two young men, Frank Lampman and Ed Stevens, who had tried to save them.

Their father, John Staiger, was lacerated by heartache for the rest of his life.

He would sit and cry each day after work as “he gazed sorrowfully at his daughters’ pictures in the family's best room,” recalled Mathilda, who was 7 at the time and the youngest of the daughters, according to Johnson’s book, “The Sea Wing Disaster: Tragedy on Lake Pepin.”

It forever altered the trajectory of families’ lives, stricken with grief as they were. William Blaker lost his wife and two children, and within days of burying them, put up his house in the west end of Red Wing for sale. Sara Adams of Trenton lost three children, two nieces and a nephew, turning her coal-black hair to gray around her face.

During the recovery of the bodies, relatives held out hope that their loved ones had survived.

Eliza Crawford, a Ohio native who had moved to Goodhue County to teach, was one of the missing in the days after the incident. She had told family members how much she enjoyed teaching “these Norwegian boys and girls,” and had just completed her first month of teaching.

Her uncle, H.W. Keller, refrained from informing the family about her possible death, then wrote a letter while she was still missing.

“There were whole families lost,” Keller wrote. “As far as I know there were only five females saved. There were life preservers on the boat, but few availed themselves of them. There is mourning in Red Wing as nearly all were from there.”

She was later discovered among the drowning victims.

It has been referred to as Minnesota’s Titanic story. Yet for such a shattering life-searing event that reverberated across the nation, it is easy to wonder why the history isn’t better known beyond Red Wing. Many beyond the city's immediate vicinity are often surprised when they first hear about it.

By the time Johnson began his research into the Sea Wing mishap in the early 1980s, it was perhaps a generation removed from being forgotten.

When he began combing the Minnesota Historical Society’s archives, the only document he could find was a commemorative booklet, “In Memory of Those Who Perished.” It was prepared for a July 13, 1890, memorial ceremony in Red Wing.

“Just fix in your mind that it was so localized,” said Johnson in explaining why one of the country’s worst maritime tragedies is not better known.

“(Seventy-seven) of the dead were from Red Wing,” he said. “And then the rest were from Wisconsin. There was nobody from out of town.”

Johnson’s aunt’s disbelief that he wanted to write a book about the Sea Wing also held implications for that history.

The older generations were all familiar with the accident, the worst accident in terms of lives lost in Minnesota history. But as that generation died off, it became less well-known although never completely erased.

“They just didn’t talk about the Sea Wing,” Johnson said. “As far as I can tell, the farther one got from Red Wing, Lake City and Lake Pepin, the less known the accident was.”

It was no small feat assembling a narrative from the conflicting stories as reported by the media at the time. The Twin Cities media often sensationalized the incident, often reporting whispered rumors as fact.

The horror-filled event needed no exaggeration, yet their headlines were often over the top and tabloid-like: “A Voyage of Pleasure That Ended on the Shores of Another World,” screamed one. “The Sea Wing Becomes a Floating Sepulcher for Pleasure Seekers in Its Cabin,” said another. “The Tornado on Pepin’s Bosom the crowning calamity of all Minnesota Annals,” crowed another.

Local media, closer to the event, tended to report more responsibly.

Many of the conflicting narratives centered on the ship’s pilot and co-owner, David Wethern. He had steered the ship into the straight-line winds as he was supposed to, but in the event’s aftermath, he was dogged by questions about his judgment and conduct.

One of the biggest questions was why Wethern chose to hazard a return along the Mississippi with the weather looking so threatening.

Still, “most people got on the boat,” Johnson said. “You know the mindset. ‘I want to get home tonight.’”

Inspectors eventually charged Wethern with “unskillfulness,” particularly his decision to start out in the face of an approaching storm and failing to hug Minnesota’s shoreline where there were many harbors for protection.

Still, Wethern was not without allies, and he was an object of sympathy. He had lost his wife and a child in the accident.

This charitable view was reflected in the fact that in the aftermath, Wethern remained a figure of social standing. He wasn’t treated as a pariah. He stayed active in fraternal organizations in Red Wing and Prescott. In Diamond Bluff, where he lived and where the ill-fated excursion of the Sea Wing began, he served as town board chairman and treasurer. He remarried.

Life moved on.

“The Twin Cities papers were very critical of him,” Johnson said. “But when it was found out that he had lost his wife and a son, people were, ‘It was an accident after all.'”

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A shared passion for paddling spans generations in the Arenz family

Annalise Braught — Sat, 21 Sep 2024 12:30:00 GMT

BEMIDJI — From the Danube to the Mississippi, John Arenz has participated in canoe trips and competitive races all over the world in his many years as a paddler.

On a recent sunny, Saturday afternoon he could be spotted racing down the Mississippi River in a tandem canoe with his son Brett during the annual Minnesota Championship Canoe Races.

John’s brother Ed and his other son Devin were also out on the water that day, racing with dozens of longtime friends and members of the paddling community they have met during their many decades in the sport.

While the participating paddlers take the sport seriously enough to purchase high-level, professional equipment, practice often and give each race their all — it was obvious by the banter, laughter and joy in the air that this particular day of racing was all about the fun of the sport for these canoe enthusiasts.

Around 40 folks from near and far joined in the annual canoe races held near the Lake Bemidji outlet of the Mississippi River on Sept. 7-8, with several teams coming down from Canada to participate. While the annual event may not offer any large cash prizes or fancy awards, according to race organizer Mark Walters, it’s still well worth the trip.

“It's a culture,” Walters said. “It's just a fun thing to participate in if you're into the sport, and you can’t beat these views and the river quality down here. But mostly it’s for the bragging rights.”

A river family

For the four Arenz men, the annual event is something they have always done as a family, primarily thanks to John’s extensive passion for the sport.

It all began for the Cass Lake native when he started paddling his dad’s canoes as a kid.

“Our family cabin was on Steamboat Lake, so it was a natural place to canoe from,” John said. “I just fell in love with the activity of it, going out and paddling around. It kind of opens another world for you when you grow up exposed to those kinds of things.”

By the time he and his brother, Ed, were teenagers they were regularly going on canoe trips together with their friends.

“We've had a lot of fun canoeing together, both Ed and I,” John said. “It's been a great part of our lives.”

John later served six years in the military, three in the U.S. Army and three in the reserves. While stationed in Hanau, Germany, working for the U.S. Department of Defense, he met his future wife Wanda who was working as a schoolteacher on the base.

“And we fell head over heels in no time,” he said. “We had a great romance.”

Of course, with John’s love of paddling, it didn’t take long before the pair decided to take a trip down the river.

“Our first paddling experience together was taking a kayak from the beginning of the Danube all the way to Vienna,” he said. “And I’ll tell you, if after kayaking down there — sharing a tent all the time and all the turmoil and portages and all that kind of stuff that comes with a trip like that — you still like each other, you're probably somewhat compatible.”

After they married, the couple was working at the Edzell Army Base in Scotland when they had their two sons. When Devin was 2 and Brett was just a few months old, the couple decided to move back to the U.S. and settled near Cass Lake.

“We would take our two boys and stick one in the front of one canoe and another in the front of the other canoe and we'd go paddling as a family," John shared. “Obviously at first they didn't do very much, but they learned and really came to love it.”

One thing the family has done together for many years was compete in the Lake Bemidji Dragon Boat Festival races. John has paddled with the HydraHeads team for all 18 years of the festival, with Brett, Devin and Ed joining in some years as well.

“Wanda did it with us maybe seven or eight years, too,” he said. “And then she decided that was enough of dragon boating.”

He said when she wasn’t racing, she was always cheering them on from the sidelines and helping in other ways.

“But also, she was a gardener, and gardening took precedence over just about everything, including her husband most of the time,” he said with a laugh. “People would come to see her and be like ‘Where's Wanda?’ and I'd say, ‘Well, look over there, if you see someone sticking out of the weeds that would be Wanda.’ She loved the garden.”

The couple was married nearly 50 years before Wanda passed away in January 2020 at the age of 80. In the years following her passing, each participant of the Minnesota Canoe Races sported a hat embroidered with “Wanda’s Race” across the back, dedicating the event to her.

Now, as John nears 86, he said he’s having to scale back on his paddling activities, simply because it’s getting more difficult to get in and out of the boats.

But his passion for the sport still very much remains. He also cross-country skis three to four times a week when there’s good snow on the ground and has enjoyed participating in Bemidji’s Snowjourn and Finlandia ski races over the years.

“It's all fun,” John said. “It's good exercise as well and is just part of the sporting life. I would recommend the sporting life for everybody because it helps you maintain the ability to move your body for a longer period of time in various directions. It keeps you young.”

The next generation

Brett and Devin both graduated from Bemidji High �� and Bemidji State University before eventually relocating to the Twin Cities. Now, Brett works in the plant pathology department at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul and Devin works at a ski shop in the summer in the Twin Cities and commutes to Bemidji on weekends where he operates the Home Place Bike and Ski Shop in the winter.

The brothers shared that they would have missed out on a lot of fun experiences throughout their lives had their parents not passed down such an appreciation for the outdoors.

“They were great role models for just staying active, appreciating the outdoors, getting fresh air, especially in the winter, because if you don't do anything outside in the winter, it can be pretty long and miserable,” Brett said.

“We had to go outside every day,” Devin added. “I don't remember thinking of it as a chore, but I remember that was a big thing. Like, ‘Oh, no, you haven't gone outside? I don't know how cold it is but you're going to go out and ski around the woods.’”

So now, as Brett’s 11-year-old, Solomon, takes on the mantel as the next generation of the Arenz family, he is encouraging that same outdoor lifestyle.

“I'm trying to kind of do the same thing as our parents, just giving a lot of opportunities to do different things,” Brett said. “Like, ‘Hey, I'm going skiing, you can come with me if you want.’ But I never want to be too, like, ‘Yes, you're going to do this,’ because that was never our situation growing up, so don’t want to force it.”

Giving back

As John reflected on the many fun activities he and his family have participated in around the area and beyond over the years, he said a crucial thing for him is returning the favor.

As he and his buddies have aged out of certain activities, it’s been a priority for them to keep the sport alive by continuing to help with organizing and supporting local events.

“After we got out of our racing stages, we started helping with races,” John explained. “And I think that's a real healthy pattern. The athletes have done their deal, they've benefited from athletics, so now they should get into volunteer kinds of things like that.”

The Mississippi River canoe races are no exception and an annual event the Arenz family has always been involved in.

“This event, what we call Headwaters Canoe Race, Bemidji Canoe Race, Minnesota Canoe Championships, it's all the same race, it's just the names kind of changed a lot,” he explained. “But I was always involved with it one way or another, just as a helper or as a race partner like now.”

When Walters moved to the area in 1992, he got involved with the canoe races and John said he has done what he can over the years to keep the event going.

“I told my kids, you know — I'm a couple of months away from 86 — I said ‘I don't care who (is organizing) the race, if they decide they don't want to do it anymore, you two guys are responsible for keeping it going,’” John said.

While Brett and Devin didn’t make any official commitments that day on the riverside, it is an event they hope will continue for years to come.

“This is one of the most beautiful sections of the Mississippi, it's just gorgeous,” Brett said. “So we obviously want to keep this kind of event alive. And you participate in so many events in your life, as a racer or whatever, so it feels good to kind of pay back the community by supporting them on the other end.”

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Beaver Bay Beach Bash returns Sept. 7-8

Pioneer Staff Report — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 18:39:34 GMT

BEMIDJI — The public is invited to watch the Minnesota Championship Canoe Races from the shore of the Mississippi River as part of the second annual Beaver Bay Beach Bash on Saturday, Sept. 7, and Sunday, Sept. 8, at 3210 Lake Ave. NE in Bemidji.

Attendees should bring a lawn chair, cooler and something to grill over a campfire, a release said.

"Watch two days of canoe racing on the upper Mississippi and beach party with your neighbors," the release said. "Chill with friends and play games at this inaugural block party."

The event will kick off at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7, with men's and women's tandem canoe racing, followed by solo C1/kayak/paddleboard racing at 3:30 p.m. Both races will have pro and standard categories.

A Beaver Paddle Battle will be held at 3:45 p.m. on Saturday. This is a fun, free amateur event featuring friendly competition and beer, the release said. The winning team will receive the annual Paddle Trophy.

After the Saturday races, attendees can hear live music on the water by James "Mudkat" Grant.

Races will resume at 11 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 8, with mixed tandem canoeing.

All racing participants must register online or on-site one hour before race times. The cost is $20 per person for the competitive races for the entire race weekend, with payment on-site.

Attendees should arrive early for boat parking at the Beaver Bay marina. Bikes and side-by-sides can be parked in the driveway of 3210 Lake Ave. NE, and cars should park only along Lake Avenue.

For more information or to register for the races, visit brohco.com/beaver-baybeach-bash.

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Statewide water monitoring initiative underway on Mississippi River in Minnesota

Charley Gilbert — Sat, 22 Jun 2024 12:15:00 GMT

BEMIDJI — The Mississippi River is in good hands as a statewide initiative is underway to monitor its water quality.

As part of the Clean Water Act, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is spending this summer monitoring the Mississippi River throughout Minnesota to help maintain clean water and provide data on the condition of the river along with other bodies of water throughout the state.

Kim Laing, surface monitoring manager for the MPCA, has been with the agency for 16 years and has been overseeing water monitoring for two of those years.

“Part of our Clean Water Act responsibilities are to monitor and assess all of the water bodies within Minnesota,” Laing said. “Thankfully, due to the Clean Water Fund and the Legacy Amendment, we have been able to support our natural resources.”

According to Laing, collecting hard data is important because it can then be put into the hands of decision-makers.

“Is the Mississippi River fishable or swimmable? Are invertebrates and aquatic life healthy? What does the water chemistry look like?" she said. "All of these questions can be answered through our water monitoring process.”

With the rise of climate change, legislation can be used to improve supporting the environment and prevent further harm.

“There are instances of great improvement and sometimes improvement might be simply changing a trajectory, and stopping things from getting worse,” Laing explained.

Keeping water healthy

Laing emphasized the importance of the health of the Mississippi River and the surrounding waters.

"Essentially why we are doing this is to look at the health of the Mississippi River in its entirety,” she said.

According to Laing, a large portion of Minnesota contributes to the Mississippi River. Rivers such as the Minnesota, Red, Rainy and St. Croix also get rotated for monitoring because they are additional important natural resources in Minnesota.

“The Clean Water Fund has enabled us to both restore and protect our resources, and climate change is something that we're going to have to keep working on,” she added. “We're utilizing the data to help us understand how that's going to impact Minnesota and our water resources.”

As the headwaters of the Mississippi River and home of thousands of lakes and rivers, Laing explained how crucial it is to keep the state's natural waters as healthy as possible.

"When we test in northern Minnesota we are being responsible for both those downstream in Minnesota and the downstream states,” Laing said. “We are being responsible for what we are sending downstream to our neighbors, so that is a very important aspect that we must consider.”

Monitoring the Mississippi

Employees from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Noah Dammer, Jacob Engel and Ben Vosika ventured out on June 10 to monitor the water in the Mississippi River where it flows through Bemidji.

Environmental Specialists Dammer and Vosika take turns in the various duties on the job. On this particular day, Dammer handled the water samples and Vosika collected data.

This year, they are focusing on the Mississippi River because of the statewide monitoring initiative.

“We’re on a different large river every year,” Dammer said.

“It’s a good balance between being in the office and doing fieldwork. With our jobs, we get to travel around the state and we really like that,” Vosika chimed in.

They collected several samples that will be sent to different labs in the state to be tested. While collecting samples they also collect water chemistry data and log information into their database to compile.

“We collect data and report on things that aren’t meeting criteria for our system,” Dammer explained. “When we assess if a body of water is impaired that data is used by others to get the funding needed to restore it. Funding is often provided by local governments and it is important for us to find this data so people know how our natural waters are doing.”

Technician Engel mentioned the perks of the job and how rewarding it is to serve the public.

“I love doing field work and with the hard data that we collect, it’s clearly being used in a non-abstract way,” he shared. “You can tell people if it’s safe to swim, if things are improving or getting worse — I think the public appreciates that a lot.”

What makes this initiative possible?

Funding from the federal and state governments makes a task this large possible. Public Affairs Engagement Strategist Adam Olson distinguished the difference between the Clean Water Act and the Clean Water Fund.

According to Olson, the Clean Water Act is national and includes all U.S. states. Minnesota voters approved the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment on Nov. 4, 2008, it was implemented on July 1, 2009, and will continue until 2034.

“The Clean Water Fund is what really makes monitoring at this level possible in Minnesota,” Olson said. “No other state could take on something as ambitious as monitoring the entire Mississippi in a single season. Minnesota can do this because of our Clean Water Fund, and now we’ve been building this awesome foundation of data which leads to better water quality."

Laing added that the contributions of their partners are a huge help to their data collection.

"I just can't emphasize enough how important our partners are for our watershed work and our pollutant load monitoring work — we have great partners,” she exclaimed. "Thankfully there are a lot of partners that also are monitoring the Mississippi River as well in the intervening years that we're not monitoring and also provide a great wealth of data, particularly through the metro and the lower Mississippi River.”

People can join the volunteer water monitoring program to take samples of lakes, rivers and streams in their area. There is a website to learn more and apply to be a volunteer.

“We train people how to take water samples, monitor water and take observation measurements,” Laing said. “We provide all of the training and we have a Facebook group so there is an online community to connect with. That’s what we really want, is to have those conversations with water quality and get people involved in our mission.”

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Zak Rivers embarks on 100-day journey to canoe the Mississippi River with his cello by his side

Carley Swanson-Garro — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 21:56:11 GMT

BEMIDJI — Minnesota filmmaker, photographer and cellist Zak Rivers has had the Mississippi River on his mind for years.

In 2022, the Mankato native came one step closer to it as part of the documentary crew following 87-year-old Dale "Greybeard" Sanders in his record-breaking journey as the oldest person to canoe the entire Mississippi River, from the Headwaters in Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico.

Now, Rivers is attempting to recreate Sanders' 2,340-mile journey with one twist: he's bringing his cello with him.

Telling his story

Filming "The Man, The Myth, The Mississippi," was just the push Rivers needed to begin his own journey down the Mississippi as, "The Paddling Cellist."

As part of the documentary crew, Rivers made connections that he will use on this trip, including Big Mike in Mississippi, Greybeard in Memphis, Rivers' uncle in Iowa and Mississippi River Angels Ron and Judy Vroom of Bemidji. He also plans to share his journey through a documentary of his own.

"I started thinking about all those people I had met (on the Greybeard trip) and I wanted to have something to give to them," Rivers said. "(I want to) put together a short film, an art piece about the cello. I've seen a lot of good canoe documentaries, and so I kind of wanted to put together something about the music part of it, the people part of it."

In a Northstar canoe named "Legato," Rivers' dream of traveling "From Source to Sea" is finally becoming reality this summer.

On June 1, Rivers began paddling down the Mississippi River with his cello, with the goal of making it to the Gulf of Mexico in 100 days and reconnecting with his instrument along the way.

A musical journey

Rivers began learning the cello in second grade and continued playing through college. As a young adult, he performed with the Mankato Symphony and the St. Paul Civic Symphony.

However, once he started working full-time, life's priorities got in the way.

"In my 40s, I found I was letting the cello go," Rivers said. "I was shooting weddings, shooting senior (photos), making films and not playing a lot of cello, and I did not like that."

Rivers grew up playing classical music, but on this trip, he is striving to learn improvisation and practice new repertoire.

"I need to reestablish my connection with the cello and my relationship with it," he explained. "I bought a cello that can maybe withstand the rigors, fingers crossed."

His trusty instrument is a Luis and Clark carbon fiber cello. Designed by cellist and sailor Luis Leguia, the body of the instrument is lightweight and immune to warping and wear from moisture.

Rivers performed in Bemidji on Tuesday morning for an audience of friends and supporters at Paul and Babe. This was his third musical showcase on the river so far, following two sendoff performances at the Itasca State Park Headquarters.

The Paddling Cellist plans to perform at various stops along the river, time, weather and instrument conditions permitting.

Overcoming challenges

Only three days into his trip, Rivers has already faced obstacles head-on.

The Minnesota DNR's Mississippi River State Water Trail map warns that the stretch of the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca to Cass Lake contains "areas with abundant vegetation, log jams and large, open water."

In a particularly treacherous spot after Fox Trap Landing, Rivers encountered a downed tree that caused his canoe to capsize. His boat, with his gear strapped in it, was underwater for 30 minutes.

"We were tested by a log that kind of got the best of us, but you know, that's happened a few times on the trip and it's just a part of dodging logs and carrying big loads in your canoe," Rivers said. "The cello was a little damp, everything was a little damp considering the water it took on, but it's gonna work."

Luckily, fellow adventurer Paul Mellor was there to help right the canoe. He left May 23 from the Headwaters, determined to kayak to the end of the Mississippi, but had to stop after 16 miles due to a foot infection.

After receiving treatment at Sanford Bemidji Medical Center, he and Rivers met up at Coffee Pot Landing and paddled to Bemidji together.

"I've been tested on the river so far, and I've always had people with me when I needed them," Rivers said. "I had friends with me in the Headwaters when it was really sketchy because of the high water, and Paul saved my life, saved my boat, saved my cello."

Rivers hopes the worst is behind him, but anticipates that the heat, humidity and "finding a groove" will be the most challenging parts of the trip moving forward.

The Paddling Cellist has already visualized what he will do when he makes it to the end of his voyage.

"I do plan to make it to the very end, to the Gulf, (where) there's a beach, and I want to play on the beach there," Rivers said. "I have 100 days. I have a job to come back to, and 100 days, and if I don't make it, I'll have to come back and cap it off after I make a movie."

Follow Rivers on his journey to the Gulf of Mexico and other adventures on his Instagram account @zakriversphotography or his website at zakrivers.com. A tracker of his progress on the river is available online at share.garmin.com/7AC9E.

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Minnesota may install barrier to stop invasive carp from moving further up Mississippi River

Kirsti Marohn / MPR News — Tue, 02 Apr 2024 15:58:00 GMT

A proposal to install a barrier in southern Minnesota to prevent invasive carp from moving up the Mississippi River got a surprise boost last week.

After a February budget forecast showed a surplus in the fund, the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Councilvoted to allocate $12 million to a deterrent at Lock and Dam No. 5 in the Mississippi River north of Winona, bypassing its usual review process.

The council makes recommendations on how to spend money from a dedicated sales tax.

State lawmakers still need to approve the funding for the project, which would involve the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Details about the project, including what type of barrier would be installed and who would maintain it, haven’t been worked out. Other states are testing acoustic deterrent systems that use sound and bubble curtains to deter invasive carp from swimming upstream.

Invasive carp have been steadily advancing up the Mississippi River since their accidental release in the 1970s. They are voracious eaters and outcompete native fish, leading to a decline in biodiversity and water quality in rivers where they’re established.

Individual invasive carp have been caught as far upstream as the Twin Cities metro. Late last year, the DNR made the largest catch of invasive carp to date, removing 408 of the fish from the river near Trempealeau, Wis.

Environmental advocates had hoped the Legislature would fund the barrier last year, when the state had a large budget surplus. However, DNR officials said more work was needed to determine whether a deterrent is the best solution.

If state lawmakers approve the Lessard-Sams funding, it would be available July 1 for state and federal agencies to start work on the project, said Colleen O’Connor Toberman, land use and planning director with the nonprofit Friends of the Mississippi River, which has advocated for the project.

“It gives me a lot of optimism that we’ll be able to get a system in place before carp populations here reach a point of spawning and a point of no return,” Toberman said.

A barrier would be one part of the state’s efforts to manage invasive carp, said David Hartwell, chair of the Outdoor Heritage Council. He noted that opinions differ on how well such barriers can keep out invasive carp.

“This is a strategy. It’s not known exactly how effective it is,” Hartwell said. “But there is no other strategy other than to let the carp come.”

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For Minnesotans, Baltimore bridge collapse brings back memories of I-35W disaster

MPR News staff — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 12:19:00 GMT

For some Minnesotans, Tuesday’s collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore brought back memories of the tragic, deadly collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis back in 2007.

The Baltimore bridge collapsed into a river after it was hit by a container ship. Of the people who fell into the river, two were rescued, two were found dead and four were still unaccounted for as of Thursday morning, according to officials.

Scenes of the wreckage and the water search for survivors in Baltimore were a reminder to many of what happened in the Twin Cities on Aug. 1, 2007.

The reasons for the two bridges collapsing are different. But the trauma is similar.

“I immediately kind of went into their shoes in a way that a lot of people probably can’t imagine,” said Lindsay Walz, who survived a fall into the Mississippi River from the I-35W bridge more than 16 years ago.

“As I saw the bridge collapsing, I felt that fall in my body and then I also felt the pressure of the water that my body felt on August 1st against my body, like my body just remembers those things in this very challenging way,” she said.

“The reality is that the (people) that are still unaccounted for, their families, everyone who knew them and was impacted by them will have a long road ahead,” Walz said.

Reliving her trauma from miles away

Walz joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer on Tuesday to talk about the two disasters. The following is a transcription of the audio heard using the player above, lightly edited for clarity.

What came up for you when you heard the news about the Baltimore bridge?

I am still shocked at the, just — it looked like a toothpick, you know, like one of those things that kids in fifth grade make toothpick bridges. And it just fell apart so quickly and really took me back.

Having that body of water underneath the span of bridge, I went straight back in my body to being under the water in the Mississippi. And couldn’t really even imagine what was happening in Baltimore this morning and who was there and who was impacted, but I immediately kind of went into their shoes in a way that a lot of people probably can’t imagine.

I can’t even imagine how your body reacted. How does that impact you today?

I think one of the things that often comes up in trauma recovery (is) they talk about flashbacks, and for a long time I thought that flashbacks were really just memories happening, almost like an image or a movie in your head. And some of that happened this morning.

But it’s also flashbacks can really happen in your body. And so as I saw the bridge collapsing, I felt that fall in my body and then I also felt the pressure of the water that my body felt on August 1st against my body, like my body just remembers those things in this very challenging way.

And I guess, you know, in a certain way, this isn’t a new day for me. I have these kinds of moments all the time and … I’ve had to learn about them … what it’s about and what my body’s trying to do.

My body’s trying to keep me safe and it thinks that the image that I’m seeing is, you know, happening to me and so I have to remind myself what is true and that I’m laying in my bed and safe in this moment. Luckily I have a lot of support. My husband is somebody I can talk to at length about how all of this impacts me and the ways that it’s impacted my identity and how I understand the world and how these events that happen can impact me again.

You broke your back that day when the bridge collapsed, and you have PTSD. How long did your recovery take?

For a while, I said, “I was in the hospital for five days and then I was in a back brace healing my broken back for five months. And then the emotional healing took about five years.”

And to some degree, I would say that that’s true. I would also say that the emotional healing never really ends, you know? And there’s always the impact. I will never not feel the fall in my body.

I see an image, whether it’s an actual news story like (Tuesday) or watching a bridge fall down on a movie screen because that happens way more than people realize — it’s like the common action film trope.

But when those things happen, I’m impacted and I think part of the recovery from PTSD process is not expecting that that will ever go away but just learning how to process it and to feel your way through it when it happens. And that’s really the work that I’ve had to do over the last decade of my life. But it’s really hard to live life as a survivor.

How do you view your life as a survivor?

It’s a really interesting question and one that I continue to grapple with. I think there was a period of time that … there’s a meaning to my life, like I’m here for a reason. I want to use my life in important ways.

And I think that that’s still true, but I think I also have just been humbled by all of the ways that life happens to people, that people are impacted by tragedy and by circumstance in all kinds of ways. And we all find our way to make it through. I think that I think I’m constantly on a quest for what to do.

I think one of the things that I can use my life for is to help educate people about trauma. When a bridge falls down, that’s the first thing people will say is, “Oh, how traumatic.”

You don't need to have a PhD for society to understand that. But understanding the lived experience of it is something that I can help illuminate in ways that may be other kinds of trauma that are more private or more shameful, or whatever the case might be, can be really hard. And so to me, that’s the best way that I can make meaning of the experience that I’ve had.

We don’t know how many people are directly affected by this tragedy in Baltimore, but do you have any advice for what those folks are going through right now?

One of the things I’ve been thinking about a lot — that happened that right away when I saw it — I started to compare it. I was like, “Oh, at least it wasn’t 50 feet deep when our bridge collapsed.”

I think that’s one of the trauma [responses] is that we kind of count: What are the numbers? What are the impacts in that way? And the reality is that the six people that are still unaccounted for, their families, everyone who knew them and was impacted by them will have a long road ahead.

And I think that the more that we can understand the human impact of these situations, and that was a well traveled bridge that happened. The collapse happened in the middle of the night, which thankfully saved a lot of a lot of people’s lives, probably.

But that doesn’t mean that these events don’t have a huge human cost. And I think we should just be really, really mindful about that.

Minnesota officials respond

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Tuesday morning posted on social media: “This morning Baltimore woke up to a bridge collapse, a tragedy we know all too well in Minneapolis. As the city responds to this emergency, my thoughts are with the people of Baltimore. Minneapolis stands with you.”

Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar noted all those who rushed to help when the I-35W bridge fell, and said in a social media post she’s “thankful for the Coast Guard and all the first responders.”

And Minnesota U.S. Sen. Tina Smith on social media noted how “this bridge collapse brings back tough memories for Minnesotans.”

“One of the hardest days of all my time in public service was when the I-35W bridge collapsed into the Mississippi River,” Smith wrote. “My thoughts are with Baltimore and the loved ones of anyone still missing.”

The Minnesota Department of Transportation said it’s offered assistance to Maryland transportation officials if they need it. The agency said it will be lighting the I-35W bridge in the colors of the Maryland state flag on Tuesday night in a show of support.

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MDH says to avoid eating fish from parts of the Mississippi River

Staff reports — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 17:21:34 GMT

WABASHA — The Minnesota Department of Health is advising Minnesotans to limit, or completely avoid, eating fish from a stretch of the Mississippi River between the south Twin Cities metro and Wabasha.

“For most people, fish are part of a nutritious, well-balanced diet, because they provide a good source of protein and are rich in essential vitamins and minerals,” said Myra Kunas, MDH assistant commissioner, in a press release. "But the Minnesota Department of Health encourages people to limit their intake of fish from certain waterbodies to avoid potential negative health impacts.”

The guidance comes as MDH found pollutants — including mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and PFAS — in fish tissue from that section of the river.

The guidance applies to the U.S. Lock & Dam #2 Pool near Saint Paul Park, the #3 Pool near Etter in Goodhue County and the #4 Pool near Wabasha, "including all of the Minnesota lakes and backwaters," the MDH press release said.

The guidance states that children under 15, people who are or may become pregnant and those who are breastfeeding or plan to do so should not eat fish from these areas.

For people who don't plan to become pregnant and are over 15, MDH says to limit the consumption of fish in the affected area to one serving per month.

"MDH, DNR and MPCA work together to review scientific information about PFAS and other contaminants in waterbodies and fish and their potential impact on human health in order to provide Minnesotans with the information they need to make informed choices for the health and safety of their family," the release says.

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