[mou] Re: [mnbird] Poole Slough at New Albin, IA, & Upper Mississippi R. Concerns

[Charles Kessler]

Fred;

I think you are slighting the extensive efforts at habitat restoration 
by COE, DNRs, USFWS, etc. along the Upper Miss.  To get a better idea 
of the integrated efforts being made along MN/IA/WI shores see 
http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/environment/default.asp?pageid=74.  It 
ain't "perfect", but it's better than allowing the continued 
deterioration none of us likes.

Charlie
On Apr 24, 2006, at 08:59, fred lesher wrote:

> Several years ago I attended a hearing in New Albin,
> Iowa on the Poole Slough maintenance operation
> proposal. I raised questions about the purpose of the
> project, and its effect upon Bullfrogs resident along
> Army Rd. in the project, and on resident non-game
> birds in the marsh at Poole Slough.
>
> Currently that project has gone ahead. I understood at
> the hearing that Winnebago Creek sediments backed up
> by the delta of the Upper Iowa River are filling the
> marsh east of New Albin, and that the current
> operation is designed to allow a channel to flow less
> impeded by marsh shallows & vegetation into the
> Mississippi. Meanwhile, the village of New Albin has
> built its holding ponds from its waste treatment plant
> in what looks to me like the River floodplain.
>
> I am not a scientist, engineer or a hydrologist, but
> the Poole Slough project looks to me like a futile
> attempt to deal with the overburden of sediments and
> sands flowing into the Mississippi River from lands
> throughout the Upper Mississippi River basin. Army
> Road is already close to being below the marsh level,
> and is closed currently, in part, even below
> "floodstage", however that is determined.
>
> In my short lifetime, I have observed the shallowing
> of marshes on the Mississippi R. and more recently
> Pool 7 near LaCrosse. Also, I have observed the
> diminution of isolated farmland marshes such as
> Cardinal Marsh in Winneshiek Co., Iowa, and Goose Lake
> in Clinton Co., Iowa, as well as more diking and
> filling up & down the Mississippi River. We all know
> how the River flows between COE dikes further south
> along the Mississippi R. in Arkansas and Mississippi,
> and we know about problems getting the Mississippi
> River into the Gulf unimpeded by sediments and natural
> events.
>
> What is happening at Poole Slough is "tiny", perhaps,
> but it is typical of vain attempts to run water off
> arable & urban lands as quickly as possible, so as to
> continue human activities unrestrained by reason and
> driven by "necessary capitalism." (Please read Jared
> Diamond, "Collapse," especially about "rational bad
> behavior").
>
> As I view Poole Slough through the short lens of my 70
> years life & 60 years observing, reporting, and
> documenting non-game as well as game birds on the
> River & throughout the midlands, I see COE projects
> backed by well meaning "sportsmen" and unelected
> chambers of commerce as futile attempts to deal with
> what must be uncountable billions of tons of sediments
> washing into the River from all sources.
>
> No, I do not have a solution to the shallowing of
> wetlands and filling of rivers. However, ignoring the
> core sources and causes of shallowing & filling of
> wetlands is not reasonable. Tiling & quickly draining
> farm fields is one contributer to sediment run-off.
> Tilling hillsides is another. Municipal dikes and
> streets and housing on floodplains is another. Visit
> the backwaters of the Mississippi River north of
> Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin and drive the roadside
> sloughs and look up to trailers on 10-12 foor stilts.
> And ask where their holding tanks are, and what
> happens during a flood if the tanks are empty.
>
> I respectfully submit that we are not dealing with the
> Mississippi River in ways that are environmentally
> sound, and with a view to the future, short term, let
> alone long term.
>
> Meanwhile, who will miss Sora Rails at Poole Slough?
>
> Thank you for reading.
>
> Fred Lesher
> 509 Winona St.
> LaCrosse, WI 54603
> 1-608-783-1149
>
>
>
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