By Bill Raack, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The future of the upper Mississippi River was the subject of a public hearing in St. Louis Thursday.
The National Audubon Society is held the listening session aboard a 60-foot riverboat docked at the Arch. The Society's Dan McGuiness says it's an opportunity for residents to discuss the federal government's plans for navigational and ecological issues on the Mississippi.
"This is really going to set the stage here for how the agencies manage the river for the next 50 years," he said. "It's also, I think, going to set the stage for where Congress thinks people's priorities are for the river - where they're going to spend money, where they're going to make authorizations for projects."
McGuiness says the Society has held hearings in cities along the river over the past two weeks and has heard from both proponents of the environment and industry.
There will be another session Saturday at the Arch from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Participants can view U-S Army Corps of Engineers and Fish and Wildlife Service ideas for the river, and offer their opinions, as well.
"The river suffers from about 150 years of decline in its habitat quality and that's due in large part to what we've done to the river in the way of dredging, levees, and channelization, and dams on the river for the past 150 years of modification," McGuiness said.
This is the fifth year the Audubon Society has traveled the river by boat, inspecting it and meeting with residents of communities along its banks.