Video / A Preview of Disaster: Asian Carp Take Over in Illinois

From KSTP:

Asian carp are beginning their invasion in Minnesota, with four caught in the last year - including one just last week.

The fish may just be showing up here, but they're a big problem in central Illinois near Peoria. Residents say fishing isn't what it used to be because the Asian carp have cut down on other fish.

Plus, the size of the Asian carp means they can do damage to boats and hurt people. A study there found 33 percent of boats have been damaged by carp and 47 of boaters have been hit by flying carp.

Betty DeFord, who runs The Boat Tavern, says her boating customers aren't showing up.

"They don't want to get bloodied and slimed with the stupid fish," DeFord says. "They can bruise you, knock you out of your boat."

This year the Illinois legislature even considered a bill allowing boaters to shoot the Asian carp.

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S2598503.shtml

Mississippi River Site of Greatest Maritime Disaster in U.S. History

There was an interesting article entitled Sultana yet another night to remember in the April 28 Star Tribune about the greatest maritime disaster in U.S. history.

On April 27, 1865, boilers on steamboat SS Sultana exploded, resulting in about 1,800 casualties. This happened on Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee.   According to the article, the legal capacity of the vessel was 376, yet it was packed with an estimated 2,400 passengers.   Many of the victims were Union soldiers who had been injured or imprisoned during the Civil War.

The article mentions a 1992 book about the Sultana tragedy - "The Sultana Tragedy: America's Greatest Maritime Disaster" by author Jerry O. Potter.

River Talk Update

Recents posts from the River Talk Blog from the U of M:

River-City Connection: Poorly Understood? Too Complex to Understand or Model

I have been posting a number of articles and links on our River Portal microblog (Yes, we have one.  And yes, you should read it.  It’s here.  Now go and read it.  Good.  You’re back?  Now where was I?)  about sustainability in cities, about the importance of public art in cities, about urban green infrastructure.  What’s all that got to do with rivers?

Well, everything, I think.  Here are some ideas, call them axioms, propositions, definitions, or what have you.

Read the full article...

St. Anthony Falls Needs YOU

Well, maybe the Falls themselves don’t need you–water seems to flow over them ok, per gravity and basic hydrology.  But the elements of Minneapolis around the Falls Do need your help.

The Central Minneapolis Riverfront is poised to be the engine driving the city into the 21st Century because the City, its citizens, the Minneapolis Park Board and a host of other individuals and organizations have concentrated on the district for the past 40 years.  Today, as a result of that effort, $400 million of public investment has created $1.3 billion in private contributions to a place that is arguably a World Heritage-caliber site.

Following the vision and the success of 2009′s landmark study Power of the Falls, the city’s Community Planning and Economic Development Department has invited public comment on a new set of design guidelines for the Central Riverfront.  To read the document and make your comments, go here.

Read the full article...

Asian Carp Casualty - River Cruises Through St. Anthony Falls Lock & Dam

From the Star Tribune:

A popular leisure cruise will no longer travel through locks beside the Stone Arch Bridge as part of a city effort to ward off Asian carp.

The Minneapolis Park Board voted Wednesday night to stop Paradise Cruises from using the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam. The change is part of an effort to scale down use of the lock, which may be eventually closed altogether to prevent Asian carp from reaching northern Minnesota.

Read the full article...

Minneapolis Parks Foundation Newsletter

	April 2012

Spring into Action! RiverFirst design and planning A bold, 20-year vision for Upper Riverfront parks-based redevelopment, RiverFirst was officially adopted by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board in March. With the Park Board's action, the Minneapolis Parks Foundation begins working with the Park Board and the City of Minneapolis to establish a collaboration agreement through which the three agencies can work closely together - with numerous community and organizational collaborators - to make the RiverFirst vision a reality, beginning with five prioirty projects in the next five years. Read about our RiverFirst involvement. As a co-sponsor of the Minneapolis Riverfront Design Competition, through which RiverFirst emerged as the winning concept of design team TLS/KVA, the Parks Foundation is an early partner and visionary in this initiative. We look forward to the day - with our help and yours - RiverFirst comes to life as the truest and best example of the Next Generation of Parks™. Water Works cleaning and greening Saturday, April 21, 9:30 AM - 12 Noon The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board named the Water Works/Fuji-Ya site, 420 South First Street, one of its annual Minneapolis Earth Day Clean Up locations. Won't you please join volunteers from our staff and board - and hundreds of other community members at some 40 Minneapolis Parks locations - as we contribute two hours of our time to help make the Mississippi Riverfront cleaner and more beautiful? Tilia giving and thanks Some one hundred satiated samplers helped Tilia Mpls - a top restraurant food-wise and people-wise - celebrate its one-year anniversary, March 19. In addition to enjoying a tasting menu that included brussels sprouts prepared so deliciously you can actually say "brussels sprouts" and "delicious" in the same sentence, these civic-minded, fork-in-hand folks helped raise a generous contribution for the Minneapolis Parks Foundation. Now that's food for the soul.

Friend on Facebook Follow on Twitter Forward to a Friend Looking Ahead A few things you can do, see and be a part of in ... April Visit our new, you-friendly website. May Minnesota Arbor Month Have you planted a tree in North Mpls yet? June Water Works lights up with Northern Spark, June 9-10, 2012 Many donors make more spring! We are grateful to the many individuals and organizations who shower us with their generosity all year long. You, too, can help put even more spring into our action by making a gift or becoming a member today.

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Blue Herons Return To North Minneapolis

From CBS Minnesota:

Almost a year after the tornado hit North Minneapolis, there’s one hopeful sign. The blue herons, whose population was devastated by the storm, have returned to an island in the Mississippi River.