Floodplain forests play a pivotal role in the river ecosystem – creating wildlife habitat, improving water quality, storing carbon and slowing flooding. But they’re disappearing.
The lingering presence of wildfire smoke has made for an unusual start to summer across the Midwest. It also comes during a near-record drought crisping fields across the Corn Belt and the threat of hotter summers to come.
Canadian wildfire smoke brought air quality alerts to the Midwest. Such episodes will grow more common as the earth warms, climate experts say.
Around 175 million tons of freight travels on the Mississippi River each year, and from the river’s headwaters to southern Illinois, a series of locks and dams guide barges through the journey.
A very wet winter is bringing major spring flooding along the upper Mississippi River. In some communities, the floodwaters are among the top three on record. Though the water is expected to crest and start receding in most places by next week, its impacts will linger.
Flooding outlook along the upper Mississippi River is “much above normal,” National Weather Service says.
Chloride levels are increasing at all Wisconsin monitoring sites and across the Upper Mississippi River basin.
Impacts of dry conditions range from barge slowdowns to water main breaks caused by shifting dry ground.
As increased rainfall strains aging infrastructure, residents along the Mississippi River ask the same question: Do we pack up and move out?
The Mississippi River Restoration and Resilience Initiative was introduced in Congress. It could help fight invasive species, complete restoration projects, improve water quality and protect against flood damage.
Nearly 30 years of data show increasingly wet conditions in the floodplain that runs from Minnesota through Wisconsin and Iowa to Cairo, Illinois.