Sun January 17th
Happy 20th Anniversary to the Missouri Breaks National Monument. As shared from the @Missouri River Paddlers page today.
Created by proclamation in 2001 by President Bill Clinton on January 17, it encompasses 377,000 acres (589 sq mi; 1,526 km2 of public lands, most of which were already managed by the federal government. The adjacent Missouri River was designated a Wild and Scenic River in 1976 and forms a western boundary while the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge is to the east.
The Breaks country was a model for many of the paintings done by painter Charles M. Russell. The Breaks are a magical place! One of the few places on the entire Missouri river that is basically unchanged since the days of Lewis & Clark!
This amazing photograph and post by MRP Norman Miller
I'm hoping to float this in 2022
Wed January 13th
St. Louis Peeps! Here's a wonderful MLK Day of Service opportunity with the Greenway Network to help clean-up the Cora Island Big Muddy Fish & Wildlife Refuge in Memory of our good friend Greg Poleski. Check it out!
Wed January 13th
Ready for some good news? Yesterday the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service removed the interior least tern from the endangered species list. This really beautiful bird relies on protected sandbars to nest, and much of that habitat has disappeared due to channelization and stabilization of the Missouri and other rivers. The tern was one of three endangered species on the Missouri River.
Since the bird was listed in 1985, populations have increased from 2,000 to 18,000 - a near 10-fold increase. In addition to habitat work and some river management changes on several mid-America rivers, the terns have also shifted some of their nesting habitat to prairie pothole lakes and ponds in the Great Plains.
tulsaworld.com/opinion/editorials/tulsa-world-editorial-the-least-tern-will-soon-no-longer-be-an-...
Here's a ton of great science and info about the recovery in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service report on the delisting - www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/13/2020-28192/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-pl...
