National Innovation Grant Helps Kids and Families Experience Mississippi and Missouri Rivers: Least Tern Habitat as Focal Point for Exploring Missouri's River Habitat

One of 48 newly-announced TogetherGreen national innovation grants will enable Audubon Missouri’s Audubon Center at Riverlands to improve public awareness and perception of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers by providing kids and their families with fun and meaningful river-based activities that include establishing interior least tern habitats.

For more than a century, the Mississippi River in St. Louis has been treated as a mere conduit for commerce, a target for flood control, and an industrial corridor with limited public access. Yet the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers provide drinking water for millions of people in the St. Louis region, critical habitat for 60% of all North American bird species, and recreational opportunities for regional, national, and international visitors. Threats to this mighty American water source include pollution, urban sprawl, loss of habitat, and a lack of community recognition of the significance and beauty of the great rivers’ natural resources.

The $20,000 grant will power a partnership between The Audubon Center at Riverlands, the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Missouri Botanical Garden to work together on the RiverVision Leadership Project. The project will center around the successful establishment of interior least tern island habitat at Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary on the Mississippi River, introduce students to the environmental challenges facing the least tern, a federally endangered species, and the policy issues that affect least tern habitat.

Two St. Louis schools will practice environmental stewardship on the Mississippi River using a successful least tern conservation project as a focal point.

"The Mississippi River is one of the most significant migratory flyways on earth, and birds are great indicators of the environmental health of the River," said Dr. Patricia Hagen, Executive Director of the Audubon Center at Riverlands. "Connecting our community and its young people to the environmental significance and beauty of our great rivers is critical to preserving water quality and habitat now and into the future."

Participating students will also receive training in canoe handling on the Mississippi River and will be involved in several canoeing field trips during the course of the project. They will be invited to monitor least tern populations, assist with chronicling the history of the least tern in the area using historical photographs, writings and video, and design a nesting habitat on one or more river islands to increase tern population in the future.

"We are so excited to partner with Audubon to establish the Rivervision Leadership Project," said Marcia Lochmann, Environmental Educator, National Great Rivers Research and Education Center. "Together we will foster relationships between the river leaders of today and tomorrow to build the next cadre of river stewards, a group that will know how to implement a systems approach to decision making and river sustainability."

The Audubon Missouri innovation grant is part of $1.1 million awarded by the TogetherGreen initiative this year. Audubon and Toyota launched the five-year TogetherGreen initiative in 2008 to fund conservation projects, train environmental leaders, and offer volunteer opportunities that significantly benefit the environment. Grantees were selected from scores of applicants across America. Funds were awarded to Audubon organizations that demonstrated exceptional innovation in working with other groups on projects that will produce tangible benefits for environmental quality.

"The real innovation here is helping young community members developing valuable skills to become conservation leaders within their own communities, schools and households," said TogetherGreen Program Manager Judy Braus.

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