The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) has received a $16.3 million grant from the State of Illinois for the construction of the Center's Confluence Field Station. Governor Pat Quinn announced the funding on September 20 in conjunction with the state-wide "It's Our River Day".

Strategically located near the confluence of the Mississippi, Illinois and Missouri rivers, the Confluence Field Station will boast numerous sustainable design elements, including a vegetative roof, solar tube lighting, innovative waste water technology, and on-site wind and hydro power. The Center will also feature sophisticated mesocosms--large concrete channels containing flowing water and plankton pumped directly from the river. In these artificial environments, researchers will conduct controlled experiments by changing the water velocity or other environmental conditions. The results of these experiments will be used to predict effects on aquatic communities in the river and to develop conservation strategies. READ MORE

The first phase of construction on the 35,000 square-foot National Great Rivers Research and Education Field Station began in 2008. The building sits on four acres leased from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers south of the Melvin Price Locks and Dam in Alton, Ill.

The field station will serve as an international center for science, education and public outreach, related to key issues that will im­prove sustainable management of large rivers. The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center hosts international conferences, symposiums and information exchanges aimed at discovering linkages in existing research and acquiring new information to fill knowledge gaps related to large rivers and the human communities that depend on these ecosystems.