Mississippi River Water Resource News for the Week

A group of Iowa farmers and agricultural leaders will travel to Mississippi later this week to learn more about efforts to reduce pollution in the Gulf of Mexico. The trip constitutes the first half of an “Iowa-Mississippi Farmer to Farmer Exchange,” a project focused on addressing hypoxia in the Gulf by increasing understanding among stakeholders and expanding the use of conservation practices in both states. Read more in these news articles here and here.

The Environmental Protection Agency, National Great Rivers Research and Education Center, and Lewis and Clark Community College are co-sponsoring a July 29 workshop based on EPA’s workshop: "Getting In Step – A Guide for Conducting Watershed Outreach Campaigns." The workshop will run from 9 AM to 4 PM in Godfrey, Illinois, and will review the basic building blocks for developing effective outreach campaigns through social marketing techniques. . Current examples of successful campaigns and outreach materials will be provided throughout the day. Interactive group exercises will jump start your own outreach campaign. Download a copy of the Getting in Step Guide at this web site.  To register for the workshop contact Vera Bojic at (618) 468-4870 or vbojic@lc.edu.  There is a registration fee of $15.

The 65th International Soil and Water Conservation Society Annual Conference will be held in St. Louis, Missouri. Primary conference dates are July 18-21, 2010. The headquarters hotel is the Hilton at the Ballpark. The conference will include workshops, concurrent sessions, symposia, posters, plenary sessions, and technical tours designed to raise the awareness of conference participants to recent developments in the science and art of natural resource conservation and environmental management. Additional conference information and registration links can be found here. The Soil and Water Conservation Society is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization founded in 1943 to foster the "science and art of natural resources conservation and environmental management on working land."

In honor of the International Year of Biodiversity, Conservation Biology has compiled and published three virtual issues of 10-15 of its previously published articles. These virtual issues focus on three key subject areas: Conservation Social Science, Connectivity and Corridors, and Climate Change.  Access to the articles is available free of charge on the web.

Notable @UpperMiss tweets for the week:

• NOAA: global data show 2010 could end up being hottest year ever http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64I2YF20100519
• Proposed list of impaired TN streams not meeting water quality standards http://bit.ly/9NAd9y; PDF of list: http://bit.ly/9NAd9y
• How Grazing Lands Influence Greenhouse Gas | ScienceDaily http://bit.ly/cjJ5FK
• Water conservation being built into MN Twins Target Field facility http://bit.ly/aw4qjz
• New study: Using straw residue with legume cover crops reduces leaching of nitrogen into waterways http://bit.ly/dD4FJM
• New USGS study: Commonly used herbicide Atrazine shown to affect reproduction of fish http://bit.ly/cTypxa
• New study: >20 % of samples from public wells across country contained at least 1 contaminant at levels of concern http://bit.ly/aa63a2
• 7 Upper Mississippi River Nat Wildlife Refuge sites to be cleaned up during June 19 Great Mississippi River Cleanup http://bit.ly/a1KIJV
• Status and Trends in State Invasive Species Policy: 2002-2009 http://bit.ly/ao5osb - Environmental Law Institute