The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center's (NGRREC) new, Platinum LEED-certified and state-of-the art, river research facility in Alton, Illinois was formally dedicated on Tuesday, October 26, and named in honor of U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello (IL-12). Along with Congressman Costello, speakers at the Confluence Field Station dedication included U.S. Representative John Duncan (TN-2); Col. Thomas O'Hara and Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh of the Army Corps of Engineers' Mississippi Valley Division; Lewis and Clark Community College President and NGRREC Board Chair Dr. Dale Chapman; Dr. Gary Rolfe, NGRREC Executive Director; Dr. John Chick, Field Station Director from the Illinois Natural History Survey; Dr. Richard Sparks, Scientist and Director of Research at Lewis and Clark Community College; Alton Mayor Tom Hoechst; University of Illinois Chancellor and Provost Robert Easter; Illinois State Representatives Dan Beiser and Jay Hoffman; Illinois State Senator William Haine; and Mark Gorman, Northeast-Midwest Institute Policy Analyst.
NGRREC intends that the new field station will be a gathering point for the world's river scholars and scientists, as well as people who live and work in the Mississippi River region, who will study the ecology of the Mississippi River system and other large rivers, the workings of the watersheds that feed them, and the ties to the river communities that use them.
Click here for photos of construction of the new Confluence Field Station, and here for photos from the day of the dedication. A copy of Mark Gorman's remarks at the dedication can be read here.
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