Mark Twain said the Missouri River is too thick to drink and too thin to plow. The Big Muddy doesn’t get the kind of attention the Mighty Mississippi does, but it’s the longest river in North America and pivotal in the history of our nation. When it was time for Lisa Dill’s family to replace the old pontoon boat on Lake Okoboji, her cousins suggested taking it on a journey down the Missouri and giving it away at the end. Dill jumped on board. She wrote about the experience and the river in 'Around the Bend: Floating Down the Missouri River.' Then, school's out for summer, but that doesn't mean we can't still learn. In the first installment of 'Talk of Iowa Summer School,' middle school science teacher Mark Dorhout shares how birdhouses can be a tool to encourage the next generation of citizen scientists.
Courtesy of Mark Flammang
/
Iowa DNR
-
Governors from Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri met with the Army Corps of Engineers. Representatives from Kansas also attended the meeting to discuss issues on the Missouri River. -
As senators from Iowa and Nebraska throw support behind federal legislation that would return land in northwest Iowa to the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, a spokesperson remembers the tribe's former council chair who began the push. -
The pallid sturgeons outlasted dinosaurs, but human changes to the Missouri River nearly wiped out the prehistoric fish. Some experts think the fish’s struggle could signal larger problems on the Big Muddy, especially as climate change accelerates.
-
A survey from Waterkeeper Alliance found chemicals known as PFAS were found in surface waters across the United States with particularly high concentrations found in some rivers in the Midwest. -
The state has filed a lawsuit against Sioux City for concealing a three-year scheme to release wastewater into the Missouri River without disinfecting it. -
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers forecasts dry conditions and low-levels of run-off will continue throughout 2022.
-
The farmer cooperative that runs the northernmost port along the Missouri River says it’s happy with how the facility has performed in its first shipping season. -
A new facility for barge traffic has opened along the Missouri River in western Iowa.
-
Levees protect people, towns, and agriculture from flooding. But two years ago, parts of the Missouri River and its tributaries reached record crests,...
