State of the Mississippi River

A first-ever “State of the River” report has was released yesterday, focusing on the upper Mississippi between Dayton and Hastings.  It was compiled by the National Park Service and Friends of the Mississippi River. The good news is that the river is much cleaner than it was before passage of the Clean Water Act forty years ago.  The bad news?  There’s always another threat to the health of the river.  Paul Labovitz is Superintendent of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, which is part of the National Park Service.  The Park Service and the group Friends of the Mississippi issued a report yesterday on the health of a 72 mile stretch of the river from Dayton to Hastings.