Priorities in Action: Conserving key landscapes and building partnerships
MOVING A MISSOURI RIVER LEVEE Following ruinous flooding in 2019 that put 56,000 acres underwater, displaced nearly 300 people and cost an estimated $25 million in agricultural revenue in Atchison County, residents knew something had to change. The Nature Conservancy helped connect them and nearly a dozen partners to create a solution that would benefit people and nature. The locally led project ultimately moved five miles of a 71-year- old federal levee inland, creating more than 1,000 acres of floodplain along the Missouri River. The floodplain gives the river room to rise and recede naturally, provides wildlife habitat and protects people from increasingly common floods. GREEN SCHOOLYARDS Transforming asphalt lots into pockets of nature is good for kids and waterways. As part of TNC’s Healthy Cities strategy, we have partnered with the St. Louis Public School District, the Missouri Department of Conservation, Dutchtown South Community Corporation and other local stakeholders to launch a green schoolyards pilot program. The new green spaces will offer access to nature and its many health benefits in neighborhoods where such access is limited. The spaces will also absorb and filter rainwater. Excess stormwater runoff can overload city drainage systems and carry pollutants into rivers FISH-FRIENDLY BRIDGES Scores of species of fish that inhabit Shoal Creek will be able to swim freely through the Ozark stream after TNC and its partners replace low- water crossings with free-span bridges. TNC has assessed dozens of such crossings—roads that cut through streams and creeks—in recent years with officials in southwest Missouri to determine priorities and inform grant applications. Low-water crossings block fish from habitat, food and their spawning grounds. And rising waters easily top the crossings, making them dangerous for drivers. As a model for future projects, the bridges will let water and wildlife flow freely underneath while creating a safer path above for people.
TOP TO BOTTOM: Missouri River © Route 3 Films Froebel Elementary © Kristy Stoyer/TNC Fish-friendly crossing © U.S. Fish and Wildlife
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