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Upper Mississippi Basin Stewardship Initiative


Developed at Saint Mary's University


What is the Stewardship Initiative?: A short paper summarizing the key components of the Stewardship Initiative as initially developed by Rory Vose and Barry Drazkowski of the Department of Resource Analysis at Saint Mary's University.  Dr. Vose and Mr. Drazkowski coordinated its input and evolution beginning in the fall of 1997.  The Initiative represents coordination of subsequent upper basin stakeholders' input and ideas from the environmental, agriculture, citizen action, and government communities.  The Initiative presents input from a core development team represented by the Mississippi River Basin Alliance, American Rivers, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the University of Minnesota.

2002 Legislation (Active Bill in the 107th Congress)
H.R. 3480, the Upper Mississippi River Basin Protection Act of 2001
Combing elements of H.R. 1800 and H.R. 4013 to help prevent impairment to resources of the River basin, Rep. Ron Kind introduced H.R. 3480, the Upper Mississippi River Basin Protection Act. The Water and Power Subcommittee of the House Resources Committee held hearings on H.R. 3480 on March 7, 2002. Read Congressman Kind's testimony. Follow H.R. 3480 via Congressman Kind's Mississippi River/Environment page, or use this Legislation Search Tool at the Library of Congress. Comments on H.R. 3480 from UMRBA, the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association. The bill passed in the House unanimously and was referred to the U.S. Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works on April 10, 2002.

Current bill status as of 5/30/02:
4/10/2002:
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
4/25/2002:
Committee on Environment and Public Works. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.

2001 Legislation (H.R. 1800 retired for H.R. 3480)
H.R. 1800, Upper Mississippi River Basin Conservation Act of 2001:  Review the newly revised Upper Mississippi River Basin Conservation Act, as resubmitted by Congressman Kind on May 10, 2001.  H.R. 1800 formally establishes the Upper Mississippi Basin Stewardship Initiative as envisioned and developed at St. Mary's University.  Congressman Ron Kind's press release.

2000 Legislation (H.R. 4013 retired for H.R. 3480)
Summary of H.R. 4013 as introduced in 2000: Summary of the House Resolution 4013 with seven sections: Citizen Water Council, Interagency Working Group, Water Quality Monitoring Network, Computer Modeling and Outreach Programs, Financial and Technical Assistance under USDA Conservation Programs, Protection of Personal Data, and Authorization of Appropriations. You can also link to a copy of the bill in an Adobe PDF file to read in its long form or print it out.
Agriculture Committee Testimony on H.R. 4013: Transcripts of testimony taken on September 13, 2000 in Washington D.C. Speakers were Minnesota Congressman Gil Gutknecht, Wisconsin Congressman Ron Kind, Associate Director for Water USGS Survey Robert Hirch, and Chief of Programs from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Thomas A. Weber.

PowerPoint Presentation on the Stewardship Initiative: Here is a summary of the Stewardship Initiative in original Microsoft PowerPoint format. 

Lower Mississippi River Initiative: If there is an Upper Basin, there has to be an Lower Basin. Here is an summary about what is planned on the southern end of the Mississippi for Stewardship.