Monthly Archives: August 2019

Drone, Panorama, Photography, River-scapes

LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND – Sediment | Mississippi River #mudpicnic

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LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND – Mississippi River | Wacouta Bay

#mudpicnic
Lighthouse Island

Sediment loads and the growing island

Lighthouse Island has grown about a mile in the last 50 years. The area is notorious for boat groundings. Sediment loads—the size of a city block filled to the height of the Foshay Tower in downtown Minneapolis—accumulate in Lake Pepin every year.  With sedimentation rates 10x above normal, the lake is in a fight for survival. It has two water quality impairments and is expected to prematurely disappear in just a few generations. See the Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance website for more information.

In many ways, Lake Pepin is the poster child for the larger problems facing the Mississippi River all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. ~LPLA

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Mud Picnic

Last weekend, LPLA hosted its first Mud Picnic to help visualize this problem. The event was a powerful experience for attendees and took place at the head of Lake Pepin in the shallow waters just downstream of Lighthouse Island. ~LPLA

Lake Pepin is a natural lake on the Upper Mississippi River that is disappearing due to excess sediment from upstream sources. Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance (LPLA) is a grassroots organization working to save the lake for future generations.  ~LPLA

If you care about Lake Pepin, please attend the LPLA open-house about upstream pollution affecting Lake Pepin THIS Thursday, August 29th from 4-7 PM at the Lake City Sportsman’s Club. Free food, Cash bar.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will be giving a presentation about recent studies affecting Lake Pepin at 5:30 PM.

Join the over 600 LPLA members and help move the effort to restore water quality, fish and wildlife habitat and recreational access in upper Lake Pepin.  Become a member | Donate

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Drone, Panorama, Photography, River-scapes

MISSISSIPPI RIVER – Head of Lake Pepin | Wacouta Bay #aerialphotography #mudpicnic

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MISSISSIPPI RIVER
Head of Lake Pepin | Wacouta Bay

MISSISSIPPI RIVER

I shot this panorama while attending the Mud Picnic organized by Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance on 2019-08-24.  Wonderful cause and beautiful evening for the event.  Most of the event took place off the point of the island just right of center in the image above where a massive sand bar has been forming due to sediment from up river.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER

MISSISSIPPI RIVER

MISSISSIPPI RIVER

 

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Drone, Panorama, Photography, River-scapes

MISSISSIPPI RIVER – Pool #4, Everts Resort #aerialphotography”

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MISSISSIPPI RIVER – Pool #4, Everts Resort

Pool 4 extends from Lock & Dam 4 located near Alma, Wisconsin upstream to Lock & Dam 3 located near Hager City, Wisconsin.

Unlike the Lower Mississippi, much of the upper river is a series of pools created by a system of 29 locks and dams. The structures were authorized by Congress in the 1930s, and most were completed by 1940. A primary reason for damming the river is to facilitate barge transportation. The dams regulate water levels for the Upper River and play a major part in regulating levels on the Lower Mississippi.

Navigation locks allow towboats, barges, and other vessels to transit the dams. Approximately 1350 kilometers (850 mi), from the head of navigation in Mile 858, Minneapolis, Minnesota down to Cairo, has been made suitable for commercial navigation with a depth of 2.75 meters (9 ft) The agriculture and barge transportation industries have lobbied in the late 20th and early 21st centuries for a multi-billion-dollar project to upgrade the aging lock and dam system. Some environmental groups and advocates of budgetary restraint argue that the project lacks economic justification.

Each lock and dam complex creates a pool upstream of it. There are 29 locks on the Upper Mississippi maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—from Upper St. Anthony Falls upstream to Chain of Rocks downstream. The locks provide a collective 123 meters (404 ft) of lift. ~wikipedia

These photos were taken just downriver from Lock & Dam 3 at Everts Resort.  The sunset and clouds were fantastic this last Friday.

Mississippi River Map

Looking downstream towards Everts Resort

Mississippi River Pool 4

Everts Resort

Mississippi River Pool 4

Looking upstream at Lock & Dam 3 off in the distance.  You can see the steam rising from the cooling towers at Prairie Island Nuclear Plant right below the sun.

Mississippi River Pool 4

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