Buying a better environment

A long-standing dream to turn the Mississippi River area around Cape Girardeau into a more enticing tourist attraction is on its way to fruition through the partnership of several environmental organizations.

In celebration of that partnership, the American Land Conservancy was host for a three-hour cruise that embarked from Cape Girardeau Thursday morning to visit conservation projects at Devil's Island and the Middle Mississippi River Wetland Field Station in Thebes, Ill.

"This has really been an opportunity to acknowledge the fact that the partnership of all these organizations has been successful," said Jenny Frazier, project manager for the ALC's Midwest region.

The ALC has been involved in the middle Mississippi River area -- the 176-mile stretch from St. Louis to Cairo, Ill. -- since 1993.

The group has been buying agricultural land located in the Mississippi River floodplain, restoring it and then selling the land to entities such as the Department of Natural Resources and the U.S Department of Fish and Wildlife for public use.

"We tend to take on more difficult projects," Frazier said. "Those that are too high-risk for nature conservancy organizations or too big for local organizations to handle."

In restoring the land, ALC also removes any toxins making the area more desirable for organizations such as DNR.

The organization has purchased more than 20,000 acres of farmland in Illinois, offering willing sellers fair market value in exchange for a donation of 10 percent of the sale price to go toward ALC operations.

River travel

The cruise took 18 passengers seven miles upstream to Devil's Island, then downstream 13 miles to Thebes, Ill., where passengers disembarked and were taken by bus to the Middle Mississippi River Wetland Field Station for a dedication of the new station.

Both projects are part of land acquisitions that took place in the past year, and no timelines have been set for opening either areas to the public.

The top deck of the M/B Blankenship, borrowed from the Army Corps of Engineers for the occasion, offered a bird's-eye view of the island's lush green trees and sandy shoreline for representatives of organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, the departments of natural resources in both Missouri and Illinois, the Corps of Engineers, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and Wildlife Forever, a nonprofit conservation group that provides grants to communities to promote wildlife habitat.

"I've never been to the Mississippi before, and I never realized how big and beautiful it is," said Cynthia Berg, a development associate based at the ALC's home office in San Francisco. "Pictures do not do it justice."

Devil's Island, a 2,740 acre parcel of land that is seven miles upstream from Cape Girardeau in Union and Alexander counties, was purchased by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources in February through a transaction with the ALC.

"Our hope is to use it to promote outdoor recreation," said Connie Waggoner, manager of the division of realty with IDNR in Springfield, Ill.

There are currently no public roads to site. The state would eventually like to build a boat launch and restore the island to its natural state, she said.

The ALC was also involved in the recent acquisition of 1,400 acres dubbed the Middle Mississippi Wetland Field Station near Thebes.

"There's been so much going on with it, and we hope that eventually the station will be a natural attraction," said Chris Kohler, director of the university's fisheries and aquaculture center. He will eventually coordinate the field station.

Students and employees of SIU will manage the restoration of the area, which has been used for farming for years.

The university has tentative plans to build dormitories to allow time and space for in-depth research projects at the station, as well as an interpretative center for visitors. Kohler said he also hopes to implement fishing and other outdoor recreation programs open to the public.

The project will be funded through federal grants and private donations.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128