Coming Together For Our River: 2019 Annual Report from Friends of the Mississippi River

April 25 e-letter from Whitney Clark, Executive Director, Friends of the Mississippi River

I’ve been thinking lately about an animated map making the rounds on the web. In the map, our continent is stripped of borders and state lines. A satellite image boasts the deep greens of the Midwest, the dark signature of our great lakes, the tawny dry western deserts. Through the middle, as if an artery between east and west, a deep blue line runs from north to south, from creek to sea. Hundreds of other turquoise lines race to join. By the end of the animation, more than half of the land is covered by these veins through one body of blue: Our Mississippi River watershed.

You can watch the full animation in our interactive 2019 annual report. There, you'll also find stories of how you joined together for the river last year. These stories are proof of your far-reaching collective impact, calling to mind the wide sweep of that stunning animation.

Animated watershed map made with images by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and U.S. Geological Survey EROS Center. The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).

From protecting drinking water for all to creating habitat for more than 20 at-risk species; from generating a new Youth Empowerment Program to organizing for a right response to a riverfront toxic waste dump — we’re so proud and so grateful to do this work with you.

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Last year, we spent more than 10,000 hours together learning about and stewarding this land. This year will be different.

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COVID-19 presents a serious, inequitable threat to members of our communities. What can protect us is coming together with and for one another, not physically, but in the spirit of an ethic of interdependence. This pandemic makes clear what has always been true: that we are responsible for each other’s well-being.

That ethic is not unlike the one you hold for this beloved, threatened river that runs through us and connects us to each other. Our Mississippi River binds us to the sandhill cranes journeying north, to the western deserts and to the eastern forests, to every barge worker, farmer and paddler, every industrial town and bustling city in our shared watershed.

You are at the heart of this vital movement for a healthy Mississippi River. In this challenging season, may you drink deeply from the river. May the river carry you safely through.

With sincere gratitude,

Whitney L. Clark

Executive Director, Friends of the Mississippi River

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P.S. We're celebrating Earth Day all month! Join us or make a gift for the river.