Title: Sierra Club Upper Mississippi River Task Force Records
Inclusive Dates: 1969-1976

Creator:

• Sierra Club Upper Mississippi River Task Force

Call Number: River Falls Mss CM

Quantity: 1.2 c.f. (3 archives boxes)

Repository:

Housed at the University Archives and Area Research Center, Chalmer Davee Library, University of Wisconsin-River Falls; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections.

Archival Locations:

UW-River Falls, Chalmer Davee Library / River Falls Area Research Ctr. (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Records of the Sierra Club Upper Mississippi River Task Force, an environmental group organized by local Sierra Club chapters in response to perceived inadequacies of H.R. 10529, a bill sponsoring a National Recreation Area in the Upper Mississippi River Valley. The correspondence includes letters between Task Force members and from other interested parties to the Task Force. Subject files contain correspondence, reports, studies, surveys, minutes, memos, proposed legislation, meeting notices, and pamphlets of the Task Force and other environmental and non-environmental groups involved with the same issues. The collection also contains correspondence and subject files concerning the St. Croix River inclusion in the National Scenic and Wild River System, and other Mississippi River environmental issues.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-rf00cm

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The Sierra Club Upper Mississippi River Task Force records were compiled by Dr. Patrick Nolan during his tenure as its chairman. Dr. Nolan was then a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and a member of the North Star Chapter of the Sierra Club (Minnesota). In September 1973, Dr. Nolan moved from Wisconsin to Ohio, and his activities with the Task Force ended, although he did continue to correspond with other members. He also continued to collect materials into 1974.

Nolan served as the North Star Chapter's chairman of the Rivers and Streams Task Force, and thus, in the fall of 1971, was the natural choice to serve as one of its representatives to the Sierra Club's newly-formed Upper Mississippi River Task Force. The Task Force was composed of Sierra Club chapters from the five states affected by the proposed Upper Mississippi National Recreation Area: North Star Chapter, Ozark Chapter (Missouri), Great Lakes Chapter (Illinois), Iowa Chapter, and Wisconsin Chapter. The organization also worked with other environmental groups including the Izaak Walton League, the Audubon Society, and the L-15 Levee Opposition Coalition.

The Task Force was created in response to what the Sierra Club perceived as the inadequacies of H.R. 10529, a bill designed to establish an Upper Mississippi River National Recreation Area. The proposed legislation was the result of findings of a government task force composed of representatives of federal agencies (Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Sports, Fisheries, and Wildlife, Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, and National Park Service) together with representatives of the five states affected (Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin).

The work of the government task force resulted in a comprehensive 1971 report entitled “Upper Mississippi River National Recreation Study.” The report's recommendations formed the basis of the first bill designed to establish an Upper Mississippi National Recreation Area, H.R. 5468, which died with the close of the 91st Congress in 1971. The proposed area would have included approximately 214,000 acres in public ownership, 374,500 acres to be acquired, and 390,000 acres of water. The area would have extended along 660 miles of river from Minneapolis to the mouth of the Missouri River near St. Louis.

H.R. 5468 was reintroduced into Congress as H.R. 10529, with reduced acreage and budget, which the Sierra Club felt was detrimental to the entire concept and the preservation of the Upper Mississippi area. In particular, the Sierra Club disagreed with the reduction of acreage to be acquired by scenic easement, the provision that the Secretary of the Army approve all plans for development of the National Recreation Area, and the reduction of acreage to be acquired along the corridor of the river extending from the bluffs on one side to the bluffs opposite. This bill did not become law.

The records are valuable for tracing the organizational history and activities of a grass roots organization. The collection is arranged in four series: Correspondence, Mississippi River Subject File, St. Croix River Subject File, and Miscellaneous Materials.

The CORRESPONDENCE AND RELATED MATERIALS file is arranged by the type of activity with which it is concerned, and is sparse. Most of what exists deals with Task Force organizational matters, with some letters from other interested parties.

The SUBJECT FILES are divided by geographic area involved, the MISSISSIPPI RIVER and the ST. CROIX RIVER, and thereunder by specific activity. Included are reports, studies, surveys, minutes, memoranda, meeting notices, and pamphlets of the Task Force and other groups. Among the latter represented are the Izaak Walton League, Audubon Society, L—15 Levee Opposition Coalition, Army Corps of Engineers, Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission, Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee, Minnesota-Wisconsin Boundary Area Commission, National Water Commission, and Upper Mississippi Waterway Association (representing barge and towboat owners, and terminal and commodity operators). Of particular interest are the records and reports which show the little-known railroad-environmentalist cooperative effort to force re-examination of the Corps of Engineers' plans to rebuild and expand locks and dam #26 at Alton, Illinois. Also of interest is the Task Force's “Proposal for Revising H.R. 10529” accompanied by its drafts and revisions.

Filed with MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS at the end of the collection are a study of the Fox River Basin, newsclippings pertaining to environmental issues in the Mississippi River area, and discharge permit applications received by Patrick Nolan from the Army Corps of Engineers Office, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Patrick B. Nolan, Dayton, Ohio, 1974, 1983. Accession Number: M74-196, M83-147

Processing Information

Processed by Ruth Wachter-Nelson and Joanne Hohler, 1983, and by Menzi Behrnd-Klodt, 1986.

River Falls Mss CM	Series: Correspondence and Related Materials
Box   1 Folder   1	Miscellaneous Sierra Club Projects, 1973 March-1974 April
Box   1 Folder   2	Upper Mississippi River National Recreation Area Task Force, 1971 May-1973 May
	Series: Mississippi River Subject File	⇧
Box   1 Folder   3	“Ecological Habitats in Pool 21 Upper Mississippi River,” Final Report to Department of the Army, Chicago District, Corps of Engineers, by John L. Ostdiek, George H. Schneider, and Alfred F. Pogge, 1971 June 22
Box   1 Folder   4-5	“Final Environmental Statement” - Locks and Dam No. 26, Mississippi River, Alton, Illinois, Volumes 1-2, to Accompany the Final Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1976 July
Box   1 Folder   6	“The Major River Corridors in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area,” A Metropolitan Council Staff Report, 1970 December
Box   1 Folder   7	Miscellany
Box   1 Folder   8	“Mississippi River Research Consortium,” Transactions of the 2nd Annual Meeting, 1969 June 6-7
	Mississippi River Year-Round Navigation
Box   1 Folder   9	Navigation Study, 1972 May-1973 May Scope and Content Note: Includes Outline for Phase I Report, and related materials, 1971 July-1972 July.
Box   1 Folder   10	Phase I Report Draft, 1973 April
Box   2 Folder   1	Phase I Report, 1973 September
Box   2 Folder   2	Twelve Foot Channel Study - Correspondence, Comments, Statements, and Related Materials, 1971-1973
Box   2 Folder   3	“Upper Mississippi River Habitat Classification Survey, Hastings, Minnesota, to Alton, Illinois,” Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee, Fish Technical Section, 1971 March
Box   2 Folder   4	“Upper Mississippi River Natural Resources Bibliography,” compiled by Don R. Helm and Tom L. Boland, Iowa Conservation Commission, 1972 June
Box   2 Folder   5	Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission Correspondence and Files, 1972-1974
Box   2 Folder   6	Upper Mississippi River Conservation Committee Material, 1971-1973
Box   2 Folder   7	Upper Mississippi River National Recreation Area Task Force Reports, Proposed Legislation, Minutes, Statements, and Proposals for Revision of H.R. 10529, 1971-1973
	Series: St. Croix River Subject File	⇧
Box   3 Folder   1-2	Inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic River System, Correspondence, Proposed Legislation, Reports, Memos, Notices, and Other Material, 1967 January, 1971-1976, undated
Box   3 Folder   3	Moratorium on Condominium Construction, Correspondence and Other Material, 1971-1973, undated
	Series: Miscellaneous Materials	⇧
Box   3 Folder   4	“The Fox River Basin,” circa 1969
Box   3 Folder   5	News clippings regarding Mississippi River
Box   3 Folder   6	Discharge Permit Application Forms Received by Patrick Nolan from the Corps of Engineers Office, St. Paul, Minnesota