During the summer, the band Big Blue Sky plays Friday nights for Maiden Voyage Tours, a northeast Iowa riverboat company. The band’s work adds to a centuries-long tradition of music inspired and transported by the Mississippi River.
Category: Environment
Posted inEnvironment
The Mississippi River is eroding sacred Indigenous mounds in Iowa and Wisconsin
The Sny Magill Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument near Clayton, Iowa, is a hidden wonder, with more than 100 sacred mounds built by Native Americans thousands of years ago. But the Mississippi River has significantly eroded the bank they built on, eating away at some of the mounds at the water’s edge.
Posted inEnvironment
Why aren’t tribal nations installing more green energy? Blame ‘white tape’
A seeming lack of interest in joining the growing green energy market is the focus of a recent economic study coming out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison detailing barriers — like federal red tape — that tribes face when starting green energy projects.
Posted inEnvironment
The fate of thousands of US dams hangs in the balance, leaving rural communities with hard choices
Wisconsin dams are among nearly 12,000 that have been built under the USDA’s Watershed Programs. Generally smaller and set in rural agricultural areas, they’re mostly clustered from the center of the country eastward.
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Deportations, raids and visa access: How the presidential election could alter life for immigrant farmworkers
The division on immigration between presidential candidates shows what could be at stake for immigrant workers, who have underpinned the agriculture industry for decades.
Posted inEnvironment
Another Midwest drought is causing transportation headaches on the Mississippi River
For the third year in a row, extreme drought conditions in the Midwest are drawing down water levels on the Mississippi River, raising prices for companies that transport goods downstream and forcing governments and business owners to seek alternative solutions.
Posted inEnvironment
Wisconsin dairy industry fights back as towns seek to curb CAFO growth
As Wisconsin dairy farms get bigger and municipal and state governments impose new restrictions in response, the dairy industry is increasingly fighting back through the court system.
Posted inEnvironment
‘It’s just no place for an oil pipeline’: Wisconsin tribe continues fight to remove 71-year-old Line 5 from pristine place
Line 5 includes a 12-mile stretch that bisects the Bad River reservation, which is heavily forested with river crossings and large swaths of wetlands.
Posted inEnvironment
Fertilizer from human waste faces scrutiny but remains a profitable industry
Converting sewage to fertilizer saves cities money on landfill costs. But biosolid fertilizer has been shown to contain chemicals that can harm the environment and human health.
Posted inEnvironment
Wisconsin town of Eureka sued over large farm regulations
After notifying a northwest Wisconsin town last October of their intent to challenge a local ordinance that regulates livestock farming, two residents last week made good on their promise.
Posted inEconomy, Environment
As investors pay top-dollar for land, farmers are often priced out
Five Wisconsin counties saw a producer decline of at least 15% over five years while agriculture production sales increased.
Posted inEnvironment
How many manure spills is too many? St. Croix County residents scrutinize big farm’s new owner
The new owner of a large St. Croix County dairy farm with a history of manure spills is seeking to build trust among watchful residents who worry about deteriorating water quality.