River des Peres in the News

Recently, the River des Peres Watershed Coalition has been in the news quite a bit. Danelle Haake, the current Chairperson of the Coalition, will be interviewed the morning of April 22 by Doug McElvein of the KMOX morning show "Total Information" (am 1120). The audio of the interview may be downloaded from the KMOX website.

Cindy Duhigg, Danelle Haake, and Howard Webb of the Coalition were interviewed by Don Corrigan of the Times for their April 18, 2008 edition. The article and images may be found by visiting the Webster-Kirkwood Times and South County Times (note: different images are available for the two different articles).

The Coalition also found its way into the Journal on February 19, 2008. The article included interviews and photos of Danelle Haake and Dan Sherburne by Shawn Clubb. The article was printed in the West County Journal, the Kirkwood-Webster Journal, the South County Journal, and the South Side Journal.

We thank out local news outlets for their interest and their help in spreading the word!

River des Peres Community Planning Forum - 4/29

The River des Peres Watershed Coalition will be holding its third Community Planning Forum at the Heman Park Community Center on Tuesday, April 29th. Doors will open at 6:00 pm (refreshments provided) and the meeting will begin promptly at 6:30.

At our first meeting, we listed the 'critical issues' for the River des Peres. We had quite a long and detailed list, but we summarized it to: education, hydrology (flow), water quality, habitat quality, aesthetics, and policy.

At our second meeting, we began a list of the many ways we could work to address these critical issues. We again developed a long list, much of it focusing on education - the current list can be found at: http://www.thegreencenter.org/rdp/minutes_agenda/3-25-08-Summary.pdf

The April 29th meeting will be very important - if you are interested in improving the River des Peres, Deer Creek, Gravois Creek, or any of their tributaries, you don't want to miss this meeting! We will add to the list of actions we can take and then we will vote on which one(s) should be our highest priority. Everyone gets a vote, even if this is your first time working with the group. We are deciding the direction for the Coalition and we want as many people there as possible.

If you have questions or suggestions of actions we should add to the list, please email riverdesperes@gmail.com.

I-64 Reconstruction - Impacts on Deer Creek

Stream Team 3189 has taken on a special project. Beginning in 2007, this team has been monitoring 4 sites along Deer Creek. One site is upstream of I-64 (Hwy 40) and the other three are downstream. We hope to use the data to see how the highway reconstruction is affecting the stream. These four sites are monitored of chemistry twice a month and for biology twice per year. We have been recording data for over a year now.

If you would like to participate in this project or would like help in designing a project of your own, email danelle.haake@gmail.com.

WQM Interpreters needed 4/29 & 4/30 at Perugue Creek

Thank you all. Stream Team 2573 "Crawdads" has responded to the call and will assist Stream Team 1883 with this WQM effort.

"Nancy Snider is soliciting your assistance for some 6ht grade school groups at Perugue Creek on April 29th and/or April 30th. There will be 2 classrooms in the morning and two in the afternoon on both days. Nancy needs someone to assist a group with the benthic macroinvertebrate sampling and the shoreline suvey. Call thomas.ball@sbcglobal.net at 314-962-1241 if you can assist with this education day."

Missouri-Mississppi Confluence Cleanup Sat. 4/12

A big THANK YOU to everyone who came out to this cleanup.
The Mississippi was 1 foot over flood stage, so Capt. Steve wisely didn't launch the plate boat. Nevertheless, we pulled 3 tons of trash from the banks of the Mississippi, the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge and nearby Watkins Creek. It was cold, but it didn't snow. So, heyyy, Thanks again.


"While this blogsite is dedicated to improving communication among Water Quality Monitors, I intend a similar one for Stream Team River Cleanups, but haven't got around to it yet.

When/Where: This Saturday, 4/12/2008 at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge from 8 til noon.
What: We will have 3 cleanup options:
Wet feet & waders at Watkins Creek (801 Dunn Rd to Riverview);
Dry feet & land based at both sections of North Riverfront Park & Old Chain of Rocks Bridge;
Muddy & boat based with the Missouri River Relief crew on the Mississippi River bank west shoreline.
Free lunch will be provided at noon.
To register, call Kevin Keach at (314) 436-1324"

River des Peres Watershed Coalition

The River des Peres Watershed Coalition is interested in helping anyone who is working on the River des Peres or its tributaries - Deer Creek, Black Creek, Two-Mile Creek, Sebago Creek, Engelholm Creek, MacKenzie Creek, Gravois Creek, etc.

If you want to hold a clean-up event, need help monitoring, or just want more information, e-mail riverdesperes@gmail.com or go to www.riverdesperes.org!

La Barque WQM Bioblitz postponed to 4/26/08

The Stream Team 2991 "Friends of La Barque Creek" Bio-blitz has been postponed from 4/5 due to flooding conditions and increased risk. The new date is 4/26 and the details, at this point, remain the same as listed in the post below.

We'll meet at the Hilda Young Conservation Area on 4/26 at 9 am, and disburse to the WQM sites. We will then reconvene at the Eureka Lion's Park at 12 or 12:30 for lunch (provided) and to compare data results.

Water Quality Monitors who would like to join this effort are encouraged to contact thomas.ball@sbcglobal.net or Bob Coffing robertcoffing@sbcglobal.net .