When it comes to learning about water and its impacts, what better to study than the Mississippi River? Its massive watershed spans nearly a third of the continental United States.
As one of our nation’s key transportation routes, the Mighty Mississippi significantly impacts the economy, transportation and recreation. Understanding how humans use the Mississippi River and how those actions impact natural ecosystems and human populations living along its banks is important to the health of the entire region.
To help prepare future water professionals, faculty from UW-La Crosse and UW-Platteville created a one-of-a-kind course: The Mississippi River: Mighty and Managed. Development of the course and its first offering were funded by the Freshwater Collaborative.
Alysa Remsburg, teaching professor in the Sustainability and Environmental Studies Program at UW- La Crosse, says the goal was to create a multidisciplinary course to help students understand the complex social-economic-ecological dynamics of managing the Mississippi River watershed. They wanted students to see how activities in one part of the hydrologic system affect areas upstream and downstream. For example, how does agricultural runoff in the upper Midwest affect people living along the Gulf of Mexico?
“This course examines how land and river management have resulted in the infrastructure we depend on and also significant environmental damage,” she says.
Students study past and present Mississippi River management, how decisions affect underserved communities along the river, and controversies with river transportation, flooding, recreation, pollution, and invasive species.
Remsburg and her co-creators wanted to provide an experience that was hands-on and offered diverse perspectives. For example, Remsburg focused on content around environmental sustainability. Austin Polebitski, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at UW-Platteville, create lessons around flood modeling. Rebecca Doyle-Morin, professor of biology at UW-Platteville, discussed mussel research and invasive species.
Guest speakers and field trips provide additional insight. The collaborative course offering in spring 2023 featured professionals who shared firsthand knowledge about floodplain insurance, village resilience, river recreation, lock and dam operation, barge navigation, water quality monitoring, stormwater runoff, invasive species management, and archaeology.
The second offering will be in spring 2025 at UW-La Crosse. Remsburg will include materials developed by her co-instructors at UW-Platteville.
By learning how river management impacts different stakeholders, students gain insight into the tradeoffs among different economic sectors, cultural values, and natural systems. Thus, students who wish to enter careers in natural resource management will be more informed decision makers.
The beauty of the course is that it attracts students from many majors, not those focused solely on water and the environment.
“We go in-depth about river issues, but the course doesn’t require a science background,” Remsburg says. “It’s good for anyone living near water and who will experience increased storm events, which is really all of us.”