The Mississippi River is one of the world’s great rivers and one of the most complex floodplain river ecosystems on the planet. It is also one of the defining features of the North American continent.

Forty percent of the migrating birds in North America depend on the Mississippi River for their survival. The river is home to over 200 species of fish, including some that are unchanged since the age of the dinosaurs.

Few natural resources in America have been altered by man as much as the Mississippi has been changed to accommodate our needs for water and transportation. In recent times, significant human effort has turned to restoring the great river’s environment.

The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA) was designated by Congress in 1988 to provide special protection to the unique reach of the Mississippi that runs for 72 miles through the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. Here the river changes more than it does anywhere else along its 2,300-mile length.