AVAILABILITY:
This workshop will fill fast so please sign up ASAP. If the course fills up, you may be placed on a waiting list.

WORKSHOP BASICS:
Workshop Title: Rediscover the River: A 4-Day Mississippi River Expedition
Workshop Date(s): July 16-19, 2007
Workshop Beginning Location: St. Louis, MO
Workshop Ending Location: Saverton, MO
Meeting Time: 8am, July 16

Fee: The entire workshop is FREE OF CHARGE. However, you will be responsible for ALL lodging costs throughout the event, transportation to and from the embarking point of the workshop, all dinners but one, and any fees associated with taking the course for graduate or professional development credit.

Tentative Schedule and Topics:

Day 1- Will focus on the natural and cultural history of the Mississippi River. Beginning at the Confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and traveling up to Grafton, IL, topics covered may include: Lewis and Clark and Westward Expansion, the Steamboat Era, Cahokia Mounds/Native Americans, the Rivers Influence on Modern Music and Food, the Formation of the Mississippi River, Fossils, etc.

Day 2-Will focus on the rivers aquatic inhabitants and modern day changes on the Mississippi. Beginning in Grafton, IL and ending in Louisiana, MO, topics may include: native mussels and fish, invasive species, river navigation, pollution and water quality

Day 3- The bottomlands and wildlife of the Mississippi River. Beginning in Louisiana and ending in Saverton, we will possibly cover: identification of native hardwood trees, wildflowers, and grasses, the value and importance of riparian buffers and wetlands, native birds and wildlife, and how to forage for wild edibles (with a cookout at night to eat the goodies we collected!)

Day 4-The river as an integrating concept and river stewardship. Taking place in Saverton, we will discover ways to use the river to teach ANY discipline. We may take a field trip to the famous caves of Mark Twain, perform a small scale river cleanup and/or tree planting/prairie restoration project. After the day is complete, we will take a bus/van back to St. Louis. (Trip to cars will take approximately 2 hours (110 miles).

DRIVING DIRECTIONS*:

The workshop will begin at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, at the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Columbia Bottoms. We will all meet at 8am at the Nature Center.

Directions to get there:

From IL and IN -
Take I-55, I-64 or I-70 towards St. Louis. Get on I-255 N or I-270 West towards Missouri. After crossing the Mississippi River, take the first exit, Exit 1, for Riverside Drive. At the end of the ramp, take a LEFT, heading north. Follow Riverside Drive for approximately 2.8 miles. Riverside Drive becomes Columbia Bottom Road at its intersection with Larimore Road. You will see a large sign on the RIGHT for Columbia Bottoms, turn RIGHT to enter the park and then take your first LEFT to go to the Nature Center. We will meet inside.

From MO-
Take I-55, I-64 (HWY 40) or I-70 towards St. Louis. Get on I-270 North or East towards Illinois. Before crossing the Mississippi River, take the last Missouri exit, Exit 1, for Riverside Drive. At the end of the ramp, take a LEFT, heading north. Follow Riverside Drive for approximately 2.8 miles. Riverside Drive becomes Columbia Bottom Road at its intersection with Larimore Road. You will see a large sign on the RIGHT for Columbia Bottoms, turn RIGHT to enter the park and then take your first LEFT to go to the Nature Center. We will meet inside.

NOTE: IF YOU NEED MORE SPECIFIC DIRECTIONS FROM YOUR STARTING POINT,JUST EMAIL ME WHERE YOU WILL BEGIN YOUR TRIP AND I WILL GET THE EASIEST ROUTE THERE.

*IF YOU PREFER TO FLY IN, PLEASE JUST LET ME KNOW AND WE WILL ARRANGE FOR YOU TO PICKED UP AT THE AIRPORT BY A MEMBER OF THE LL&W CREW

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT/COLLEGE CREDITS OFFERED:

Graduate Credit TBA:
Professional Development Units:

Illinois Teachers- 33 CPDUs
Indiana Teachers-17 CRUs
Kentucky Teachers-33 PD hours
Iowa Teachers-TBA

TO REGISTER FOR THIS WORKSHOP:
Due to the “rough edge” of our workshops, please note that there are several things to consider before registering. We strongly encourage everyone to read over “Things to Consider” before signing for a workshop. Okay, you think you can handle a day out on the river?

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