Sediment strangling our rivers

The sediment comes mostly from the Minnesota River, and enters the Mississippi at the rivers’ confluence near Fort Snelling. It blocks sunlight from reaching down through the water, suppressing the growth of plants and all the wildlife that depends on them.

When the Mississippi’s current slows at the lip of Lake Pepin, the dirt settles out by the ton, raising the lake floor and collecting around the little islands like the one below McKay’s bluff. To bring both rivers back to a point where everything from water lilies to wild swans can thrive again — and to preserve Lake Pepin for the next generation — the amount of sediment in the Minnesota will have to come down by 50 to 60 percent.

(via Strib)