BY ED FELIEN

Photo by Minnesota DNR

On Wednesday, April 17, from 7 to 8 p.m., the Longfellow Community Council will be sponsoring a discussion of The State of the Mississippi River at the Minnehaha Academy, 3100 W. River Pkwy. (please park in the east lot and enter at the clock tower door). The State of the River Report has been written in partnership with Friends of the Mississippi River and the National Park Service’s Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.

One of the most alarming conclusions from the report is that there are four species of Asian carp that are making their way up the river. Currently they’re at Missouri, and if they reach Minnesota they could have “potentially devastating consequences to aquatic life and recreation throughout the state.” Locks and dams can stop them, if there is a vigilant monitoring of their migration. Once they enter a body of water they tend to dominate and eliminate all other game fish.

This could have serious implications for tourism.

On the other hand, carp have been a delicacy in Chinese cooking for probably 2,000 years. They are generally served with a sweet and sour sauce. These are not the same common carp already found in Minnesota waters. Our bottom feeders are not considered food, whereas the Asian carp are considered delicious—like cod or even scallops. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources, while trying to contain the invasion, has begun to adjust to its presence. They have started a campaign to change the image of the carp. They are working with Louisiana chef Phillipe Parola developing recipes for Carp Provencale, Carp Almondine, Carp Steak and Carp Cakes.

The Asian carp are easily frightened and can jump 8 to 10 feet in the air. Some grow to 100 lbs. and can be dangerous. According to the EPA, “reported injuries include cuts from fins, black eyes, broken bones, back injuries and concussions.”

One other serious concern of the study is the continual discharge of chemicals and runoff from farms in Minnesota that is affecting aquatic life all down the Mississippi and creating a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico where no fish can survive.

In April of 2011 Carol Hogard reviewed “This Perennial Land”: “This book is thrilling! Yes, a book about farming that is thrilling. Why? Because the authors, Lansing Shepard and Paula Westmoreland, have mapped out for us solutions to a problem that seemed insurmountable: a ‘dead zone’ the size of Massachusetts at the mouth of the Mississippi River caused by herbicide, pesticide and fertilizer runoff from corn and soybean fields in the American Midwest. What Shepard and Westmoreland have done is create a model for saving a small watershed by demonstrating what actual farmers and communities are doing to save the Blue Earth river basin.

“What does that have to do with South Minneapolis? Plenty! This wonderful book clearly defines the problem and offers a model that any small, watershed community can follow to lessen runoff pollution and restore clean water.

“Then they offer as a model the example of forward thinking farmers and landowners who have changed their farming methods and greatly lessened the pollution load of the streams that cross their land. They do this by intensely focusing upon the farming practices that have already been implemented on several of the farms in the Blue Earth river basin.”