Middle Mississippi Wetland Field Station

Restored wetland enables new research

To help farmers retire their flood-prone farmland in the wake of the 1993 Mississippi River floods, ALC acquired properties and enrolled them in conservation programs designed to help restore the ground to wetlands.

In 1997, ALC acquired four properties that composed a 1,383-acre wetlands complex near East Cape Girardeau, Illinois. The property was restored by ALC in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

In 2003, ALC sold the wetlands complex to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources so that Southern Illinois University at Carbondale could establish a Middle Mississippi River Wetland Field Station to study the Mississippi River and its largest tributaries. The University now manages the field station as a research, education and demonstration facility for wetlands restoration and sustainable floodplain use. Students and researchers from several fields are using the site. Eventually, the property may be managed to provide nature tourism, hunting, fishing and other public recreation activities.