America's Waterway has a goal to create
a constituency and shared understanding for
the Mississippi River. The Mississippi is
the iconic and monumental U.S. river, not
only in its size, but also in its
association with the country's cultural
heritage and economic development. Its
unique position should be a catalyst for
cohesive approaches to its future. Instead,
its size and length, less-densely populated
regions, and multiple oversight
jurisdictions have lead to disparate and
disjointed approaches.
Currently, attitudes about the Mississippi
River are framed based on only one aspect of
the River. For some, this is the part of the
river in their community. For the people who
work on the River, it's barge traffic that
defines the River. For many in the general
public, it is the fiction of Mark Twain. For
the multiple layers of regulatory agencies
that govern water quality, water levels, and
use and habitat, it's the section over which
they have jurisdiction. This results in
disjointed policy regarding the River and
fractionalized public opinion around the
Mississippi's value and role to the nation.
Today this geographic barrier to
cohesiveness can be overcome through the
Internet and the many software applications
that link and join people all over the
world. Today's use of the Internet has
turned toward the creation of on-line
communities and advocacy for movements. It
is time to tap the Internet on behalf of the
Mississippi River.
Through the Internet and A National Dialogue
for the Future of America's Waterway, it is
possible to restore, protect and enhance the
River using whole-River approaches to its
condition, character and future.
America's Waterway is a nonprofit
organization, incorporated and based in
Grand Rapids, Minnesota. We're being started
because a Web site representing the River
must be dedicated to the River in order to
effectively serve a Mississippi River
constituency. Our plan to build content
relies on input directly from representative
communities and stakeholders rather than
committees and organizations. We plan to use
the National Dialogue to capture common
attitudes and goals, sort priorities and
agree upon common objectives. Finally, we
will provide on-going site management to
enable and facilitate the community's need
for information, linkage and on-going
community building functions.
Web sites allow for the level of complexity
that is the Mississippi River. To build a
shared understanding and sense of
importance, we must capture all aspects of
the River, from culture to commerce, and
from ecology to tourism. A shared
understanding has to appeal to the senses as
much as it appeals to the intellect. It is
our goal to build this Mississippi River
community in such a way that facts on a wide
array of issues can be shared and still
inspire new Web site visitors with the
beauty and majesty of one of the world's
mightiest rivers. |
