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Traveling the Missouri River was treacherous. Tree trunks raced downstream, threatening to puncture the Corps’ boats. Pulses of snowmelt and rainwater carried tons of sediment that created a dynamic complex of channels, islands, sandbars and wetlands for the men to negotiate. The heavy, springtime currents made moving upstream exhausting work.
Lewis and Clark were awed by the Missouri’s force and its ever-changing banks. These shifting waters created sandbars that could “choke” and “confine” the river to a narrow channels, Lewis writes. This complex landscape created diverse habitats for migratory birds and fish to reproduce. As they doggedly pushed upstream, the explorers recorded a wealth of information about this region’s natural history.
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In Their Own Words... |
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“From the top of this Mound we beheld a most butifull landscape; Numerous herds of buffalow were Seen feeding in various directions, the Plain to North N. W & N E extends without interuption as far as Can be Seen.”
~ Clark | | Today’s Missouri River would be unrecognizable to these men. Their journey opened the American West to expansion, and as people followed in their steps, they vowed to tame this mighty river. Presently, six dams on the upper reaches of the Missouri have transformed one-third of the river into lake environments. The lower 750 miles of the river — between Ponca, Neb., and St. Louis, Mo. — have been stabilized and channeled. Along this stretch, the river is constricted to a narrow and fast channel with banks armored with rock.
The very nature of this river was changed, and critical habitat lost. Species dependent on the river’s seasonal cycle of rising and falling waters — such as pallid sturgeon, piping plover and the ancient paddlefish — ceased to thrive. Much of the river’s diversity Lewis and Clark described has been altered.
The Conservancy is working along the Missouri, Niobrara and Platte rivers to preserve, protect and restore critical natural habitat for future generations. To achieve this ambitious mission, the Conservancy is building partnerships with others who want to conserve the biodiversity representative of the landscapes that greeted Lewis and Clark in 1804.
The Conservancy’s Missouri River Program efforts are focused from Yankton, S.D. to St. Louis, Mo., where the river joins the Mississippi. Four Conservancy state programs — Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas — lie along this stretch of the river. A staff member dedicated solely to the Missouri River is working to energize, integrate and maximize the many conservation efforts of the four programs and their partners on the mighty river. | 
