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Dr. Ken Lubinski has spent more than 30 years – his entire career as a river ecologist – working on the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Currently on loan to the Conservancy from the United States Geological Survey, Dr. Lubinski is working with the Upper Mississippi River program team. His work on the rivers began in 1973 when, as a graduate student, his first task was to sandbag the Illinois Natural History Survey’s Field Station in Havana (across the river from Emiquon) against the rising floodwaters of the Illinois River.
“My work on the Upper Mississippi River has given me a chance to feel that I’m helping bring science, common sense and ethics to decisions that will affect the greatest river in the United States. But in the process, I’ve also been able to find fishing holes of legendary status and to dive for mussels, the most curious, mysterious and beautiful of all river animals. The river is my joy. I’m one of those lucky people who wake up every morning wondering how it is that people actually pay me to do this.” | 
