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Wild Winter and Spring weather
We suffured the worst ice storm in memory in January, freezing temperatures
all through February, a heat wave in March followed by a two week freeze
in April, which killed all the local fruit tree buds. We had a tough winter.
Now that Spring is here we have had lots of rain and are in the middle
of a major flood in mid May. What comes next?
Jon Offerman's house and boat at Lupus
Missouri River Flood of 07
Major Flood threatens Communities
The local Newspapers and TV stations are full of descriptions of the
devastation along the Missouri River. We can be proud of the people who
have helped Cooper's Landing and the other communities along the river
survive. Keep checking the Current News section of this page for
opportunities to help our neighbors along the river.
Missouri River Relief to the Rescue
River Camp Morphs into Flood Time for
Missouri River Relief
The River Relief crew loaded up with excitement for a full
week of activities at Pelican Island near St. Louis. The first day's educational
event was a washout with a monster rain, but lots of wet kids with happy
faces. The Saturday Stream Team summit and cleanup took place under brilliant
skies with brilliant people. Sunday everything changed. Word reached the
crew on the river of the coming 34 foot pulse of flood waters coming down
the Missouri. Tim Nigh's Birding and Botany day came off without a hitch
on Monday, but with the coming flood, the crew elected to pull off Pelican
Island and see what help was needed back in our Central Missouri home
port. I was personally inspired to see a tired crew stashing boats and
heading straight to Rocheport for an evening of sandbagging. Throughout
the week we watched the predictions for the flood crest ebb and flow.
Crew members lent a hand to help mitigate the damage of the high water.
We started to hear word of the devastation of our west coast port, Alligator
Cove on Wednesday. We wish our mate John Breyfogle well and hope to help
him with the cleanup soon. The spirit at Cooper's Landing has been fantastic.
Mike, a veteran of many flood events, watched the coming deluge with calm
and resignation. Many hands pitched in to clean the memorabilia out of
the Medfly, the small trailer downstream from Coopers that River Relief
staff uses as a meeting place and retreat. This weekend will see MRR boats
on the water to help where needed in the Flood of 2007.
Jim Karpowicz 5/11/07
Missouri River Relief
Revised Schedule for June and July River
Clean Up Events
June 9 - James River Rescue - another canoe trip down to the Ozarks!
June 23 - Alligator Cove Clean-up - We'll be sending a vanload
of folks from Columbia up to John Breyfogle's beautiful River Refuge at
Alligator Cove to help with his ongoing post-flood clean-up.
July 14 - St. Louis, Mo: Back to work with Chad and crew under
the arch.
July 28 - Summer Clean-up at the Mouth of the Osage (Rescheduled):
We'll return to Bonnots Mill, Mo., for a clean-up in the height of the
boating season - at Soda Popp's!
MRCN
The Missouri River Communities Network
Planning is underway for a major fundraising and river consciousness
event, Rockin and Rollin on the River, to be held at Cooper's Landing
on Saturday, June 16, 2007. Participants will paddle canoes and kayaks
and Bicyclists will ride from Rocheport for an afternoon of music, educational
events and other fun activities. For more information: http://www.moriver.org/Rollin'%20for%20the%20River.html
MRCN is also a major contributor to making the Missouri
River 34 canoe and kayak race a success. You can find out more about the
Missouri River 340 at http://www.moriver.org/mr340.htm
and http://www.rivermiles.com/resources/race.html
If you are interested in becoming a “Heritage Tourism VISTA
Member” or one of the Stream Team AmeriCorps Members contact Steve Johnson
at: moriver@centurytel.net or call 573-256-2602.
MRCN will be updating its website, www.moriver.org.
Once the website is updated there will be improved access to current information
about ongoing projects and meetings. Until then you can contact:
MRCN office at: 573-256-2602 or
email: moriver@centurytel.net
Note: We usually put MRCN meetings and events on the Cooper's
Landing Events calendar.
Flood Related Links
The STLtoday.com offers a story explaining why flood forecasting is an
inexact science: http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/sciencemedicine/
story/CE4204AA8F05B181862572D70010B456?OpenDocument
The Boone County Chapter of the American Red Cross is providing flood
relief kits and other assistance in Columbia. http://www.redcross-boone.org/
The University of Missouri Extension Service is providing extensive flood
information including cleaning up after a flood and how to make sure your
drinking water supply is safe.
http://extension.missouri.edu/cemp/flood.html
Editorial
Levees are part of the problem
As a person who has lived through many floods over the years I have learned
how the design, construction and maintenance of levees has to be considered
a major factor in flooding. Early settlers to the region were not aware
of how high or often the river bottoms flood. They built their communities
in locations which provided easy access to the river and clean water in
the highest locations available. Floods made it necessary to build levees
to protect the communities from all but the highest flood events. Levees
are also built to protect public infrastructure and crops. Cooper's Landing
is not protected by a levee. Cooper's Landing was elevated to the highest
point practical and then designed to survive major floods with minimal
damage to the building. Our experience with recent floods suggests that
some of the levees built to protect crops in our area are higher than
the levees protecting communities such as McBaine and Hartsburg. I urge
the Missouri State DNR and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to use their
regulatory authority to determine the height of all levees and to make
sure they comply with public law 84-99. I also urge all concerned to contact
their state and federal representatives to guarantee that public moneys
are not spent to build levees which ultimately cause damage to other public
and private property. As of 5-12-07 Cooper's Landing has 3 inches of water
in the store. The Lupus City Hall and General Store are inches above the
water. The levees protecting McBaine and Hartsburg are barely holding
back water that will be several feet deep in the streets if they are breached.
. The levee across from Cooper's Landing which held during the flood of
1995 has continued to be maintained at levels exceeding public law 84-99.
I suggest that they should be forced to limit the height of their levee
to be in compliance with federal regulations. If there are no state regulations
that guidelines be set up that protect communities first and farmland,
which benefits from periodic flooding, be protected last. I suggest that
persons or organizations should be held liable for damage cause to all
property damaged by their excessive and irresponsible levees.
Mike Cooper
Here is a newspaper story which shows how local farmers react to the
thought of their crops being flooded. http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/May/20070512News011.asp
Please contribute
any newsworthy current events about the Missouri River or Katy Trail and
we will post them on this page. And we would love to add you to our e-mailing
list!
Send your
email to: cooperslanding@gmail.com
ARCHIVES
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Rollin' for the River 2007
On Saturday, June 16, 2007, Missouri River Communities Network invites
you and your family to join us for Rollin' for the River 2007. Bike, canoe
or kayak your way from Rocheport to Cooper's Landing where food, drinks,
live music, and prizes will be waiting. Registration is $25 for individuals
and $50 for families and includes food, a t-shirt, a raffle ticket for
fun prizes, a shuttle back to Rocheport and a one year membership in MRCN.
Encourage your friends to donate to MRCN by sponsoring your trip. Every
$25 you raise will enter your name in a raffle and you may use your sponsor's
pledges towards the registration fee. New to the river? No problem. River
Safety demonstrations will be given to all boaters and you can cut your
ride in half by departing from Huntsdale instead of Rocheport. For information
on prizes, bike and canoe rentals, entertainment and other topics, please
visit www.moriver.org
or call us at 573-256-6477.
To Promote Clean Water Education, Restoration and Recreation
3 events, 25-26 August
MoRivCC Gathers Community Support
The Missouri River Cultural Conservancy will be conducting meetings
to finalize Vision Planning for the organization. MoRivCC will be inviting
members of other organizations to participate in Planning Sessions which
will identify how MoRivCC with its video recording capabilities can best
interact with the community.
The Mission of the Missouri River Cultural Conservancy is to document,
record, archive and foster awareness of the unique history and culture
of the Central Missouri River Region.
MoRivCC has been recording music, dance, and art festivals. Shows
have been produced and broadcast on local community access TV, CAT3.
What else should be considered important to documenting the culture of
our area? What educational and historical opportunities should be considered?
What can MoRivCC do for your organization and community? This is your
opportunity to share your ideas and have them incorporated into the long
range plan for MoRivCC. MoRivCC recently put its new website on the internet.
Keep checking www.morivcc.org for more information about upcoming meetings,
recording sessions, photos of recently recorded events and links to MoRivCC
videos. www.morivcc.org
MoRivCC
The Missouri River Cultural Conservancy
MoRivCC recently held a meeting at Cooper's Landing where important planning
documents were discussed and approved. You can view the new Vision Statement
and Values Statement on the MoRivCC website: http://www.morivcc.org/
Scott Wilson is currently posting MoRivCC videos on You Tube. You can
view these videos at http://www.youtube.com/morivcc
Katy Trail Flooded at Cooper's Landing
This view looks South from Cooper's Landing to where
Smith Hatchery Road crosses the Katy Trail and changes to Easley River
Road. The Katy Trail is closed during flood events.
Flood of 2007 Aerial Photos
View photos of the 2007 flood taken by the DNR at:
http://www.dnr.mo.gov:80/flood2007photos.htm
Katy Trail Petition at Cooper's Landing
We continue to petition the DNR/Katy Trail to correct their Katy Trail
Maps to identify the services we offer at Cooper's Landing rather than
at Easley. The numerous recent references to Cooper's Landing in the
local press should convince the people who make these kinds of decisions
that Cooper's Landing is a well recognized location and a community
in its own right. The recent collection of flood photos posted by the
DNR on their own website, http://www.dnr.mo.gov:80/flood2007photos.htm,
show that Cooper's Landing is now a well known location. The petition
is available at the Cooper's Landing store.
If you are planning a ride on the Katy Trail you will want to have
accurate information about the location of services. You can obtain
a copy of the Katy Trail Guidebook, by Brett Dufur at:
http://www.pebblepublishing.com
/complete_katy_trail_guidebook.htm
Want
to find out about Cooper's upcoming events?
Click here for
a full calendar
of upcoming events!
Make a Difference,
Contribute to your community by supporting
the organizations on this page. There are lots of ways to contibute. You
can write a check, help plan the events or best of all participate in
events which benefit your community. You will meet some wonderful people
and feel good that you did something to make a difference.
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