River Action and a number of area partners have launched a website and program called QC Wild Places that describes dozens of natural areas within an hour's drive of the Quad-Cities and how to find them. At its heart, QC Wild Places highlights that nature thrives in the Midwest and the Quad Cities region is no exception. From the Mississippi River and its tributaries, to their floodplain wetlands and backwaters, to the wooded bluffs and upland plains, more than 16,000 acres of publicly accessible natural areas lie within an hour’s drive of the Quad Cities metro area.

Ready? Set? Search!!

Geocaching is a fun and interactive outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world.

Not a Geocacher yet? No problem. You can sign up for free and start the fun today! River Action has hidden a number of caches along the RiverWay for you to locate.

Youth Leaders Convene at Youth Summit

On September 21, 144 high school and college students from the Quad Cities gathered at the Isle of Capri Convention Center as a part of the Upper Mississippi River Conference. The four hour summit, planned by River Action’s Youth Advisory Board, gave the students an opportunity to meet peers who are as committed to environmental action as they are and to learn about how people elsewhere on the river are responding to environmental challenges.

The summit brought in speakers on a variety of issues affecting the Mississippi and our environment: invasive species, creating urban habitats, threatened wildlife, human impacts on the river, best practices by corporations, and things individuals can do to improve water quality. The keynote speaker was Brian Soenen, Iowa’ DNR, Director of Project AWARE—a volunteer program focused on cleaning up watersheds from the seat of a canoe.