Investing in Nature-Based Solutions

The project was complex, but it was supported by the buy-in of local landowners, who knew what was at stake. Three of the six highest river crests recorded since the levees were built more than 70 years ago had occurred in the past decade, according to the levee district.

The 2019 crest topped the Great Flood of 1993 by more than a foot. Some 56,000 acres were underwater in 2019, and an estimated $25 million of agricultural revenues were lost. The levee setback project, which compensated landowners for easements, gave the river room to move without wreaking havoc. It’s now a model for communities facing similar problems.

Little Creek Farm Fish Passage

The Topeka shiner is harder to see than the bison roaming Dunn Ranch Prairie, but the 3-inch minnow is just as important to the biodiversity of Missouri prairies. A major streambank restoration downstream from an aging culvert on the Harrison County site protects against erosion and improves water quality.

The project includes a bioengineered underwater ramp that remedies a 6-foot drop off the edge of the culvert, reconnecting the shiner with crucial pieces of its native habitat. TNC has been working with the Missouri Department of Conservation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to repatriate the silvery, striped minnow at Dunn Ranch Prairie. The new stream project helps efforts launched throughout the Midwest to save the shiner since it was added to the endangered species list in 1998.

Now, the little fish is on the rebound, according to a USFWS report released in 2021. That’s a victory for biodiversity, great and small.

Lower Meramec Floodplain Management Plan

The lower Meramec River wriggles across central and eastern Missouri, passing through forests and farmlands, wildly biodiverse tributaries and busy suburbs before it flows into the Mississippi River south of St. Louis. It’s a complex system that affects dozens of communities and hundreds of species.

Through the Army Corps of Engineers’ Silver Jackets program, TNC has collaborated with cities and counties in the floodplain as well as state and federal agencies to inform strategies to support the river basin and all who depend on it. The Lower Meramec Floodplain Management Plan produced as part of the effort offers a comprehensive look at the floodplain as well as a variety of approaches to lessen the damage of flooding.

TNC helped develop the plan, including the creation of TNC’s online Lower Meramec Floodplain Management Tool to help decision-makers figure out priorities for restoration and management.

Low-water Crossings

Scores of different species of fish that inhabit Shoal Creek will once again be able to swim freely through the crucial Ozarks stream after TNC and its partners replace three low-water crossings with free-span bridges. TNC has assessed dozens of such crossings, which are roads that cut through streams and creeks, in recent years with officials in southwest Missouri to determine priorities and inform grant applications.

Low-water crossings create roadblocks for fish, cutting them off from habitat, food and their spawning grounds. And they’re not much better for humans. Rising waters easily top the crossings, making them dangerous for drivers and isolating communities during floods.

The new bridges have been made possible through a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and collaboration between TNC, the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Barry County Commission. As a model for future projects, the bridges will let water and wildlife flow freely underneath while creating a safer path above for people.