This session's mystery was —

• How are pollutants and other garbage getting into the river?

With the NPS rangers, we discussed —

• The range of ecosystems in our world, with a focus on floodplain forests

• The importance of adaptation, specifically with species that inhabit the Mississippi River ecosystem

• What constitutes a watershed and how to be a local waterway steward

With Teri from the US Forest Service, we discussed —

• How to identify tree and plant species, check out this beginner's guide to MN trees!

• Soil science, specifically the importance of particle sizes

• The Adaptive Silverculture for Climate Change happening at Crosby!

Learn more about the wonders of the Mississippi River with the National Park Service's Living River Online and the importance of watersheds with the Minnesota Freshwater Quest, developed by Wilderness Inquiry and Captain Planet Foundation.