You are cordially invited to the Mississippi River Science Forum, February 15-16, 2023, hosted by the U.S. Geological Survey!  You are encouraged to send this invitation to other personnel in your organization that may be interested.

The Mississippi River is a multi-faceted, complex resource in the United States that needs a comprehensive and coordinated plan to address science and management needs.  As part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 (H.R. 2471), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was asked to host a Mississippi River Science Forum in 2023.  We hope to share current science, identify data gaps and areas of concern, and to prioritize next steps related to goals of improving water quality, restoring habitat and natural systems, improving navigation, eliminating aquatic invasive species, and building local resilience to natural disasters.

Please see the attached agenda for a listing of the great group of speakers that have agreed to address Mississippi River science from their agency’s perspective.

Because the Forum is a Microsoft Teams Live event, there will be no formal registration.  Here are the links to each day’s venues:

Day 1 – February 15, noon to 5pm, central time

Day 2 – February 16, 9am to 5pm, central time

We plan to record the Forum and make each speaker’s presentation available afterwards.  You will also be able to submit questions through the chat, which will either be answered during the Forum or shortly thereafter.

When we sent the Save-the Date announcement in December, we requested that participants fill out a pre-meeting survey.  We plan to leave the link to the survey open through February 24^th should you or your agency wish to fill it out.  However, we encourage you to communicate with your agency’s leadership should they wish to fill out the survey by agency.

As an outcome, all of the information from the survey – as well as questions, answers, and any other pertinent discussion from the Forum – will be summarized by the USGS in a report to Congress.

Thank you so much, and we look forward to your presence at the Forum!  For any questions, please send to this email address: usgs-Mississippi_River@doimspp.onmicrosoft.com