For years, I’ve been visiting the places along the Mississippi and writing guidebooks about the history and culture of the towns and people. Now I’ve got something new to add to the list: a guide to the natural history of the river itself. In my new book, The Wild Mississippi: A State-by-State Guide to the River’s Natural Wonders, I describe the complex and varied world of the Mississippi River and offer practical tips about how to experience the river’s world. In this episode, just ahead of the book’s formal release on May 21, I talk about The Wild Mississippi, so you know what to expect from it: how it’s organized and what content to expect. I also pull back the curtain and describe what I set out to do with this book and why I included what I did. But, wait: there’s more! At the end of the episode, I read the preface, so you can get a sneak peek at what’s to come.
Show Notes
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Transcript
39. Introducing The Wild Mississippi by Dean Klinkenberg
Sun, Apr 21, 2024 10:40AM • 32:13
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
river, mississippi, book, public lands, places, ecosystems, world, written, wetlands, part, forests, bluff, mississippi valley, visit, wanted, state, people, mississippi river, birds, headwaters
SPEAKERS
Dean Klinkenberg
Dean Klinkenberg 00:00
I’m sure some people find mountain scenery more appealing than the Mississippi. I get it. Mountains may inspire people to great heights. But the Mississippi invites us to slow down. There are places along the river that offer jaw dropping beauty. But most of the beauty in the river’s world is more subtle.
Dean Klinkenberg 00:40
Welcome to the Mississippi Valley Traveler Podcast. I’m Dean Klinkenberg and I’ve been exploring the deep history and rich culture of the people and places along America’s greatest river, the Mississippi since 2007. Join me as I go deep into the characters and places along the river and occasionally wander into other stories from the Midwest and other rivers. Read the episode show notes and get more information on the Mississippi at MississippiValleyTraveler.com. Let’s get going.
Dean Klinkenberg 01:12
Welcome to Episode 39 of the Mississippi Valley Traveler Podcast. In this episode, I’m going to go in a little different direction. And I’m going to tell you about my newest book, “The Wild Mississippi: A State-By-State Guide to the River’s Natural Wonders.” I took a big swing with this one. A book about the natural world of the entire Mississippi from the Headwaters to the Gulf. Half of the book is about the river’s natural history and the other half is a description of public lands in each of the 10 mainstem states where you can experience the river’s world. I’ll tell you more about that all coming up. The book officially releases on May 21, but it’s available for pre-order now in the usual marketplaces. You can, for example, order a copy already from your favorite local bookstore if you’d like to do that. The rest of this year, I’ll be putting out some podcast episodes that will go deeper into the river’s world, by usually focusing on a single plant or animal or ecosystem, that kind of thing. But for now, I want to give you just a general overview of the book. So that is coming up, as I said. As usual, you can find the show notes at MississippiValleyTraveler.com/podcast. You could also go there to drop a comment if you’re so inclined. Thanks to the patreon supporters who keep this podcast alive and who make me feel good by showing me some love. If that’s not your thing, you can buy me a coffee. If you want to know how to how to do either one of those things, you can go to MississippiValleyTraveler.com/podcasts. And there’ll be a link to become a patreon supporter or just to buy me a coffee. And now let’s get on with the show.
Dean Klinkenberg 03:07
When I started writing about the Mississippi River some 15 years ago, my main goal was to get people to spend more time along the river. I’d heard the second hand stories of folks who had been very excited about finally getting to see the Mississippi River and they’d rent a car as soon as they got off the airplane in Chicago or some other airport and they would drive to the Mississippi. And they would take a look at the river and then they would turn around and leave satisfied that they had seen the Mississippi. Those kinds of stories, and I’d actually talked with a couple of people who actually who did similar things, who, who came to the river just to see it and then didn’t, didn’t stick around. That gave me an idea that you know, maybe what we really needed were some good guidebooks to help people to understand a little bit better what the Mississippi was, what there was to do and to get them to stick around longer. So that’s what I decided to do. I started writing guidebooks for people who are going to be driving along the river along the Great River Road. Those books are still out there. Actually, I have since compiled them into a single book for the entire upper half of the Great River Road called “Road Tripping the Great River Road” and I will have a new edition of that coming out here in the next couple of weeks. In those books I wrote about the history of river towns, the history of Native communities that lived in the Mississippi Valley. I ate at a lot of local restaurants and dutifully checked out local accommodations. I visited museums, a lot of museums, and all of that I think really helped me get a deeper appreciation for the cultural and historical significance of the Mississippi Valley. I’d also get out and hike and spend some time on the water, but I really hadn’t planned on writing about environmental issues too much. It really just wasn’t my specialty. I was more interested in the culture and history of the towns rather than the environment of the river itself. Over time, though, I grew to understand that the the only thing that really held all of this together was, of course, the river. And I, like a lot of the people that I talked with and met along the way, just didn’t fully appreciate what the river really is. When I was in college, I stood on a bluff south of La Crosse, Wisconsin, and I admired the open water that stretched nearly bluff to bluff. I was there on an especially clear day there was almost no wind and I really felt awed by the scale and the beauty of what spread out in front of me. A cerulean sky with thin clouds that hung over the calm deep blue water of the Mississippi. Golden limestone bluffs topped with rich green vegetation frame the river on both sides with hints of reds and gold signaling the start of autumn. I really couldn’t imagine many scenes more beautiful than that. While that scene dazzled me, at the time I really didn’t understand that much of what I was looking at wasn’t a good thing. I later came to understand that I was looking at a river that had been greatly altered and altered in a way that badly damaged the life created and sustained by the Mississippi. That part of the Mississippi, that little section south of La Crosse, and much of the Upper Mississippi actually once branched into multiple channels that wound around islands thick with trees and grasses. Much of that was gone, is gone, at least in the parts of the river that I was looking at on that particular day. I realized when I learned all that, that boy, I had a heck of a lot more I needed to learn about the Mississippi and its world. This book, “The Wild Mississippi”, is the result of all these years of mine spending time along the river, talking with experts and enthusiasts. Learning something new about the river’s world each time I’ve gone out to be near the river. I don’t think there’s another book quite like this one. This book takes a look at the ecology of the entire river from the Headwaters to the Gulf. It gives a description of the geologic history of the Mississippi. I have a chapter giving a brief history of human life along the river and the role the river played in communities, in human communities. I’ve got several chapters that offer descriptions of the ecosystems that make up the entire river system. I wanted to also have an emphasis on the river as a system that really only functions well when its parts are connected, and I think you’ll find that reflected throughout the book. I wanted to make sure to describe how the river’s world changes as it grows, how the river up in northern Minnesota differs from the river down in Louisiana. I wanted to include public lands where people could visit the river and experience all these different aspects of the river’s world. So I have 166 public lands mentioned in this book across all 10 of the mainstem states. And of course, yeah, you can’t do something like this without also mentioning the challenges that face the river today. So I do acknowledge those and I do have some brief discussions of the challenges facing the different aspects of the river’s world. Now these chapters are organized to highlight the different features of the natural world along the river. So like these different ecosystems, the way that I have the book divided up is chapters on wetlands, grasslands, forests, and then the the edges, the hills and the bluffs. And then within each chapter, I highlighted the different types of life that are some of the most common in each of those ecosystems, and again, really tried to emphasize the connections between the life that’s in those ecosystems and within the ecosystems and between the ecosystems themselves. I don’t have a background in ecology, or environmental studies. I’m just a curious guy who asks a lot of questions, reads a lot of books, and spends as much time as I can near the river. I didn’t want to write a textbook. I wanted to write a book that reflected my own experiences getting to know the river. One that I hope a lot of people would find helps them also get to know the river better. So I try to really stay away from technical terms. When I talk about the different plants and animals, I really use more popular terms for them rather than the scientific names or taxonomic names. So I really wanted to make the book available to as many people as possible.
Dean Klinkenberg 09:56
Now, there were as I went about this work, you know, I did have have a few guiding principles in mind. And I just want to make sure to get those out there. So you understand what to expect from this book too. First and foremost, I really wanted to keep it positive. Again, I know there’s some serious problems in the river’s world, which which I do mention. But I wanted this book to show off the good things about the river, rather than dwelling on the problems. I wanted to make sure to emphasize again that nothing lives in isolation, especially in the river’s world, I really wanted to emphasize over and over and over that what makes this whole thing this whole system work are the connections between all the various parts. Now, I couldn’t include information about every life form in the river’s world. That would take volumes and volumes of books. And I certainly wasn’t going to be able to do that in a 70,000 word book. So I chose to focus on a few plants and animals I thought really showed off the relationships between these plants, animals and ecosystems. And I also wanted to include descriptions of life along the river that has some particularly interesting angles, whether it’s the beauty and remarkable size of a luna moth, the symbiotic relationships between certain muscles and fish species, or the impressive centuries long viability of lotus seeds. I was really looking for those little nuggets that I think you would find interesting to read about, and maybe would stick in your brain a little bit. If you’re the kind of person that really likes to identify everything you’re looking at, I would suggest you bring some field guides with you, this book will help a little bit with some of those IDs. But for the most part, it’s just not meant to be that comprehensive a guide in that sense. So if you want to know about the birds that are in the floodplain forest, you probably will want to bring along some supplemental guide. Or maybe you can do what I do, I have a couple of apps on my phone that I really enjoy using that really helped me identify more of the plants and animals that I’m looking at it. I use an app called Seek to help me identify plants. I find it works pretty well. There are others out there. And I know other people prefer different apps, but I’ve had good luck with that. And it doesn’t require a cell phone connection or internet connection for it to work, which is great, because I’m in a lot of places where I have no service at all. For birds, I really like using Merlin, it helps me, it helps identify the types of the species of birds around me based on their songs. So there are a lot of mornings when I’m camping when the first thing I’ll do is I’ll grab my phone, and I’ll open Merlin and let it listen and see who’s who’s spending time with me.
Dean Klinkenberg 12:49
Yeah, and the second part of the book, though, the second part is a more practical listing of public lands where you can visit places along the river. So this was kind of tough to do. As you can imagine, there are 10 states along the main stem of the Mississippi. And every state has a lot of of opportunities for places to visit along the river. I kind of found like up north in Minnesota in particular, there were so many public lands to choose from, it was sometimes difficult to narrow down which ones to include in the book. So just because a place is in my book doesn’t mean it’s the only option available to visit along the river. But these were the ones that really stood out to me. What helped me make a choice as to what to include in the book? Well, one thing was I wanted to include places that were easy to get to. So there are some public lands out there where you almost need four wheel drive to get in and around at all. And I figured most of us probably don’t own vehicles that that meet that requirement, you know, especially if it’s been wet lately, and the roads are kind of muddy. Some of these places are not very accessible from a vehicle. I wanted the places in this book to be easy to get to. I also wanted to make sure the public lands included in this book represent a wide variety of ecosystems. So everything that’s mentioned in this book, in the first half of the book, all those different ecosystems, I wanted them to be represented through the throughout the public lands that are listed in the second section of the book as well. So if you really want to know, you know, if you really want to visit the prairies near the Mississippi, there will be public lands in this book that have prairies near the Mississippi that you can visit. Some of these public lands have more to offer than others as well. So I wanted to include places that had at least something to do when you get there. Might end up being just a 30 minute hike. Maybe it’s 20 minutes walking a boardwalk through a coastal marsh, but it’s something. All of these places in the book offer at least something that you can do when you get there rather than just getting out your car taking a look and then getting back in and going. Now naturally, most of the places in this book are going to be right next to the river. But there are some exceptions. I included a few places that are a bit further away because they preserved a part of the river’s world that’s mentioned early in the book, even though they may no longer be directly connected to the river. A couple of examples of that, Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota has some really nice oak savannas, these are restorations for the most part. Oak savannas used to be pretty common in that part of the state, but they’re quite rare today. So I wanted to make sure I included some place where folks could visit an oak savanna. Similarly, down south, the cypress and tupelo swamps, most of those have been harvested for the trees, and it’s really difficult to find old growth places left. But there is one in Central Mississippi, that’s an hour, hour and a half, away from the Mississippi River itself. Sky Lake Wildlife Management area that has preserved this little patch of old growth Cypress Tupelo swamp, it’s kind of hard to say. And it’s really a spectacular place to visit. So that had to be in the book.
Dean Klinkenberg 16:20
So what can you expect from this book? Well, one of the things that I love about it, and Timber Press did such a spectacular job creating this book, bringing this book to life. And their specialty is really I think, you know, they do a great job with nature, natural history books with gardening books. And they’re always richly illustrated beautiful books. And this one, I think, fits very well in with the quality of other books that they have produced. So kudos, thanks so much to Timber Press for bringing this book to life. And making it look as beautiful as it is. There are over 250 photos, color photos, that illustrate the book from all along the river. So when you flip a page, it’ll be a new color photo look at. It’s thick, heavy stock, so I think this is a book that’s going to hold up and last year for some time. I know you can buy an ebook if you want. But I think this is one, you’re probably going to want to own a physical copy of and carry around with you. For each of the 166 places mentioned in the second half of the book, there are directions and descriptions of what the highlights are. Doesn’t mean those were the only things to do in those places but they were some of the outstanding features I thought that you would find when you visit these places. And these are, you know, it’s a wide variety of public lands. Some of them are state parks, there are national wildlife refuges, there are state natural areas or state wild wilderness areas. All of them have slightly different characteristics. And in the book, I explain some of the differences between those types of public lands and what how that might affect your experience there. I really think this, this book is going to add depth to what you already know about the Mississippi, even if you’ve spent some time on the river, I’m hoping that it will, even for old river rats, maybe it’ll provide a little bit of something new that you hadn’t thought about before maybe a new way of thinking about some of what you’ve experienced or know about the river already. And for people like me who were just starting out and didn’t really know much about the river at all, I think this will really open up your eyes to the complexity in the river system, and the incredible diversity and abundance of life supported by the Mississippi.
Dean Klinkenberg 18:44
Early feedback for this, from this book, has been very encouraging. Quite positive so far. I try not to get too wrapped up in worrying about reviews, but hey, I’m a human being and it’s hard not to pay attention to what people think. A couple of weeks ago, I had a chance to read a review from the Library Journal. And one sentence that really stood out to me was, “A sweeping introduction and valuable resource about the Mississippi River that shows and tells its importance in American ecosystems and the US economy.” I think that pretty much nails what I was trying to do. So it was it was nice to see that. Now, I understand that a lot of people look at the Mississippi and they see a great highway for barges. I get that. I know that’s a common perception. But the river, the river is and always has been so much more than just a place to move goods from one place to another. The Mississippi is our Amazon or something very similar to that. As I said, I know there are big challenges with the natural world of the Mississippi today, but enough has been written about that or will be written about that. This book, “The Wild Mississippi”, is a tribute to all the life the river supports, from the smallest micro organisms to big fish and birds, to alligator gar and an American white pelicans. So I hope that you’ll dig in and spend some time really absorbing what’s in the book and take the book with you when you’re out on the river. I think this book is ultimately, a guide to understanding the fundamental features of the Mississippi’s world. The complexities in its parts, those ecosystems that make up the whole Mississippi. And I think you’ll find it showcases the diverse and abundant life supported by the Mississippi and how all that life is connected. You might catch some themes repeated here over and over. And I hope that as you read the book, it’ll be obvious why I keep repeating certain words like complexity, diversity and abundance. You know, a lot of people will travel around the world to places like the Amazon or some other faraway place for a “wilderness experience”, or to see some wildlife. But you know, we as Americans, we don’t have to go that far. We can experience a lot of that here in the heart of our country. And I know we take these places for granted, especially those of us who live near the Mississippi. But there really is a lot of wilderness experience or outdoors experiences that the Mississippi and the places along the river have to offer. And this book, you’ll find a list of 166 of those places where you can get close to the river so you have no excuses for saying you don’t know where to go. Now, as I mentioned, this book is available is available for pre-order. And it will officially release on May 21. I’ve spent years getting to know the river’s world. And I hope this book will help you get a little deeper into that world too. So what I’d like to do to finish this, the shorter episode today is I just want to give you a sneak peek. And in this next segment, I’m going to read the preface from the book. And as I said, any questions go to MississippiValleyTraveler.com/podcast. You can leave me a comment, you can send me a note through that website. I’d love to hear from you. So now here’s the preface from “The Wild Mississippi”.
Dean Klinkenberg 22:33
I got my introduction to the world of the Mississippi River as a college student in the 1980s. I lived in LaCrosse, Wisconsin in the famed Driftless area with fishing enthusiasts, hunters and river rats as my neighbors. I spent a lot of time near the river. I hiked up and around the bluffs and biked to the river’s edge to watch the river flow. Time along the river calmed me. I felt connected to a bigger world. I was hooked. I still spend a lot of time along the river today and never tire of it. The river offers something new every day. I’ve watched beavers chewing on sticks and bald eagles snatch fish out of the river. I stood 20 feet from a bobcat before it slipped into a marsh. In Minnesota I watched a porcupine on the side of the road enjoying a snack. From northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, I have immersed myself in the river’s waters. Every sunset soothes my mind. Every morning on a sandbar renews my spirit. The river we call Mississippi is a remarkable place, a life giving and life sustaining force that runs through the heart of the United States. Its name is from the Algonquin speaking Native Americans who lived in the rivers Headwaters region. The earliest known written use of the name is from a letter written by Father Claude-Jean Allouez, a missionary spreading the Christian gospel to Native Americans along the Fox River in central Wisconsin. In 1667, Allouez wrote, “These are the people, the Mascouten people, dwelling to the west of this place toward the great river named Messi-sipi. They are 40 or 50 leagues from this place in a country of prairies rich in all kinds of game.” It’s likely that French trappers had heard the name even before Allouez. In 1681 Estienne Michallete created a map on which he referred to the river as “Mitchisipi ou Grande Riviere.” By the 1870s, Mississippi was the name most commonly used by cartographers. The Algonquin words that gave us the river’s name, Messi-sipi do not mean “Great River” but something more like “Long River” according to the Ojibwe language experts I’ve consulted. Indigenous communities lined the entire river of course, and each had their own name for it. The Cheyenne people were apparently not starry eyed romantics about the river. They called it something that roughly translated as “Big, Greasy River”. Interestingly, the Missouri River they used a word for it that translated as “Greasy River”. So something “Greasy River” without the superlative. They also knew another river as “Greasy Grass River”. The southern Lenape, who encountered the Mississippi after being forced from the East Coast, may have called it a name that translates as “Fish River”, although they use the same term for some other rivers. The Arapaho, Wyandot and Pawnee all had their own words for the river as well, you get the point, there were lots of names. But all of these names also reveal that this river has been central to our lives for a long time. Whatever we call it, the Mississippi is a special place.
Dean Klinkenberg 26:00
The river’s north – south route has enabled the long term survival of many species of plant and animal life. When the climate cooled, they migrated south. As the climate warned, they extended their range north. The river’s world provides space for life to emerge, grow into adulthood, mate, and provide sustenance to others in death. When you look at the Mississippi, it’s hard not to focus on all that water. The Mississippi though is far more than moving water. It’s a complex system, even a complex of systems that has evolved over millennia. Water from the main channel connects to wetlands along its reach. Trees grow in dense clusters along the river and along the land that rises away from it. Grasslands occupied niches in the Mississippi’s world, and hundreds of species of animals depend on this interconnected system for their survival. From tiny zooplankton to massive alligator gar. From delicate silky asters to ancient bald cypress. From mayflies to damselflies, from songbirds just passing through to resident bald eagles, all depend on the world of the Mississippi for space to raise their children and to sustain them through their lives. I’m going to guide you into the river’s world. For the sake of convenience, I’ve divided the topics into main channel habitats, wetlands, prairies and forests. But these divisions exist mostly in our heads. In the river’s world, everything connects. Birds need mayflies, which need wetlands. Paddle fish need zooplankton and both need the flowing waters of a big river. Least terns need sandbars. Boundaries are ephemeral. Today’s cypress swamp can be tomorrow’s marsh. Prairies become forests.
Dean Klinkenberg 27:54
I’m sure some people find mountain scenery more appealing than the Mississippi. I get it. Mountains may inspire people to great heights, just not me. But the Mississippi invites us to slow down. There are places along the river that offer jaw dropping beauty. But most of the beauty in the river’s world is more subtle. I first visited the Mississippi Headwaters in the middle of winter. From the parking lot at Itasca State Park, I snowshoed to the edge of the lake and took a selfie. I had the entire spot to myself. I continued through the forest and got lost in the quiet, then retreated to a cabin where I warmed up with hot chocolate. In spring, I’ve hiked through floodplain forests painted with wildflowers, and filled with the music of songbirds. I’ve savored fall mornings when cooler air dips into the Mississippi Valley and wisps of fog rise from the water like spirits framed by the oranges, reds and yellows of trees preparing for their winter slumber. All this and so much more keeps me coming back in different seasons at different times of day. I hope this book inspires you to do the same. To visit the Mississippi time and again and experience its varied moods to get to know the life that depends on it, to listen to the river and take your time while you’re there.
Dean Klinkenberg 29:28
Well, so as I mentioned, that is the preface from “The Wild Mississippi: A State-by-State Guide to the River’s Natural Wonders.” As I mentioned, the book officially releases on May 21. But you can pre-order in all the usual marketplaces whether that your preferred online vendor or a local bookstore that you love. I really do hope this book helps you see the Mississippi River in new ways. Sure. Yeah. I hope you enjoy those expansive views. They are fantastic. But, but listen to the river and slow down. When you’re walking across a sandbar look down around you and notice the little details. Listen to birds singing in the floodplain forest. Maybe learn how to identify the various types of waterfowl that inhabit the wetlands around the Mississippi. You may be surprised at just how much variety there is once you learn how to identify the different waterfowl. Look at the tracks in the mud along the riverbanks and use those as clues to the animals that exist around you that are much higher and that you’ll probably rarely catch a glimpse of. Take this book with you. Hopefully it will help you see and understand this world a little bit better. But always remember along the Mississippi, the beauty is in the details. Thank you for your attention. And by the way, I’m going to be out on the road a lot this year, talking about this book and big rivers. So I will have some announcements to come when I have a schedule worked out. But with any luck, we’ll get to bump into each other this summer. And maybe we can spend some time around a campfire talking about what we love about our big rivers.
Dean Klinkenberg 31:13
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the series on your favorite podcast app so you don’t miss out on future episodes. I offer the podcast for free but when you support the show with a few bucks through Patreon, you helped keep the program going. Just go to patreon.com/DeanKlinkenberg. If you want to know more about the Mississippi River, check out my books. I write the Mississippi Valley Traveler guide books for people who want to get to know the Mississippi better. I also write the Frank Dodge mystery series set at certain places along the river. Find them wherever books are sold. The Mississippi Valley Traveler Podcast is written and produced by me Dean Klinkenberg. Original Music by Noah Fensce. See you next time.
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