Places We Protect. Two-thirds of all water in the Kansas City metropolitan area drains into the Blue River. It begins in Johnson County, Kansas, and flows into Missouri. There, the Blue joins the Missouri River near Independence. Increased developmentβeverything from houses to parking lots to industrial sitesβon the land around the river has hurt water quality and increased flooding downstream.
So, TNC partnered with Kansas State University and Heartland Conservation Alliance to better understand the impacts of land development, conservation strategies and changes in climate within the Blue River watershed. K-State University researchers developed a model to predict the impacts of different development scenarios and shifts in climate compared to conservation strategies that could be enacted.
The Blue River flows 41 miles across Kansas and Missouri, through five counties and 20 municipalities. Two thirds of the rain that falls in the southern Kansas City metropolitan area drains into the Blue River. Beginning in , The Nature Conservancy, Heartland Conservation Alliance and Missouri Department of Conservation completed a biannual Blue River report card to rate the health of the river in six categories: water quality, habitat, development, recreation, governance and community connections.
We found positive results among indicators in each area of the watershed which is cause for hope. However, the results tell us that the Blue River is threatened, and we must do better. Communities throughout the watershed deserve a healthier, more accessible river with stronger protections in place. If we want to see these positive changes and improve report card scores in future years, critical and immediate action is needed.
The Nature Conservancy owns nearly 1, preserves covering more than 2. These lands protect wildlife and natural systems, serve as living laboratories for innovative science and connect people to the natural world. Discover clean waters and healthy people through the David T. By Heidi Mehl. The Nature Conservancy and the U. Army Corps of Engineers are finding new ways to strike a sustainable balance in how people use and protect the many benefits that rivers provide. The impact of cities on the natural resources we seek to conserve is ever-increasingβfood, energy, housing, water and more.
