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This Important Bird Area includes the Mississippi River and its adjacent floodplain forest and uplands extending 38 river miles through four Minnesota counties from Minneapolis to Hastings. The upstream extent is the Washington Avenue bridge in Minneapolis (river mile 852). Downstream its extends through Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as encompassing portions of three townships and ten other riverfront communities to the Highway 61 bridge (river mile 814) at Hastings. The entire portion of Pool 2, which occurs between Lock & Dam 1 (at Minneapolis) and Lock & Dam 2 (at Hastings) is included, as are the lower portion of Pool 1 and the very upper end of Pool 3. The other boundaries of this Important Bird Area are congruent with the boundary of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area-National Park Service between river miles 852 to 814. Slight adjustments to this boundary were made to include bird habitat at Battle Creek Park Reserve and Fish Creek Park in Ramsey Co.

Situated within the most densely populated and highly urbanized portion of Minnesota it includes 37,091 acres of lands and water. The aquatic portion of the area encompasses 30.5% of the IBA. The aquatic habitats consist predominately of the open waters of the main river channel (26.3 %) , riverine lakes (3.5%) and open water wetlands (0.7 %) all of which are without emergent vegetation. Nearly one third of the IBA has been classified as Cultural cover types. The remaining approximately 1/3 of the IBA is composed of 12 cover types situated where land cover is >96% natural vegetation. These acres might be considered undeveloped lands.

Within the IBA, there are 3 regional park reserves of at least 1000 acres each, 2 county parks, 3 state-owned Scientific and Natural Areas, a number of city parks, and 2 small, private nature reserves currently managed for their natural attributes.

Situated along the Mississippi Flyway, a migratory corridor for 40% of North America’s waterfowl and shorebirds, an estimated 760,00 dabbling ducks use this corridor. Liddell and Cooper estimated 36,493 waterbirds (loons, cormorants, gulls, terns, ducks, geese, swans, herons, egrets, pelicans, coots, grebes, eagles, shorebirds and kingfishers) used Pool 2 in the spring of l997. Waterfowl (mainly diving ducks and Canada geese), gulls (mostly Ring-billed Gulls) and terns were the most abundant species. Six Minnesota threatened and special concern species were seen at ground survey sites during l997. Several other species of interest; Black Tern, American Redhead, Canvasback, and scaup ducks, were observed during spring migration. Bardon observed 75,584 waterbirds and documented gull activity in know roosting locations at Pig’s Eye Lake and Spring Lake with 2,000 Bonaparte’s Gulls noted in the Lower Grey Cloud Island area in April /May l995.

3,725 waterbirds were counted during biweekly summer surveys. Gulls were most abundant followed by waterfowl, cormorants, pelicans, egrets, herons, eagles and shorebirds. MN DNR Natural Heritage database indicates that one mixed species heron rookery totaling 1600+ nesting pairs of 4 species (including 80 nests of Black-crowned Night Herons), 8 Bald Eagle breeding territories and nest sites for 6-8 pairs of Peregrine Falcons are known to occur in the IBA. The fall waterbird population was 3X greater than spring and summer, with an estimated 126,071 birds; mostly gulls and cormorants through mid-October, thereafter mostly waterfowl (primarily Mallards and Canada geese). D Zumeta has recorded 157 species of birds (51 breeding) in the Mississippi River Gorge Area at the upstream end of the IBA. T. Bell reports 207 species observed at the Lower Grey Cloud Island area near the downstream end of the IBA.

As use of the river and adjacent lands grows, there is increasing potential for conflicts between uses. Some examples that particularly impinge on the habitat values of the lands and waters within the IBA include: · Barge transportation and fleeting as well as recreational boating can cause impacts to wildlife habitat. · Maintaining navigation improvements, such as the 9-foot channel, requires periodic dredging and a need for dredge disposal sites. · Remaining areas of bird habitat could be adversely affected by extensive development. · Sand and gravel mining in the lower reaches of the IBA have to potential to considerably alter aquatic and/or terrestrial habitats. · Native vegetation along the shoreline, in wetlands, and along the bluffs is important to ecological functions of the remaining natural systems. Curtailment of natural disturbance factors ( such as fire) and invasion by exotic species of plants and animals ( including feral dogs and cats) is particularly acute. · Significant improvements have been made in wastewater treatment in the Twin Cities area. However, water quality is still a major concern. Issues range from toxic wastes to sedimentation to endocrine disrupting chemical contamination. · Direct loss of habitat, especially aquatic habitat, has occurred because of competing interests and uses such as recreation and commercial development. Direct and indirect loss of wetlands has been due to ground water depletion, storm water runoff and water diversion from wet areas. · Considerable public land already exists, but the amount and distribution of open space needed to protect the river's resources and to provide for the area’s many competing uses, including wildlife habitat, continues to be a major issue.