River Action

For over 40 years, River Action has been dedicated to fostering the environmental, economic, and cultural vitality of the QC riverfront for the past forty years. Through the development of sustainable infrastructure, preservation of local wild places, conservation of water and other natural resources, and educational and cultural events connecting people to the river, we have made significant contributions to our community.

Our key achievements include illuminating the Centennial Bridge, launching the Channel Cat Water Taxi, designing over 60 miles of bike trails in Iowa and Illinois, cleaning up Nahant Marsh, developing the QC Wild Places program and the QC Design Principles and Waterfront Master Plan, establishing the RiverWay art program with 26 installations along the river, spearheading the Quad Cities’ Grand Excursion in 2004, organizing the Quad City Flood Resiliency Alliance, and distributing 6,000 rain barrels as part of our ‘Retain the Rain’ program which instills best practices and educates the Quad Cities community on ways to reduce stormwater runoff.

River Action hosts a variety of annual environmentally conscience recreational and cultural events, including:

• Explore & Seek Scavenger Hunt
• Explore the River Series – Channel Cat Talks & Riverine Walks
• Floatzilla – The largest paddle event on the Mississippi River
• Taming of the Slough Adventure Triathlon (Mountain Bike, Kayak, Trail Run)
• The Senior Citizen Golf Cart Tours
• QC Environmental Film Series
• Upper Mississippi River Conference

Our current projects include:

• Rolling out 400 rain barrels as part of our 'Roll Out the Barrels' Earth Day event and Retain the Rain initiative.
• Developing a much-needed trail in the Floreciente neighborhood.
• Leading the campaign to build “The First Bridge; A pedestrian bridge commemorating the first rail bridge to cross the Mississippi River.
• Hosting an Environmental Book Club which convenes each month to discuss environmental literature.
• Publishing the quarterly ‘eddy Magazine’ which is distributed to over 7,000 subscribers.
• Our Eddy Scholarship Program - Providing tuition assistance to students majoring in environment-related studies.
• Hosting our annual Eddy Awards which highlight those who ‘go against the current’ to accomplish excellence on the Mississippi River in the areas of art, design, revitalization, river activity, education, and stewardship.
• Hosting the annual Upper Mississippi River Conference which fosters collaboration and discussion on environmental stewardship and river management.
• Hosting the QC Environmental Film Series, bringing inspirational & educational environmental films to our community.