River Action will gather “river stakeholders” Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 18-19, at the Upper Mississippi River Conference – “Building Community Around the River” – at the Rock Island Holiday Inn, Rock Island.

River Action is working in collaboration with experts and policymakers, non-profits, cities, educators, students, media, and scientists for this 17th annual conference, a news release says.

The conference will focus on clean water challenges, partnerships that lead to change, engineering with nature, and transformative urban redevelopment.

Attendees will hear from keynote speaker Colin Wellenkamp, executive director, Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiatives; Chris Jones, author and retired IHR research engineer, University of Iowa; Reggie McLeod, editor and publisher, Big River Magazine; and Lewis Kuhlman, environmental planner, City of LaCrosse Action Project. They will also hear from organizations, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, UpStream, Riverside Global, University of Iowa, American Cruise Lines, Master Naturalist Programs and more.

A Student Charette on Oct. 18 will focus on designing solutions to neighborhood storm water runoff in LeClaire, led by Jim Patchett, Solutions in the Land. It will be followed by a student presentation of their designs.

Local field trips also are planned: Walk Schwiebert Park and the Davenport riverfront with Mark Schwiebert, former mayor of Rock Island and Kyle Carter, executive director of the Downtown Davenport Partnership, as they share RiverVision plans past and future; take a boat tour on the Augustana Stewardship; or a narrated bus trip and walk on Muscatine’s riverfront.

For more information or to register, visit here.