Madeline Heim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

For the past few decades, the trees that grow in the Mississippi River floodplain, known as floodplain forests, have been struggling. Although they're named for their ability to withstand the river's seasonal flooding, they've recently been overwhelmed by higher water and longer-lasting floods. Government agencies and nonprofits are attempting to reverse the forestland decline by planting new trees and volunteers are key to the effort.

Worsening local effects on health and recreation in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin are spurring action on problems that also cause the Gulf of Mexico’s chronic “dead zone.”

Around 175 million tons of freight travels on the Mississippi River each year, and from the river’s headwaters to southern Illinois, a series of locks and dams guide barges through the journey.Traffic is only increasing, but the locks and dams have aged far past their life expectancy. Even functioning properly, they slow barges down, and shippers and commodity groups fear a worse infrastructure breakdown is on the horizon.

Mayors along the Mississippi River are asking for more federal help as the drought that has plagued the nation’s water superhighway in recent weeks drags on. City leaders shared wide-ranging impacts of dry conditions at a Tuesday press conference hosted by the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, from barge slowdowns to water main breaks caused by shifting dry ground.