Alton, Ill. – The Missouri Gateway Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council will feature the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center’s Jerry F. Costello Confluence Field Station as a part of its Green Building Tour program on Tuesday, June 14.
The event, which is presented in partnership with the St. Louis Regional Higher Education Sustainability Consortium and sponsored by AAIC, Inc. and Native Landscape Contractors, will begin with registration and networking opportunities at 5:30 p.m. At 6 p.m. a brief welcome and presentation will take place, followed by tours of the facility.
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“We are pleased to welcome the Missouri Gateway Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and are honored they chose the Costello Confluence Field Station as a part of their green building tour program,” Lewis and Clark President and NGRREC Chairman Dale Chapman said. “This facility was designed with the most advanced sustainable features, and we are anxious to showcase its unique design, as well as NGRREC’s programs and research to local U.S. Green Building Council Members and guests.”
The Costello Confluence Field Station incorporates many sustainable elements and is registered with the certification goal of LEED Platinum. The 35,000-square-foot building sits on eight acres of land leased from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers south of the Melvin Price Locks and Dam in Alton, Ill. Strategically located near the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois rivers, the field station serves as an international center for science, education and public outreach related to key issues that will improve sustainable management of large rivers.
“We have received a great deal of response from our members who are looking forward to touring this facility,” Executive Director of the Missouri Gateway Chapter of the USGBC Emily Andrews said. “We expect more than 100 individuals to take part in the event and the tour, and we are looking forward to learning more about NGRREC’s state-of-the-art facility.”
NGRREC’s field station provides researchers access to the river and the riverine mesocosms, and wet lab facilities will allow them to conduct unique experiments to expand our understanding of the structure and function of floodplain-river ecosystems - information that is vital to the development of conservation strategies to sustain the natural resources these systems provide and economic benefits derived from these resources.
This week the facility was visited by the Mekong River Commission, represented by foreign ministers from the countries of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam, as the group
exchanged information with NGRREC researchers related to issues of mutual concern such as navigation, sustainability and stewardship, flood and drought management and invasive species.
Registration in advance is preferred. USGBC- Missouri Gateway Members, HESC Representatives and full-time students can register for free. The fee for non-members to attend is $20.
To register visit http://www.usgbc-stl.org/events/, scroll down and click the “register” button under the Tour of the National Great Rivers Research & Education Center event listing. For more information call (314) 577-0225 or email usgbc-mogateway@mobot.org.
NGRREC is the winner of the 2011 U.S. Water Prize administered by the Clean Water America Alliance http://www.uswaterprize.org/
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