By BEN HILLYER

The Natchez Democrat

NATCHEZ — More than 20 mayors gathered in Natchez Wednesday to announce plans and partnerships they hope will have a lasting impact on the future of the Mississippi River and in turn the nation.

Natchez and Vidalia are hosting the fifth annual meeting of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative. The group of 75 mayors represents cities on the Mississippi River, from St. Cloud, Minn., to the north and Gretna, La., to the south.

The group announced new projects ranging from a clean water alliance with Walmart Stores Inc. to the unveiling of a tourism website focused on the Mississippi River.

At a luncheon at the Carriage House at Stanton Hall, MRCTI in conjunction with Delta Regional Authority and National Geographic unveiled a new website dedicate to geotourism in the Mississippi River Region.

The website at mississippiriver.natgeotourism.com is planned to be an in-depth destination guide devoted to promoting the geographic character of the Mississippi River region, its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents, said Frank Biasi with National Geographic Maps.

Local people and organizations along the Mississippi River have been brought together to contribute information about the region.

“Currently the site has over 1,500 pages of content contributed by more than 1,000 local contributors,” Biasi said.

Federal Co-chairman of Delta Regional Authority Chris Masingill said the project is an example of his group’s goal of thinking creatively about economic development.

“You have to think outside the outside the box,” Masingill said. “Economic development is not one-size fits all.”

“The geotourism project helped give us an appreciation of the real impact of tourism and the creative economy,” Masingill said.

During a press conference at the Natchez Visitor Reception Center earlier in the day mayors announced new container-on-barge projects on the river. The projects connects New Orleans to Memphis all the way to Chicago, U.S. Maritime Administrator Paul Jaenichen said.

Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell and Vidalia Mayor Buz Craft welcomed the news Wednesday.

“The project has great potential to enhance port activity for Natchez and Vidalia,” Grennell said. “The impact on port activity could be tremendous and result in job growth.”

Craft agreed that additional traffic on the river is an exciting prospect for his town, which is constructing its own river port.

“This opens a lot of opportunities to ship more products up and down the whole river,” Craft said. “We are excited. The people in our community are excited. We are ready to go forward.”

Also during the press conference St. Louis Mayor Dave Kleis announced an alliance with Walmart to strive toward achieving clean water in the Mississippi River.

“The mayors of MRCTI consider clean water a top priority because more than 20 million people and 50 cities drink water from the Mississippi River,” Kleis said.

One of the biggest threats to clean water is nutrient loading, Kleis said. Agricultural practices pose the biggest threat to nutrients flowing into the water system.

Walmart and MRCTI have partnered to promote agricultural practices that cut down on water pollution. Pointing to Walmart’s efforts to encourage food suppliers to create management plans that reduce water pollution.

Senior Director of Global Sustainability for Walmart Brittni Furrow said Walmart already works with 17 major suppliers and 23 million acres of agricultural land to improve water quality.

“Walmart will work with MRCTI to expand acreage,” Furrow said.