Minnesota Division

Izaak Walton League of America

The Izaak Walton League's Upper Mississippi River Initiative (UMRI)

The Upper Mississippi River Initiative (UMRI) is a collaborative, grassroots effort to listen and learn from each other and pursue actions to improve water quality.

The Izaak Walton League’s Upper Mississippi River Initiative

6601 Auto Club Road, Bloomington, MN 55438

Email: umri.info@gmail.com Phone: (651) 221-0215

Who We Are

The Izaak Walton League was founded in 1922 to conserve outdoor America for future generations. The League's 54 founders, who were avid anglers, named the organization after Izaak Walton, the 17th century author of The Compleat Angler, a classic book about the art and spirit of fishing. We are one of the earliest conservation organizations to set an aggressive course to defend wild America by changing public policy. Almost every major, successful conservation program that America has in place today can be traced directly to a League activity or initiative.

Your Mississippi

4-minute film

The Mighty Mississippi is an artery America can’t live without. It’s a river of recreation. It’s a river of navigation. From locks and dams to hunting and fishing, this is Your Mississippi. Official selection of Flyway Film Festival.

The Scenic Route

2-minute film

The Upper Mississippi River is a jewel of nature, providing wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, and a way of life for communities across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois.

The Minnesota Division of the Izaak Walton League has played a leading role in the protection of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from the 1920s until the present-day fight to stop sulfide mining on the borders of the BWCA. The IKE's leadership has been based on partnerships with other organizations and the role played by activists who were eminent biologists and ecologists. 

Izaak Walton League Member Pledge

To strive for the purity of water, the clarity of air, and the wise stewardship of the land and its resources; to know the beauty and understanding of nature and the value of wildlife, woodlands, and open space; to the preservation of this heritage and to man's sharing in it.

I pledge myself as a member of the Izaak Walton League of America.