Join us as we kick off our 2021 Forum season!


Tuesday, Feb. 16

12-1pm via Zoom

Register in advance for this webinar:https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cGrRcrAxS66VX_lRS9yv6A

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Flex Your Mussels, Spread Your Wings

Jared McGovern, Curator of Conservation Programming

National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium

We flex our mussels and spread our wings to soar when engaging students, and our community in hopeful conservation messaging.  We provide students and educators the opportunity to work with endangered mussels and nurture the tools necessary to become future leaders in conservation. Through freshwater mussels, and soon through monarch butterflies we are engaging people in the culture, conservation, history and connectivity between our lands and waters. 

Join us and discover how students are partaking in projects aimed at saving animals from extinction, and how we are introducing students to the role zoos and aquariums play in a much larger conservation effort.

Jared McGovern is a Peosta, Iowa native, Iowa State and Clarke University alumnus, casual RAGBRAI participant, a husband, father, and River Steward.  Jared’s passions and career align around conservation and outdoor education. He is a firm believer in the power people have to make great positive change in the world.  He loves to putz in his yard (a super diverse yard managed for wildlife) and play in the woods and on the water.  As the Curator of Conservation Programs at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, it is his mission to inspire stewardship (conservation action) by creating robust and fun educational, advocacy, and engagement experiences for those who call the Tristate area of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois their home.  

Part aquarium, part museum, and part science center, the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium inspires stewardship by creating educational experiences where history and rivers come alive. Receiving visitors from all 50 states and nearly 70 countries annually, the River Museum preserves and interprets the rich history, culture, and ecology of the Mississippi River and Dubuque County. Additionally, the institution is nationally recognized for its participation in working to save endangered species, such as corals, mussels, Wyoming Toads, and more.