Their motto: 124 Cities, 10 States, 1 River. Their most recent collaboration: a proposal to the Trump administration for investing in an infrastructure plan that restores ecology as well as built features along the Mississippi.

They are the mayors of towns of all sizes bordering the river's "mainstem," forces joined in the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative. This group of local leaders jumped on the presidential campaign promise of infrastructure improvements, preparing a plan they presented in Washington on March 1, that calls for investing $7.93 billion in specific actions that will create 100,000 new jobs, sustain 1.5 million existing jobs, and generate $24 billion in economic return.

The mayors' plan is grounded in economics. It modestly calls for near-current levels of funding for valuable EPA, DOT, DOI, FEMA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers programs that clean our water and return taxpayer investments at the rate of at least 2 o 1. This group was FIRST to present a proposal to the White House, meeting with the President's senior infrastructure advisor and representatives from White House Intergovernmental Affairs and the National Security Council. This Earthworms conversation with Colin Wellenkamp, Executive Director of MRCTI, details foresight, cooperation, leadership, and common sense - applied to protect and restore the Triple Bottom Line of natural, human and capital resources - from elected officials of American towns. It's a proposal, not a done deal by any means, but . . . Kudos, mayors for GREAT work!  Stay tuned. Music: Butter II, performed live at KDHX by Ian Ethan Case THANKS to Andy Heaslet, Earthworms engineer.

Related Earthworms Conversations: Leadership in a Global Way: Mississippi River Town Mayors (June, 2016)