By Allison Holdhusen, Biological Science Technician Mississippi National River and Recreation Area

Allie is back on the surface after diving underwater in a dive suit. She is holding two mussels in her hands and smiling.

I’ll never forget the moment my childhood dream came true. Growing up in the Twin Cities, I spent many days biking and hiking to explore different spots along the river, often with a fishing pole in my backpack. I’d gaze longingly at the water’s surface, ever curious of life below. Fast forward several years to my first dive in the Mississippi River, near Hidden Falls. As the park’s pontoon floated past my favorite childhood fishing spot, I realized my dream of experiencing the river from underwater was about to become my reality.

With a degree in biology and botany, I navigated my first season as a bio-tech with the National Park Service in 2009 by canoe, kayak, snowshoe, motorboat and foot to survey plant communities in obscure places. My now full-time work coordinating wildlife surveys brings me in close contact with many river critters, including river otters, songbirds, coyotes, aquatic invertebrates and my personal favorite—native river mussels. Using scuba in my work is a dream come true (big Jacques Cousteau fan here!) and I’m excited about my new leadership role as Program Dive Officer and Dive Examiner with the park’s dive program.

Allie smiling while other volunteers are looking at the amount of mussels that are in the box. Everyone else is smiling and in awe.

Our dive work supports a multitude of inter-agency and partnership efforts to conserve, restore and monitor dwindling populations of native freshwater mussels. Mussels are important to river ecosystems because they filter water and also provide food for other aquatic creatures. They’re good indicators of a river’s health: mussels disappear when rivers are full of sewage, industrial waste and farm runoff. We also monitor water quality, invasive species and other aquatic resources in the Mississippi and Saint Croix Rivers, and in the wider Great Lakes Region.

I treasure introducing my son to the many wonders of the river and the outdoors. I feel a similar joy connecting the public to the river in new ways, like taking volunteers out to help with wildlife fieldwork, where every workday is like a new adventure. I feel honored to serve our community this way and am driven by a shared purpose to protect the river, the heart of our community, for future generations.

When Work is an Adventure