Park Rangers Offer Public Tours of Lock and Dam 24 in Conjunction with Eagle Days

St. Louis District
Published Jan. 24, 2022

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rivers Project Office, is partnering with the City of Clarksville to bring additional experiences to their annual Clarksville Eagle Days. Throughout the two-day event, USACE Park Rangers will offer free public tours of Lock and Dam 24, which is not typically open for public touring.

“The Corps of Engineers at Lock and Dam 24 is excited to welcome the public to enjoy a unique experience touring the lock and dam,” said Lock Master Ryan Lee. “You will get to see the lock where large towboats pushing barges with commodities up and down the river pass through and learn about the process and even go up to the top of the dam to get a better view of the Project.”

Those interested in signing up for one of the 10 tours happening this weekend can do so inside the Apple Shed, which is just over half a mile from Lock and Dam 24 and is the main location for the Clarksville Eagle Days event.

“Our Rangers and volunteers regularly give tours of Melvin Price Locks and Dam in Alton, and we’re so happy to be able to partner with the City of Clarksville to bring this experience to other communities and other Locks and Dams along the river,” said Allison Rhanor, Outreach Lead and Director of the National Great Rivers Museum in Alton. “We do expect the tours to sell out completely, so I encourage anyone interested in a tour to arrive at the event early to secure a timeslot in the Apple Shed.”

In addition to Lock and Dam tours, Park Rangers will be supplying spotting scopes for the event, which will be set up in the Clarksville Riverfront Park for the public to enjoy eagle viewing, with expert assistance from not only Park Rangers and USACE volunteers, but Missouri Master Naturalists as well.

“We’ve received tremendous interest in this touring opportunity, and we want everyone to know that we’re listening,” said Rhanor. “While this weekend’s tours may have limited slots to accommodate a multitude of logistical factors, including the current Covid-19 surge, we fully intend to offer this opportunity again and more regularly in cooperation with the City of Clarksville, with the hope that future events will allow for pre-registration and a much higher capacity for touring to meet the demand and the interest in this experience that we’ve been seeing.”   

Clarksville Eagle Days runs from 10am – 4pm on Saturday January 29th, and 11am – 3pm on Sunday January 30th. The first tour will begin 30 minutes after the start of the event each day, and will only be open to those who have already signed up at the main event in the Apple Shed.

For additional information please contact a park ranger at 618-462-6979 or visit www.mtrf.org.


Contact

or
Allison Rhanor
Allison.K.Rhanor@usace.army.mil

Release no. 22-011