LACROSSE, Wis. – In a ceremony at Riverside Park they broke a bottle of champagne across the bow of the new University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse river research vessel. The 32-foot aluminum catamaran, christened Prairie Springs, already has been out on the Mississippi to study microplastics contamination with high-end sonar mapping river-bottom sedimentation. The vessel also can used for research on inland lakes.
“Prairie Springs.” The $500,000 vessel bears the name of the campus science builidng. Image: Hope Kirwin