Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge Clark was considerably different from today's river. The historic Missouri was a broad, slow-moving, shallow river with braided channels. These past river conditions created a haven for wildlife, which included vast floodplain forests of giant trees, marshes, and even wet prairies. Today's river is channelized. It is deeper and faster, and controlled by levees, dikes, and other containment structures. These controls make the river more navigable and the surrounding floodplain ideal for agriculture. The Big Muddy Refuge is allowing the Missouri River to be a river again, to enter its floodplain. This occurs during minor flood events. Management has created
Muddy Creek (Lamine River) Muddy Creek (Lamine River) Muddy Creek is a stream in Johnson and Pettis Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is a tributary of Lamine River. The stream headwaters arise in southeastern Johnson County just east of the community of Sutherland and Missouri Route 23 at . The stream flows northeast and enters Pettis County about three miles southeast of Whiteman Air Force Base. The stream continues to the northeast passing under Missouri Route 127 three miles south of LaMonte and under U.S. Route 50 three miles west of Sedalia. It crosses under U.S. Route 65 six miles north