SierraScape April - August 2017
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Three Species Need Your Help. Army Corps of Engineers decision on protecting species open for public comment - until April 24.
The Lost Missouri River
The Missouri river was once a wide, meandering, braided river with side channels and shifting sandbars. We have changed the river by creating huge reservoirs in the upper basin and channelizing the lower river. This resulted in the loss of over 500,000 acres of fish and wildlife habitat in and along the river.
Not surprisingly many native species which depend on the river have declined. Three of those, the piping plover, least tern and pallid sturgeon, are endangered and now are the focus of an Army Corps of Engineers decision document, called a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).
The Corps manages the river mainly through its flow releases from reservoirs and its maintenance of the channelized banks of the river. The Corps may also create habitat along the river if they have a funded project.
The DEIS contains six alternatives on how to protect these endangered species. These alternatives should represent a range of reasonable actions based on how to help the species survive by habitat creation, different water flow schedules, water temperature etc.
A brief outline of habitat needs is: The two bird species need protected sandbar habitat during nesting season. The pallid sturgeon's habitat needs are more complex but can be summarized as requiring shallow water habitat.
The Corps is asking for public comment on which alternative is the best and any other comments about the decision. Unfortunately all the alternatives are flawed in some way, but alternative two is by far the best. Alternative two is the only alternative that proposes connecting the river to restored floodplain and that takes seriously the task of restoring lost river habitat.
The Corps should take the opportunity of this DEIS to promote the importance of restoration of acres of habitat along the river. It should fully embrace the option of restoring general habitat along the river along while specifying a portion of those acres to the needs of the three species at immediate risk. Instead the Corps has relegated restoration to the lowest priority and specifically included it only in one alternative.
Public comment on the current DEIS is an important opportunity to tell the Corps to recover these three species and to take seriously the needs of Missouri River habitat restoration.
Here is what you can do now!
Send in comments via email or mail. Deadline April 24
Email comments to: parkplanning.nps.gov/MRRMP
Mail in comments to: US Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, Attn.: CENWO-pm-ac Management Plan Comments, 1616 Capitol Ave, Omaha, NE 68102
Your comments do not need to be long or complicated, but here are some ideas to consider. And include your own ideas!
- Alternative 2 is best, but needs changes. It provides the
best opportunities for recovery of the three species. It provides
adaptive management over time. Alternative 2 includes recognition
of the importance of connections to floodplains and includes
the option of acquiring increased acres for habitat and mitigation.
Alternative 2 is the best option to move toward a more natural river which is good for the three targeted species as well as other fish and wildlife species.
The Corps incorrectly sets the cost of Alternative 2 as too high. The Corps has included too much mechanically created habitat in Alternative 2 which unnecessarily raises its cost.
Also the Corps does not consider the environmental services that would be provided by additional habitat acres over the years. Those services include flood risk reduction and recreation.
- The Corps' preferred alternative, Alternative 3, is the worst
of the choices. It relies only on manual, artificially created
habitat which would require indefinite work and maintenance.
Alternative 3 would lock the Corps into a substandard, costly
plan. The Corps wants to be a zookeeper along the river, instead
of creating a more natural river.
- Anything you want to say about why we should protect endangered species by restoring a more natural river for all fish and wildlife.
The DEIS is long but you can review it at: www.moriverrecovery.org.