• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Endangered Fish Brings Together River Foes

Posted on: Friday, 1 July 2005, 12:00 CDT

An endangered prehistoric fish might help resolve a long-running dispute over how Missouri River flows are managed, federal and tribal officials say.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is holding meetings here to help craft a plan for a spring rise to protect the endangered pallid sturgeon.

Tex Hall, chairman of North Dakota's Three Affiliated Tribes and president of the National Congress of American Indians, said it is the first time many of the upstream and downstream interests have met face to face, after a prolonged legal and political battle over how best to manage the river.

"It's interesting that an endangered species brought us all together," Hall said. "This fish has depoliticized the process."

More than 80 representatives from federal and state agencies, tribes, and other groups representing Missouri River interests attended Wednesday's meeting. A similar meeting was to be held today.

The corps, which manages the 2,341-mile river and its reservoirs, has been ordered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to come up with a plan by next year to imitate historic spring rises on the river. Federal biologists want more water from Gavins Point Dam, at Yankton, S.D., released in the spring to create a more natural flow, hoping it will prompt the sturgeon to spawn.

The fish have struggled since the river was straightened and dammed about 50 years ago.

Mike Olson, a Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, said the number of adult sturgeon above Gavins Point Dam is about 180. He said about 1,000 fish are believed to be below the dam, the last of six upstream reservoirs.

Olson, who is based in Bismarck, said the spring releases will help increase the pallid sturgeon population.

"We'll see a benefit to the fish," Olson said. Even more, he said, the cooperation from all groups working on the spring release may help find common ground for other flow issues on the river.

Upstream states want more water held in reservoirs to support fish reproduction and recreation. Downstream states want more water released from the dams, mainly to support barge traffic.

"People are tired of wrestling this issue in the courts," Olson said. "The last thing people want is to allow a judge to operate the process on the Missouri River."

A similar meeting on spring releases was held earlier in St. Joseph, Mo., and another is slated in Omaha, Neb., later this summer. CDR Associates, a Boulder, Colo.-based conflict-resolution firm, has been hired to help run the meetings.

Source: Bismarck Tribune

More News in this Category