And the river shall rise

This Monday at noon the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released extra water into the Missouri River at Gavins Point Dam, near the Nebraska-South Dakota border. The motivation for this project is to help preserve the pallid sturgeon, which is on the endangered species list. The “spring pulse” is meant to replicate what once was a natural occurrence when melting snow caused a heavy flow of water downstream.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has called on the agency to discontinue the operation, due to flooding conditions. Missouri Farm Bureau President Charles E. Kruse adds: “This is yet another example of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Corps ignoring common sense and placing landowners at increased risk as they attempt to justify the millions of dollars being spent on new Missouri River management practices.”

The Gavins Point Dam is the most downstream dam on the Missouri, and impounds the Lewis and Clark Lake near Yankton, South Dakota.