Important News

The Omaha District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), invites you to participate in the preliminary final Master Plan comment period for the update of the Garrison Dam/Lake Sakakawea Master Plan (Master Plan). The Garrison Project is currently operating under a May 1978 version of the Master Plan, and an update of this plan is necessary to manage and plan for changes in recreation trends and/or needs as well as changes in land use.

A Master Plan is a planning document that provides a land management vision for the entire Project. A quality Master Plan must take into account a broad spectrum of varying insights and perspectives. We must consider points of view from the Tribes, Federal and State governments and members of the public that have an interest in the lands around Lake Sakakawea.

The Corps recognizes and respects the importance our stakeholders attribute to the resources and land base surrounding Lake Sakakawea. It is, therefore, the intent of the Corps to continue dialogue regarding proposed and ongoing actions that may significantly affect our management practices.

This preliminary final master plan comment period is open to the Tribes, Federal, State and local agencies and the general public, and will run from October 17, 2007 to October 31, 2007. A complete copy of the Master Plan is available on our Omaha District web site at the following address:



https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/html/Lake_Proj/MasterPlan/GarrisonMP.pdf



The success of this Master Plan is contingent upon stakeholder participation. Please contact me or the Garrison Master Plan Project Manager, Ms. Julie Price, at (402) 221‑4137 or julie.a.price@usace.army.mil if you have any questions or comments regarding this process.



Here's a copy of the speech that Terry Fleck, Friends chairman, made on your behalf at the recent Corps' Annual Operating Plan meeting:



1. We met recently with Terry Steinwand and Greg Power of the North Dakota to discuss the current situation with the Lake Sakakawea fishery. The research they’ve done this past year confirms our fears. Our fishery is in dire straits and only higher water levels will turn things around. The fundamental ingredients to healthy fish habitat almost don’t exist anymore on Lake Sakakawea. I’m sure the Game and Fish biologist will provide you with the terrible details.

Angler success this past summer was dismal in most areas. Fishing tournaments resulted in far below numbers and size of walleye which serves to highlight the fact that the low water situation we’ve been struggling with for so many years is taking a terrible toll. Lake Sakakawea’s recreation industry is all about fishing and like the fishery, our businesses around the lake are drying up. Something must be done now, and I emphasize NOW, to restore habitat favorable to rebuilding our decimated fishery.

Even though Lake Sakakawea is supposed to be favored with rising levels if spring runoff is projected to be low again, the AOP forecast doesn’t show nearly enough improvement. Certainly not enough of a rise for the water to inundated better spawning substrate.



2. We appreciate the Corps’ effort in implementing the temporary modifications made to the Garrison Dam intakes. I understand another one of the trash racks was modified this past summer. Studies show that this change has saved significant amounts of cold water habitat so important to the health of our fishery. We would really like to see these modifications be made permanent but we understand that it does have some negative impact on power generation. When water levels rise, we expect the trash racks probably will be returned to their previous condition.

If we can’t have these modification made permanent, we believe the Corps must consider the installation of the reinstallation of the “cold-water curtain” to be a normal practice in future droughts. We pray that water levels will start to return to normal next year and that many future years we will be blessed with enough runoff to restore the Lake Sakakawea to the recreation Mecca we know it can be. Unfortunately, the reality of living in this mid-continent location makes it probable that we will see droughts again in the future. We recommend that the Corps record this modification for future Lake Sakakawea managers and establish it as a normal practice. A decade or two from now, we or our successor shouldn’t have to fight with the Corps to get this modification implemented at the first signs of drought.



3. Water intakes at various communities on Lake Sakakawea must be modified to address the low water. Modification of water intakes has been done by the Corps in the past but they have always been temporary fixes. We must modify these intakes so we don’t have this recurring problem. Small communities along the reservoir don’t have the financial capability to fund permanent solutions especially when the foundation of their economy, the recreation industry, is in such terrible condition. These communities must have help from the federal government to develop permanent fixes to their water supply intake problems.


4. Boat ramps will be a critical problem again in 2008. We promise to support the Corps in requesting the funding necessary to make sure we have the best lake access possible under the circumstances. We appreciate your efforts in this area, we will assist in any way we can.



5. The Friends have been fortunate enough to administer almost $200,000 toward noxious weed control on the Corps’ land. We’ve reached every county adjacent to the lake. But our funding has run out. We won’t have any dollars in 2007-2008. Again, we promise to support the Corps in requesting sufficient funding to adequately address the incredibly huge noxious weed control problem. We appreciate the Corps’ efforts in this regard and we will assist in any way we can.



6. The barge industry on the Missouri River has never lived up to its expectations; even the navigation industry representatives will admit to that. Regardless the navigators demand that hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water be dumped down the river every season to float a handful of barges. This is water way above the amount needed for downstream city and industrial water users. When we are in a prolonged drought as we have been in recent years, water becomes an even more precious resource. It is only sensible to implement stricter water conservation when it is in short supply. The reduced barge season flows and period clearly do not go far enough to maintain reasonable system benefits in the upstream reservoirs. As a compromised, wouldn’t it be possible to do a better job of scheduling and coordinating releases to meet the basic needs of the navigation industry? Since the navigators say the need a long lead time to schedule their trips, it should be too difficult to coordinate the operators and provide the flows several of them need during brief windows of time. Wasting water that even the barge operator choose not to use is cheating the rest of the citizens of this basin.

When normal runoff returns to the river, the navigators will be back in full swing. The devastation that is forced on the upstream recreation industry during drought will take years to recover from. Forage populations don’t rebound overnight nor does the size and number of game fish. Many of the mom and pop businesses that depend on the recreation activity likely will never recover. It just isn’t fair. North Dakota has given up over 500,000 acres to the reservoirs that provide enormous benefits downstream yet our attempt to capture some benefits are dashed by greedy navigators. Please give serious consideration to improving scheduling and coordination of navigation releases to conserve as much storage as possible.



7. We encourage you to continue to involve stakeholders in the management of the Missouri River. The master plan for the shoreline management of the lake is nearing completion, thanks to a four-year commitment of a group of stakeholders. We appreciate a stop by the Mississippi Basin commission to view the impact of low water on our communities. We need more interaction to get the word out to downstream stakeholders and we hope you keep that in mind during the coming year.

Please, seriously consider our requests. Like the fish, we’re hungry. We’re hungry for a few breaks for the fishing industry to survive and for a few more for the many communities and people who depend on it for their livelihood.