Upcoming Meetings...

Two upcoming Sakakawea meetings:
 
 - The Friends of Lake Sakakawea Board of Directors will meet Thursday, Sept. 21, at the Community Room at Otter Tail Power. The meeting is open to the public from 4 - 5:30 p.m. to learn more from state and federal agencies about ramp access, weed control, the fishery's future and water intake structures. Please attend if you are able. 

 - There will be open houses later this month and early October to learn more about the proposed framework for establishing the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee. 

The Open Houses will provide the opportunity to discuss various aspects of the Proposed Framework for Establishing the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee. The Proposed Framework is the starting point for discussions with basin tribes and stakeholders on the process for forming the Recovery Implementation Committee.
 
Here's an explanation from one of the committee members that may make some of this more understandable: The purpose of all of this is to adjust management of the river system to enhance the prospects for the endangered Pallid Sturgeon population to recover. Pallid Sturgeon, Least Terns and Piping plover are all species in jeopardy of going extinct. The alteration of the river system caused by the dams is thought to be contributing to the decline in these species. The Fish and Wildlife Service is charged by the federal Endangered Species Act to protect endangered and threatened species and help them to recover. The Bald Eagle is an example that most people would relate to. In the process of developing the new Missouri River Master Manual, the Fish and Wildlife Service developed an operating plan that they believed would aid in recovering the Pallid, Terns, and Plovers. That plan was problematic for most contemporary Missouri River system users. As a result, the Corps and F&WS put together the concept of a Missouri River Recover Implementation Committee commonly called MRRIC or Mr. Rick.
 
This committee is to be made up of system stake holders so that they might have an opportunity to make adjustments in the recovery operations to minimize its potential negative impacts to each of the user groups. The Plenary group established last year was, more or less, a trial run at setting up a Mr. Rick and it had the task of recommending an operating plan for just 2006. It was a temporary committee unlike Mr. Rick which will be an ongoing work group. Due to the significant controversy over potential impacts resulting from operating the system to benefit the endangered/threatened species, the Plenary group failed to agree to an operating plan for 2006. However, the work the Plenary did was used by the Corps and the F&WS to develop a 2006 operating plan that tried to address most concerns while meeting the needs of the species. In this case the federal agencies worked out the compromises. The Mr. Rick would put the process back in the hands of the system stakeholders. This all leads up to the meetings that are schedule in this notice. Membership on Mr. Rick is still a fairly hotly contested situation. All the interest groups involved in the Plenary group process want to be on Mr. Rick. After that relative unsuccessful process, I believe the federal agencies want to take great care in establishing Mr. Rick so they are seeking input from stakeholders through these meetings. Stakeholders must be actively engaged in these discussions or their interest may suffer in the final management plan.
 
The North Dakota meeting will be in Bismarck, Sept. 19 from 1-4 p.m. at the Doublewood Inn, 1400 Interchange Ave.

Here's the latest news:

HOEVEN CALLS ON CORPS OFFICIAL IN WASHINGTON, D.C. TO REDUCE MISSOURI RIVER FLOWS
BISMARCK, N.D. ­ -- Gov. John Hoeven Tuesday met in Washington, D.C. with George Dunlop, principle deputy assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works.

"We made clear for the secretary the damaging impact of current Corps management on municipal water supplies, agriculture, recreation and businesses," Hoeven said. "Dunlop agreed to work with the Northwest Division in Portland, and the Omaha District to see if flows out of Sakakawea could be reduced."

Hoeven has been pressing for better water conservation in the entire basin, and better management of low water conditions, including better access, better weed control, and better planning for drought conditions in the future. Last month, he arranged for Larry Cieslik, deputy director of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Northwestern Division, and other Corps officials to come to North Dakota to take a tour and see firsthand the effects of low lake levels. Along with members of Friends of Lake Sakakawea and Voices of Oahe, Hoeven urged the officials to take steps to hold lake levels stable on Lakes Sakakawea and Oahe.

Hoeven and the group called for several specific actions: 
* Suspend targeted releases when barges are not moving on the lower Missouri. 

* Plan for continued extreme drought conditions, including prevention of municipal water supply interruptions. 

* Protect cold water habitat by continuing daily flow cycling and discharging the majority of the water through the modified penstocks. Efforts should commence on a permanent fix to the intake structure to preserve cold water habitat. 

* Provide additional funding for lake access. The Omaha staff should work cooperatively with Upper Basin states to secure funding in the Corps' budget to allow COE assistance for state and local access ramps on the large lakes. The majority of ramps on Lake Sakakawea are currently non-COE owned. 

* Inventory access issues this fall on both lakes. Establish a funding plan to be put into the Corps' budget, which is based on projected access needs for the spring of 2007. 

* Control noxious weeds. Increase funding for control of noxious weeds on Corps lands on Lakes Sakakawea and Oahe. Canada Thistle and wormwood are major weeds. Salt Cedar is on the rise on the shoreline and needs to be kept in check. Salt Cedar was first detected in North Dakota on Lake Sakakawea. 

* Redirect to the state federal funds for the Fort Stevenson State Park Marina, which are currently delayed because of higher projected costs by the Corps. The State of North Dakota could construct the project for half the Corps' estimated $11 million cost. Hoeven is also organizing a letter from Missouri River Basin governors to congressional and Corps leaders urging stronger drought conservation measures throughout the basin to save water for the mutual benefit of all states. It also asks Congress to revisit the 62-year-old Flood Control Act of 1944 to reflect the changed economic and environmental priorities of the basin.