Save the sturgeon    See second comment need below



Sen Blunt of Missouri is proposing an amendment that would cut species Recovery Program by more than 50%.  Please drop a note to your senator before the holiday or right after.  Thanks, Jim Redmond  Here is a sample:



Dear Senator Harkin, I ask that you vote against the amendment 975 offered by Sen Blunt to the Energy and Water Development bill.  That amendment punishes efforts to bring the Missouri River ecosystem to a healthier state where it can reduce risks from flooding.  Species recovery is just one of the programs that will be set back by this punitive cap.  Some senators, unfortunatelty want to ignore science and claim that the flood of 2011 was caused by species recovery effort.  A vote in favor of this amendment would merely lend credence to this claim denied by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The amendment ignores billions of dollars in damages over the past half century to the Missouri river and its ecosystem( including species on the brink of extinction like the pallid sturgeon.)    Healthy species lead to a healthy river which supports its human inhabitants.

Nov 25 is the deadline for comments on the Corps Annual Operating Plan for 2011.  Please email a quick comment.  Sample comments can be found below.
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1) Aim for a higher March 1 target on available flood storage. (Corps wants no change). Higher storage means lower reservoir levels in late winter. Even with lower levels for flood storage with later spring runoff there should be enough for spring rise needed for wildlife.
2) Tell the Corps that contrary to the inaccurate view that the river system was run for the benefit of the threatened and endangered species, you appreciate the Corps continued efforts to help the species move back from the brink of extinction. Only 111 successful nests were counted in 2011.
3) The Army Corps should be ready to respond to high mountain and plains snowpack by high releases early in the run-off season. The Corps can only achieve flood risk management by developing a functioning floodplain.
4) The Corps needs to address shortcomings in their forecasting tools, relying on more than hydrology and engineering data collected over the decades. For example, landscape (which is 99% of the basin) is not adequately considered by the Corps. Statistics of saturated ground or plowed up grasslands should be included in forecasts. Millions of acres of Conservation Reserve Program were plowed up in the last half dozen years, reducing the absorption and resiliency of the basin landscape.
 5) ask to Corps to push to protect and increase money for buy outs from willing sellers. Some landowners who were severely impacted by the flood may be interested in buy out. We should have that option and it should be viewed as part of flood repair program. Land buy outs could contribute to expanded floodplains and even wildlife refuges.





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