Forwarded from Mark Beorkrem by Jane Clark

Note that this is the first time curtailment of barge traffic on the
Missouri is being done at the behest of mother nature and not for power
generation.  The Corps has frequently in the past stopped regular releases
during low flows to conserve for power generation so sometimes barge
navigation has been interrupted, thus establishing Corps power to regulate
traffic.
Mark N. Beorkrem
Navigation/Flood Damage Reduction Projects Director
Mississippi River Basin Alliance


July 7, 2002
New York Times
Federal Ruling Puts Shorebirds Before Barges on the Missouri
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KANSAS CITY, Mo., July 6 (AP) - In a decision that could halt barge traffic
on a 250-mile stretch of the Missouri River, the federal Fish and Wildlife
Service has said that two endangered species of shorebirds cannot be moved
to accommodate the release of water from two dams.

The drought-stricken Missouri is at its minimum navigational flow, said a
spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, Paul Johnston. To increase flow,
the corps planned to release water from the Gavins Point and Fort Randall
dams in South Dakota.

Before doing that, however, the corps needed to move piping plovers and
least terns, shorebirds that build their nests on islands and sandbars in
the Missouri. On Friday, the Fish and Wildlife Service told the corps that
under federal law, it was not permitted to do that.

Without a heavy rain, that leaves barge traffic in shallow water, Mr.
Johnston said. "I can foresee that in a relatively short time there will
essentially be no navigation from Kansas City to Sioux City," he said.

The river flows 2,341 miles from Wyoming and Montana through the Dakotas,
then threads south between Nebraska and Kansas on its west side and Iowa and
Missouri to the east before crossing Missouri to meet the Mississippi River
at St. Louis.

The corps said it was working with the Fish and Wildlife Service to find a
way to support navigation while protecting the shorebirds, though neither
agency was confident there would be a quick resolution.

Fish and Wildlife Service officials said the decision was in keeping with
its legal obligation to protect the endangered birds.

"The choice being made not to flood these listed birds is being made by the
corps, and we certainly applaud that," said Mike Olson, a Fish and Wildlife
official in Bismarck, N.D.

The environmental group American Rivers praised the Fish and Wildlife
Service's decision.

"Today's news that river flows will not be manipulated at the expense of
endangered species may be the turning point in the long effort to restore
America's longest river," said Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers.

But Mr. Johnston says companies already have been complaining that their
barges are bumping the bottom of the river.

"That starts giving us concern that we're going to have an oil spill down in
the river," he said.

Friday's decision will not affect the release of additional water from three
reservoirs along the Kansas River, which started Wednesday, Mr. Johnston
said.

Last month, the Bush administration postponed indefinitely the long-awaited
plan for altering the Missouri River's flow.

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