Excellent lead editorial in today's Omaha paper. Omaha World-Herald May 15, 2002 Seize the opportunity The Army Corps of Engineers is scheduled to reveal its recommended plan for managing the Missouri River by the end of this month. The opportunities are immense. The river has been managed for 60 years, since the mainstream dams were put into place, for the benefit of navigation, power production and agriculture. The result is a highly controlled, even channelized, waterway that has lost much of its natural character, habitat and wildlife. But new days bring new ideas. And the new idea for the Missouri River, supported by science, by wildlife experts and by environmental organizations, among others, is a new way for the corps to manage the river. It is a system that takes habitat, wildlife and fish into account. A system that encourages people - tourists, yes, but also the millions of residents who live near the water - to get close, to hike, bike, boat, fish, hunt and put the river to its best uses. The corps will decide among several options. At one end is no change. At the other is a river that rises sharply in the spring and falls to summer lows that would certainly eliminate all barge traffic for several weeks. This might also disrupt other important functions, such as the supply of cooling water for nuclear power plants such as the Fort Calhoun and Cooper facilities. The logical alternative, then, is somewhere between those two extremes. Some form of the spring-rise, summer-low idea is heavily favored by scientists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Academy of Sciences and other researchers. They have said it's a vital step to preserve the endangered species that depend on the Missouri for life and to improve the habitat for all species that use the river. The proposal is opposed by barge operators, who in some years might have to interrupt service in the summer because of low water. It also meets opposition from farmers with land in the flood plain because periodically their fields could be inundated by the spring rise. Five of the seven states through which the Missouri flows have recommended a compromise that would allow the corps to experiment with high spring rises and low summer flows to see if the idea benefits fish and wildlife. Missouri and Iowa, however, have rejected even that concession. Thus, the Army Corps of Engineers' decision. More than a decade ago, it began revising its management manual for the river. Its action this month is a key step in the long process of thought, study and public input. The decision to be made is not simple, but to us it seems clear: The corps can decide to ignore science, environmental degradation and a wide range of public opinion by maintaining the status quo, either as is or with a few bells and whistles that it can claim are improvements. Or it can do the right thing. It can work with science and with all of the environmental expertise that has appeared in support of management changes. It can alter its mind-set a bit, get rid of the parochial straitjacket in which it has been confined for so many years and begin working not only for its traditional constituents but also for the millions of people who would use and enjoy the river it could help create. This is an unparalleled opportunity to change the Missouri River from the patchwork ditch that it has become and create a vital and useful waterway for America. Seize the moment. Erin Jordahl Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club 3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280 Des Moines, IA 50310 515-277-8868 [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask]