>Forwarded by Jane Clark at [log in to unmask]
====================================================
For Immediate Release
>August 31, 1999
>
>Contact:
>Chad Smith, (402) 477-7910
>"CONSENSUS" PLAN THREATENS FUTURE OF MISSOURI RIVER
>Groups Oppose Abandonment of Fish and Wildlife, Basin Residents
>
>(Lincoln, NE) - Conservation groups today issued strong opposition to a
flow
>management plan by the Missouri River Basin Association that ignores the
>needs of Missouri River wildlife, recreation, and riverside communities.
>
>"The only 'consensus' about this plan is that it will accelerate the death
>spiral that native fish and wildlife on the Missouri River find themselves
>in," said Chad Smith, Missouri River Regional Representative for American
>Rivers.
>
>Last week, American Rivers called on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to
>adopt the split navigation season alternative as the preferred option for
>managing the Missouri River.  The Corps is revising the river's Master
>Manual, the guidebook used by the Corps to manage the river's flow.
>
>The MRBA plan deals only with drought flow, those times when not enough
>water is in the Missouri River system to satisfy all concerns.  Over the
>100-year period that the Corps bases its analysis of various alternatives
>on, only about 20-25 years of drought occurred.
>
>"What about the other 80% of the time?  We're deeply disappointed that the
>governors of the Missouri River basin states have placed the needs of
barge
>traffic and farming above that of river wildlife, recreation, and
riverside
>communities," said Smith.  "Endangered species, recreationists, and the
>economic health of Missouri River communities are getting left behind."
>
>Scientific evidence, including a new study showing a relationship between
>river flows and the health of fish populations, has long pointed to the
need
>for restoring some semblance of natural flow to the Missouri, noted Smith.
>The MRBA plan specifically avoids that recommendation, instead calling for
>implementation of an undefined "endangered species recovery committee"
with
>no set goals and no timeline for action.
>
>Smith said, "The existing science is telling us what to do, yet MRBA would
>have everyone believe that yet another committee doing more and more
science
>is the best thing for people and wildlife in the basin.  We should be
acting
>now."
>
>To learn more about the split navigation season alternative and American
>Rivers' Missouri River campaign, contact Chad Smith at 402-477-7910 or
>[log in to unmask]
>

-----------------------------------------------------------------
To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to:
[log in to unmask]