Corps Requests Information From Residents
Area residents are encouraged to provide information to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding impacts of the recent water flows on the Missouri River.
During a conference call last week, officials said that Roosevelt County resident Dick Iversen provided photos in an email regarding a pump site that is no longer functioning.
“If there are people out there with information, we need that,” John Remus, chief of the Missouri Basin Water Management Division, said.
Interested parties can also provide information through a webbased application that can be found at https://hydroviz.ca/fort-peckfeedback or Missouri.Water.Management@ nwd02.usace.army.mil.
Remus said the average daily flow has reached the decreased level of 8,000 cubic feet per second and it will remain at that level until about Sept. 1.
Joe Bonneau, Missouri River Recovery Program manager, reported that all physical monitoring including aerial photos, physical surveys, cultural research monitoring and water monitoring took place during the peak water flows.
After the water flows are completed, the same sort of monitoring will be conducted.
“In the next couple of months, these efforts will be repeated,” Bonneau said. “So, there won’t be anything new to report on that front for awhile.”
Officials are still keeping track of three female pallid sturgeons. They are still located in the Missouri River and haven’t yet spawned.
One female fish who did move downstream was recaptured, but that fish still hasn’t spawned as well.
Roosevelt County resident Dana Berwick was interested if officials had any information how fast the river was moving. Officials noted they will look at the discharge in relationship to velocity in the future.
The 2018 Biological Opinion requires the test under the Endangered Species Act for operation of the Missouri River Mainstream Reservoir System. The purpose of the test flows is to evaluate the potential for achieving pallid sturgeon spawning and recruitment on the upper Missouri River.
