Rounds wants water for fish

By Chet Brokaw, Associated Press Writer | Thursday, March 18, 2004

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PIERRE — The proposed guidelines for managing the Missouri River should put more emphasis on providing enough water to support spring fish spawning in upstream reservoirs, Gov. Mike Rounds said Tuesday.

Rounds asked U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials to modify their proposals to give more recognition to the need for protecting the hatching of fish important to the fishing industry in those upstream reservoirs.

The corps officials said they would look for ways to address the governor's request by Friday, the court-imposed deadline for finishing work on a new master manual that will provide guidelines for managing the river. The corps uses those guidelines to develop annual operating plans that are tailored to the amount of water available each year.

Rounds met with John Paul Woodley, assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, and Brig. Gen. William Grisoli, who is in charge of developing the new master manual.

The governor said South Dakota officials are worried that the corps' plan for this year is based on a normal amount of runoff from snow melt and rain. The runoff is likely to be below normal, which means it will be more difficult to maintain a stable or slightly rising level of water in Lake Oahe to support fish eggs laid in shallow water this spring, Rounds said.

Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota want more water held in upstream reservoirs, particularly during the spring spawn, to support the fishing industry.

Downstream states want more water at certain times of the year to support barge traffic, city water supplies, power plant cooling systems and other uses.

Rounds said biologists would like to have stable or slightly rising water levels for about 60 days each spring to allow the hatching of fish eggs laid in shallow water.

But during droughts such as the one that has hit the region in recent years, the state would at least like to protect the fish spawn for 30 days, he said.

"We know it's not going to be easy to do," the governor said.

"For us, it's a critical need. It's one we need to see protected this year," Rounds said.

Grisoli said the corps will try to find a way to preserve some water that could help support fish spawning in the upstream reservoirs such as Lake Oahe.

"In drought, there are no winners. What we try to do is balance the competing needs. It's tough," Grisoli said.

Woodley said management of the Missouri River is the most vexing issue he has to deal with in his job. The corps cannot control the amount of rain or snow in the basin, and it has to take into account all the water uses authorized in the federal law that created the Missouri River reservoir system, he said.

"We cannot make everybody happy, and I'm beginning to wonder whether we can actually make anybody happy," Woodley said.

Woodley said after the Master Manual is finished, the corps expects further court proceedings and legal challenges.

Environmental groups have said they expect to go back to court because the corps has decided not to boost spring releases and reduce summer flows in order to mimic nature and save endangered fish and birds.

The corps instead has issued a new plan that calls for creating about 1,200 acres of slow-moving, shallow-water channels for the endangered pallid sturgeon along about 620 miles of the river's lower reaches.

The agency also plans to take other steps to provide nesting places for terns and plovers.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. has again introduced a bill that would reform the corps. The measure would revise the agency's methods of designing and building projects and would create a new independent review process for proposed projects.