 The river conservation
group American Rivers (www.amrivers.org)
recently publicized its annual list of the most endangered rivers
in this country. For the sixth straight year, the Missouri
River was listed among the most threatened rivers in the U.S.
And this year, America's Most Endangered Rivers ranked
the Missouri at a new low: For the year 2000, the Missouri
River is America's second-most endangered river.
Our community
obviously has an intimacy with the Missouri River. In some
cases, our relationship with this living entity has been an uneasy
one, as many of us can attest. But without a doubt, the
river has throughout the history of this area been the most
important resource available. It is, however, quite easy to
take it for granted, because the river silently does its work, draining
the interior of the continent and providing those of us along its
shores with important rewards. We should be careful not to take it
for granted, for this would be imprudent.
The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (Corps) is responsible for operating the nation's major
waterways. What this really means is that the Corps manages
these rivers primarily to enable navigation to occur as easily as
possible. Although studies have shown that recreation on the
Missouri River produces at least 10 times as many economic benefits as
navigation, the Corps continues to operate the river to benefit
barges that annually carry less than 1 percent of the grain grown
in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri (the states through which
the main portion of the navigable Missouri River flows).
Corps operations to
support navigation have dramatically altered the river's flow, and
channelization has eliminated the natural meanders, sandbars,
backwaters and oxbows that once supported over 150 species of
wildlife. Today, over 30 native Missouri River species are
on federal and state watch lists. According to a recent
study published in the October 1999, issue of Conservation
Biology, a scientific journal, the extinction rate of
freshwater fish approximates that of species living in tropical
rainforests. Flood control measures have been shown to not only be
inadequate, but in the cases of some large flood events,
counterproductive. And that doesn't begin to address what
dam and levee construction, flow management, wetlands destruction
and floodplain fill projects have done to the life that should be
teeming in our rivers.
Not long ago, the
Washington Post reported that Corps officials had ordered staff
members to support economically unjustified lock improvements on
the Upper Mississippi River. According to Corps documents
and witnesses, senior officials directly ordered subordinates to
figure out a way to make the $500 million lock expansion project
cost effective, whether or not legitimate data supported this
finding. A Corps official, according to an affidavit filed
by Corps economist Donald Sweeney, ordered Mr. Sweeney to alter a
term used in estimating the economic value of one study parameter,
and directed him to alter another analysis to show that the
project under consideration would save millions of dollars over
other alternatives. One internal Corps memo declared that if
the economics did not "capture the need for navigation
improvements, then we have to find some other way to do it."
Another memo said top officials "will be looking for ways to
get [studies] to 'yes' as fast as possible" in order to
create new work. "We have been encouraged to have our
study managers not take 'no' for an answer. The push to grow
the program is coming from the top down."
The Corps is
interested in management of our rivers as highways of navigation
because it is in their own best interest to do so. In the
case of the Missouri River, even though it has been shown that
navigation is of relative economic unimportance, perpetuation of
navigation as a priority for the Corps has meant perpetuation of
the Corps itself.
We as members of the
community should insist that our river's flow be managed
("river management" is a bit of an arrogance in concept,
isn't it?) in ways which support recreation and wildlife (emphases
which are in EVERYONE'S best interests) foremost, and navigation
secondarily. We furthermore should insist that the Corps'
resources be directed at areas of greater real community need,
such as floodplain restoration and environmental cleanup at our
nation's military installations.
As we approach the
bicentennial of the voyage of Lewis and Clark, who brought their
"Corps of Discovery" (the irony of the name is not lost
on me) up the Missouri and past the present location of our
community, we must commit ourselves to measures which will lead to
restoration and respect for this vital resource. We must
also remember that a river is not a ditch - it is something much
greater. If we continue to disregard the Missouri River the
way we currently do, however, a ditch is what it unfortunately
will more and more begin to resemble.
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