Public Meeting for Draft MRRMP-EIS Set for Next Week

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City and Omaha Districts, will hold a public meeting on the draft Missouri River Recovery Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement (MRRMP-EIS) on February 9, at the Ramkota Hotel and Conference Center in Pierre, SD.

The meeting will consist of an open house 5-5:45 p.m. and 8-8:45 p.m. with formal presentations 5:45-8 p.m.

“Participants will have opportunities to speak to subject matter experts about the draft EIS and to submit formal comments,” the USACE said in its announcement.

The Missouri River Recovery Program (MRRP) was established by USACE in 2005.

It is the umbrella program that coordinates the USACE efforts in the following:

• Compliance with the USFWS 2003 Amended BiOp on the Operation of the Missouri River Main Stem Reservoir System, Operation and Maintenance of the BSNP, and Operation of the Kansas River Reservoir System;
• Acquiring and developing lands to mitigate for lost habitats as authorized in Section 601(a) of WRDA 1986 and modified by Section 334(a) of WRDA 1999 (collectively known as the BSNP Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Project); and
• Implementation of WRDA 2007 including the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee (MRRIC) and Section 3176, which allowed USACE to use recovery and mitigation funds in the upper basin states of Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

In order to maintain system benefits, the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Missouri River Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project (BSNP) have resulted in hydrologic alterations to the Missouri River ecosystem including changes to the natural seasonal pattern of river flow and sediment transport.

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