Cairo Vs. Mississippi County

[flytyer57]

You definetly are not the person to drag government budget cutting into this discussion.

Why is that? Because I'm on disability?

I've paid my taxes and served my country.

What about the people who work for cash under the table and don't pay their payraoll taxes? Should they have a say in budget cutting?

[Tim Smith]

I guess in a perfect world, nobody gets hurt and the 2.4 million original acres of wetlands (in SE MO), streams, sloughs come back now that we know more about the benefits of wetlands.

Interesting writing on the subject.

http://mdc.mo.gov/landwater-care/wetlands-management/wetland-values

As much as I enjoy chasing gar in the shallows and just spending time in those areas, I really wish there were more wetlands.

These are lost ecosystems in many ways. The levees protect the floodplains (most of the time, but not often enough to make them safe). Unfortunately, they also prevent the river connecting to the backwater lakes and floodplains the way they have historically. The duck managers have gotten millions of acres back into wetlands, but they have reversed their natural cycle by planting in the spring and then flooding in the fall. Those systems are built to attract ducks but they don't do what flood plain lakes historically did.

Fish want the opposite. They need the natural flood cycle with high water in the spring when fish are laying eggs. Those backwater lakes are traditionally spawning grounds and nursery areas in the spring. Where they're connected adequately to the main channel they enhance the overall productivity of the river. At one point the Illinois River was the most productive freshwater fishery in the world because of that flooding cycle. But most of that has been choked off because of levees.

I agree it would be great if there were a way to get back to that point where those kinds of wetlands were abundant again. It would change the nature of the large Midwestern Rivers and possibly the water quality of the Gulf of Mexico...

...I just don't see how you get there from here.

[ozark trout fisher]

I hope that after they blow the Birds Point levee, the levee around Cairo fails and floods the town anyway.

That's just messed up bro. I think its stupid to live in a town located in a floodplain, especially after '93, but to actually wish for the levee to fail (which would almost inevitably cause loss of human life) is not an opinion you should voice on a public forum. Keep that to yourself if you must feel that way.

[flytyer57]

That's just messed up bro. I think its stupid to live in a town located in a floodplain, especially after '93, but to actually wish for the levee to fail (which would almost inevitably cause loss of human life) is not an opinion you should voice on a public forum. Keep that to yourself if you must feel that way.

The town is under a mandatory evacuation. Would only serve right if now that the Birds Point levee is blown, that the town that they were trying to save is destroyed by the failure of the levee that was built to protect it. The levee around Cairo was failing anyway. Why should they have not blown that one instead?

[hank franklin]

The Corps got it wrong. It was a difficult decision and I understand why they did it, but they got it wrong.

Also, the "announcement" by Major Gen. Walsh was unprofessional and not the kind of document I would expect from a person appointed by the President and charged with making such momentous decisions. http://www.semissourian.com/files/mrc_statement.pdf

It's really quite terrible actually. Misspellings, poor grammar, and not even signed.

It was a mistake.

[Outside Bend]

For what it's worth, "Chocolate tide," made me grin