Looks like somebody won a case against the Corps for flooding

[Al Agnew]

It sure would be nice if at some point everybody would get together and come up with a comprehensive plan for water management.  Looks to me like, if this decision is allowed to stand, the first thing that loses out will be wildlife and endangered species.  The farmers along the Missouri River care only about their own concerns, and let's be honest here, most of them are corporate farms or very large landowners who are already getting plenty of farm subsidies from the federal government, AND are expecting perfect flood control IN FLOODPLAINS by the Corps of Engineers, who are having to try to balance all the competing interests.  The river shipping people scream bloody murder if there isn't enough water in the river to run loaded barges, the people around the upstream reservoirs scream if the lake levels jump up and down too much or at the wrong times, there are irrigation farmers in Montana and the Dakotas who scream if they can't get all the water they want, the cities along the river scream if the water comes up into their expensive new developments, and finally the people who care about wildlife and endangered species scream if the river isn't managed to help the critters.

Personally, I'd always opt for "natural" as much as possible.  Flood plains are supposed to flood periodically.  If you farm flood plains, the loss of a crop now and then is the price to pay for the river continually replenishing the soil on your farm.  Oneshot's sand problems wouldn't happen if the flood plains were still in a natural state--the sand gets moved when the river, constrained between high levees and made far more swift and powerful in floods--strong enough to carry a lot of sand--gets through a breach in a levee and dumps that sand on the flood plain beyond.  The cities simply shouldn't be developing more and more flood plain land, period, and should be removing existing development.  Manage the reservoirs to make floods less common, build low levees to protect low-lying farmland from minor floods every year, and then let the major floods happen when they happen.

[oneshot]

57 minutes ago, Al Agnew said:

It sure would be nice if at some point everybody would get together and come up with a comprehensive plan for water management.  Looks to me like, if this decision is allowed to stand, the first thing that loses out will be wildlife and endangered species.  The farmers along the Missouri River care only about their own concerns, and let's be honest here, most of them are corporate farms or very large landowners who are already getting plenty of farm subsidies from the federal government, AND are expecting perfect flood control IN FLOODPLAINS by the Corps of Engineers, who are having to try to balance all the competing interests.  The river shipping people scream bloody murder if there isn't enough water in the river to run loaded barges, the people around the upstream reservoirs scream if the lake levels jump up and down too much or at the wrong times, there are irrigation farmers in Montana and the Dakotas who scream if they can't get all the water they want, the cities along the river scream if the water comes up into their expensive new developments, and finally the people who care about wildlife and endangered species scream if the river isn't managed to help the critters.

Personally, I'd always opt for "natural" as much as possible.  Flood plains are supposed to flood periodically.  If you farm flood plains, the loss of a crop now and then is the price to pay for the river continually replenishing the soil on your farm.  Oneshot's sand problems wouldn't happen if the flood plains were still in a natural state--the sand gets moved when the river, constrained between high levees and made far more swift and powerful in floods--strong enough to carry a lot of sand--gets through a breach in a levee and dumps that sand on the flood plain beyond.  The cities simply shouldn't be developing more and more flood plain land, period, and should be removing existing development.  Manage the reservoirs to make floods less common, build low levees to protect low-lying farmland from minor floods every year, and then let the major floods happen when they happen.

Think back then with levees and Sand Bagging there was still gaps where water was backing into the Bottoms. To me it was always a joke trying to build up along the  levees.

I miss the old days when product was moved all over the country by any means. Trucking Companies were always against the Rail Roads now there is several Trailers being moved by what Rail Roads are left. Use to love setting in Boonville watching the Barges on the River and the Trains running along it.

I know things change I also miss Steam Engines and a Vehicle the normal person could repair.

oneshot

[MOPanfisher]

I would bet this case never makes it past the appelallate process, in the end there are a lot of regs and congressionally authorized purposes, and as long as they are being followed there is a LOT of legal protection against lawsuits.