A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION,  Urging the United States Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider its Draft Implementation Plan for the Final Biological Opinion on Operation of the Missouri River Main Stem Reservoir System.

     WHEREAS,  the Draft Implementation Plan for the Final Biological Opinion on Operation of the Missouri River Main Stem Reservoir System will damage property, the economy, and the recreational uses of the Missouri River and surrounding communities in Nebraska and South Dakota located between Fort Randall Dam and Lewis and Clark Lake; and

     WHEREAS,  the Draft Implementation Plan proposes to release much higher than normal flows from Fort Randall Dam until mid-June, then to release very low flows for six weeks, and then very high flows again in the fall; and

     WHEREAS,  the extreme high flows (over 40,000 cubic feet per second at Gavins Point Dam) will cause flooding in the spring and fall, and the low flows (less than 28,000 cubic feet per second at Gavins Point Dam) will ruin the Missouri River for recreation purposes in the summer, essentially a devastating combination for this area; and

     WHEREAS,  the cause of the problem is sedimentation in the Missouri River deposited at the

headwaters of Lewis and Clark Lake by the Niobrara River and Ponca Creek, with Lewis and Clark Lake silting in very rapidly. Sediment from these tributaries has created deltas in the Missouri River channel, causing flood damage when releases from Fort Randall Dam are in the magnitude proposed in the Draft Implementation Plan; and

     WHEREAS,  the Missouri River Restoration Act of 2000 recognizes the problems and requires a comprehensive study to preserve the Missouri River; and

     WHEREAS,  the Corps of Engineers acknowledges the flooding problems in this particular area but the Draft Implementation Plan ignores the issue:

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED,  by the House of Representatives of the Seventy- seventh Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the United States Army Corps of Engineers be urged to address and solve the aforementioned problems before implementing the changes proposed in the Draft Implementation Plan.