Washington — For the first time in nine years, the Missouri River was absent from a widely publicized list of the nation's most endangered rivers.
The conservation group American Rivers, which issued the list Thursday, is suing the federal government to return the Missouri to a seasonal ebb and flow to improve habitat for birds and fish. The "Big Muddy" dropped off the list not because conditions are better but because the group expects to win the lawsuit, said American Rivers president Rebecca Wodder.
"We believe the overwhelming scientific, economic and legal evidence that supports restoring more natural flows to the Missouri will be as compelling to a federal judge as it has been to the American people," Wodder said in a statement. "And we expect a decision ordering flow restoration may be handed down any time."
Another factor is a lengthy series of delays in a new management plan for the river, which would dictate any flow changes.
"What the endangered rivers list is about is rivers whose fate will be decided in the coming year -- it's not America's worst rivers," said American Rivers spokesman Eric Eckl. "How can you tell people that the Corps of Engineers is about to come out with this master manual when for 12 years they've been saying they're going to do it?"
The omission prompted skepticism from a coalition of river shippers and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Both are blamed by American Rivers for the plight of dwindling populations of two shorebirds, the piping plover and least tern, and the pallid sturgeon.
"What science is it based on? I don't know, but it sure makes people sit up," said Paul Rohde, vice president of St. Louis-based MARC 2000, the shippers' group. "It makes me wonder, 'How do you define an endangered river?"'
| America's most endangered rivers of 2003, according to the conservation group American Rivers: 1. Big Sunflower River (Miss.) 2. Klamath River (Ore., Calif.) 3. Ipswich River (Mass.) 4. Gunnison River (Colo.) 5. Rio Grande (Colo, N.M., Texas) 6. Mattaponi River (Va.) 7. Platte River (Wyo., Colo., Neb.) 8. Snake River (Idaho, Wash., Ore.) 9. Tallapoosa River (Ala., Ga.) 10. Trinity River (Texas) |
It also drew sharp criticism from U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., an outspoken defender of farming and shipping interests along the river. Lists don't make a difference, she said.
"Our farmers and folks living along the river were threatened by the bird and bunny activists before today, and they will remain threatened until people realize that these groups, much like their lists, lack the insight to put people before political interests," Emerson said.
The corps had been given a deadline of 2003 to switch to spring rise and low summer flows, but the Bush administration postponed the plan indefinitely, leading the corps to began lengthy consultations with the Fish and Wildlife Service.
The corps currently operates a series of dams and reservoirs upriver to keep the lower reaches of the Missouri straighter and deeper for barge shipments. The Wildlife Service says a more natural flow, with heavier releases in the spring and less water in the summer, is the only way to save the birds and fish.
American Rivers is among several groups seeking to force the changes in a lawsuit against the corps and the Wildlife Service, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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