Water Levels Decrease As Part Of Project
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports that water levels on the Missouri River continue to decrease as part of the agency’s process of conducting test flows to evaluate potential for achieving pallid sturgeon spawning.
John Remus, chief of the Missouri Basin Water Management Division, said the second water peak hit the target of 20,000 cubic feet per second in Wolf Point on June 26. During the day of the conference call on Wednesday, July 3, the cfs at Fort Peck was 12,000.
Remus said the plan was to decrease the water flow until dropping to 8,000 cfs on about July 7-8.
Joe Bonneau, Missouri River Recovery Program manager, said the round of monitoring scheduled for during the second peak has occurred.
Pat Bratten, U.S. Geological Survey, reported that three reproductive female pallid sturgeon are being kept track one. Officials keep looking to make contact against with one of the three females.
The second female was captured on July 2, and it has not spawned yet. The third female moved rapidly downstream during the first days of July. At the time of the call, officials were trying to catch that fish located below Poplar and the Redwater River.
Interested parties can also provide information through a web-based application that can be found at https://hydroviz. ca/fort-peck-feedback or Missouri.Water.Management@ nwd02.usace.army. mil.
