(SPRINGFIELD, SD) – Join the Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition for its 23rd Annual Membership Meeting scheduled for 10 a.m., Thursday, May 2, 2024 at the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska – Tribal Headquarters Conference Room in Niobrara, Nebraska at 2523 Woodbine Street.
The meeting is free and open to the public. Interested people are encouraged to attend. A virtual meeting link is available for those who cannot attend in person. Register by clicking the box above.
Paul Boyd, hydraulic engineer – River and Reservoir Engineering Section of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) – Omaha District, will provide an update brief on the sediment collector pilot project planned for at least a week-long installation on the Niobrara River later this summer. The project, funded by the Corps’ Regional Sediment Management (RSM) Program, is coordinated by USACE Omaha District and in collaboration with the Corps’ Engineering Development and Research Center (ERDC) and the Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition (MSAC).
For decades, the Niobrara River with its nearly unlimited sand supply has been the single, largest contributor of the sedimentation building up in the Lewis and Clark Lake delta. MSAC sees this short-term collector pilot project with the potential of sparking long-term results. Over the past several years the group has focused on the Lewis and Clark Lake region as the waterbody behind Gavins Point Dam will be the first of the six Missouri River mainstem reservoirs to fill with sediment if no action is taken. Phase 2 of a Section 22 Planning Assistance to States study requested by MSAC to develop a sediment management plan for this region was released at the end of 2023. Next steps will also be discussed at the annual meeting.
Additional business for MSAC’s annual meeting includes a Board of Directors member election. MSAC’s Board of Director members with terms expiring are: Tim Cowman, of Vermillion, Class I – Governmental Entities, and Kersten Johnson, of Sioux Falls, Class II-Organizations.
MSAC, a 501c3 nonprofit organization, was organized in 2001. It is dedicated to educating the public and to promoting the intelligent use of all available programs and funds to alleviate the sedimentation-caused problems of the Missouri River main-stem reservoirs. MSAC supports a sustainable approach to reservoir management, envisioning doing what is necessary to extend the storage capacity of the reservoir as far into the future as possible recognizing the value of our most precious resource – water.
