Taming the Wild Missouri River: What Has it Cost?

The most significant legislation that authorized the alteration of the Missouri River is reviewed from a fisheries position. An outline of the dollar costs to achieve change along the river shows that the U.S. taxpayer has spent more than $6 billion in the Missouri River Basin. Broad ecological concern about lost riverine resources is raised. Mitigation, management, or enhancement of riverine resources has not been successfully completed. Alternatives to impoundment and channelization were not adequately discussed, and the extent of environmental damage was unknown, unexpected, and unstudied at the time these projects were planned. There was sufficient latitude in congressional action after 1944 to have provided some safeguard, had these laws been interpreted with a concern for wildlife.