Blog – Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition

Recording Available: 2023 Annual Meeting

Paul Boyd, hydraulic engineer – River and Reservoir Engineering Section USACE-Omaha District on May 19, 2023 in Yankton

At MSAC’s 22nd annual meeting held in Yankton on May 19, 2023, Paul Boyd, hydraulic engineer – River and Reservoir Engineering Section of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) – Omaha District, provided an update on Phase 2 and next steps. Joining Boyd, was Justin Brewer, Chief, Economics and Planning Quality Review USACE – Omaha District. Phase 2 is part of the effort by MSAC, stakeholders and the USACE to develop a sediment management plan for the Lewis and Clark Lake region. Phase 2 includes a detailed economic inventory of benefits and a review of possible sediment management actions that could produce positive sustainability benefits.

Some meeting focal points:

Attendees questioned aspects the economics research and information presented. Recreation and dam decommissioning estimates, and costs of impacts downstream were three areas discussed. Corps staff and attendees examined ways to approach the economics as the Phase 2 final draft comes together.
Corps staff provided key points of the Colorado School of Mines engineering student capstone project which looked at an initial conceptual analysis of what an active project would entail on Lewis and Clark Lake using Guardians of the Reservoir finalists’ technology. The student team proposed a single D-Sediment remote autonomous dredge and transport of sediment downstream to Missouri River.
Discussion about Phase 3.

BACKGROUND: Shortly after Gavins Point Dam was completed in 1957 near Yankton, SD, people at the upper end of the lake and upstream began to feel the impacts of accumulating sediment. Currently, the lake is at least 30 percent full of sediment and by the year 2045 it is projected to be 50 percent full of sediment. In 2018, MSAC requested technical assistance from the USACE to develop a sediment management plan for the Lewis and Clark Lake region. The project is jointly funded by the USACE and the local sponsor, MSAC. To date, 14 stakeholders along with MSAC and its members have contributed funds to the local effort. MSAC anticipates lessons learned in this process will help the other Missouri River reservoirs in future planning.

Additional business for MSAC’s annual meeting included a Board of Directors member election. MSAC’s Board of Director members with terms expiring were re-elected: Mark Simpson, at large, and Paul Lepisto, at large, and Mary Hurd, at large.

VIEW THE USACE POWERPOINT

With Water, Life Thrives

The urgency is here today to address sedimentation at Lewis and Clark Lake for the Cedar Knox Rural Water Project. The project treats lake water and distributes it to 900 rural customers and four Nebraska communities, of Crofton, Fordyce, St. Helena and Obert. The intake sits on the floor of the lake channel. If the current course continues, staff expect that the advancing sediment may reach the intake in less than 15 years. That time could diminish faster each year of flooding. Listen to Annette Sudbeck, general manager of the Lewis and Clark Natural Resources District, of Hartington, Nebraska, and water project staff Scott Fiedler, project manager, and Cope Clark, plant operator, about the difficulties sedimentation poses for getting people water at the tap.

Continue reading “With Water, Life Thrives”

Learn more about sediment management ideas for Lewis and Clark Lake

Time: 9 am to 11 am
Date: Thursday, Sept. 17, 2021
Location: NFAA Easton Yankton Archery Center

(YANKTON, SD) – Learn more about sediment management possibilities for the Lewis and Clark Lake region at a public open house beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday, June 17 at the NFAA Easton Yankton Archery Center, 800 Archery Lane, in the Community Center (indoor tennis courts building).

The event is hosted by the Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition (MSAC) in coordination with study partner the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The open house wraps up a two-day Solutions Workshop attended by five reservoir sediment management experts, USACE staff and MSAC representatives. The open house will feature six stations which the public can visit and hear brief updates on topics ranging from the reservoir’s history to innovative solutions discussed in the Solutions Workshop. Within an hour, a person will have an opportunity to hear from each of the experts. MSAC will gather the public’s feedback at the open house and afterwards by email via comments@keepitwater.org. The open house runs 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

“We wanted to approach sediment management in a new way by gathering a cadre of subject matter experts to brainstorm ideas on sustaining the reservoir along with addressing the impacts felt upstream in the delta,” said Sandy Stockholm, MSAC executive director. “The participants invited to take part have decades of experience in sediment management. After an intense two days and earlier prep work with the small group, we want to discuss goals of Phase 2 and workshop results with the public June 17.”

The five sediment management experts joining MSAC representatives and USACE, Omaha District staff are:

Greg Morris: Gregory L. Morris, P.E., Ph.D., possesses key technical knowledge on reservoir sedimentation management strategies and specializes in hydrology, hydraulics, water supply, civil engineering and environmental studies. Dr. Morris has 45 years of professional engineering experience, working internationally. He has worked and lectured in more than 30 countries over 5 continents and is known for his expertise in developing environmentally sustainable fluvial engineering strategies. Dr. Morris was the lead author of the Reservoir Sedimentation Handbook (McGraw-Hill Book Co – 1998).

Rollin Hotchkiss: Rollin Hotchkiss, Ph.D, P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE, possesses key technical knowledge on reservoir sedimentation management strategies and the economics of sustainable reservoir management. Dr. Hotchkiss has nearly 30 years of experience as a civil and environmental engineering professor in Nebraska, Washington and Utah. He is a member of the National Reservoir Sedimentation and Sustainability Team. Dr. Hotchkiss has authored or co-authored more than 150 technical papers and was the 2017 recipient of the American Society of Civil Engineers Hydraulic Structures Medal.
Meg Jonas: Margaret (Meg) Jonas, retired USACE hydraulic engineer, possesses key technical knowledge on reservoir management strategies and USACE procedures. In over 35 years with USACE, she worked at Omaha and Baltimore Districts (hydraulic and sediment issues), the Engineer Research & Development Center (research hydraulic engineer), and at Headquarters USACE (senior hydraulic engineer in the Hydraulics, Hydrology & Coastal Community of Practice). She had a career interest in river engineering, stream restoration, and watershed sediment processes. She was the USACE representative to the Interagency Subcommittee on Sedimentation, and worked to get ACWI passage of a resolution encouraging the development of sedimentation management plans.

Tim Welp: Tim Welp is a Research Hydraulic Engineer at the Coastal Hydraulics Laboratory of the USACE Research and Development Center (ERDC). He has been involved in developing innovative dredging and dredged material placement equipment and methodologies for over 25 years. He is the Dredged Material Management Focus Area Lead in the USACE Dredging Operations and Environmental Research (DOER) program and editor and a prime co-author of the USACE Dredging and Dredged Material Management Engineer Manual. While his research and development activities have historically focused on application to navigation channels, the increasing awareness and need to provide more sustainable reservoir sediment management technologies has led to his participation to both better transition conventional dredging technologies as well as demonstrate, and evaluate emerging dredging technologies as solutions to the reservoir sediment challenge.

John Shelley: Dr. John Shelley is a hydraulic/sedimentation engineer at the USACE, Kansas City District. Dr. Shelley has analyzed reservoir sedimentation and sediment management at multiple reservoirs, and is currently engaged in analysis of sedimentation on 17 reservoirs in the Kansas River basin. Dr. Shelley is a USACE expert on river bed degradation and other sedimentation issues for the lower 500 miles of the Missouri River. Dr. Shelley co-instructs the USACE sedimentation modeling course and has planned and carried out specific trainings on reservoir sediment management for engineers, regulators, planners, and managers.

The sediment imbalance around Gavins Point Dam creates problems upstream, downstream and within the reservoir. Currently, Lewis and Clark Lake is estimated to have lost 30% of its total water storage capacity to sediment. Missouri River tributaries have experienced bed aggradation, where sediment accumulates raising the levels of the streambeds. Absence of sediment transported downstream of Gavins Point Dam has resulted in channel degradation, or erosion of the riverbed. By the year 2045, Lewis and Clark Lake is projected to be 50% full of sediment if nothing changes.

In 2019, MSAC and stakeholders requested that the USACE provide technical assistance in developing a sediment management plan for the reservoir and region with an ultimate goal of sustainability of Lewis and Clark Lake reservoir and conservation of its greatest benefits.

The sediment imbalance has created an increase in surface and ground water elevations resulting in lost land productivity, transportation limitations, housing relocations and flood risk. The delta limits recreation, the ability to reliably take reservoir water for water supply and irrigation and limits the storage volume for water in the reservoir.

Phase 2 of the Lewis and Clark Sediment Management Plan Section 22 Planning Assistance to States study kicked off in February. To explore the full spectrum of possible solutions to manage sediment at Lewis and Clark Lake and upstream, study partners organized a Solutions Workshop, with tours of the delta June 15 and a brainstorming workshop June 16. The small group of participants are set to discuss new ideas and applications, with a focus on innovation. Over the past few years, practitioners have increasingly looked for new, novel, and creative solutions to collect and transport sediment trapped by reservoirs.

The workshop is one part of a 12 to 18-month study which will also consider an economic analysis of three dredging scenarios. The USACE’s standard economic model will be applied to determine the cost/benefit ratio for construction of each one. In addition, dredging will be modeled with alternative discount rates and the Life-Cycle economic model, which considers the value of preserved benefits. Information gathered will provide a broader view of the costs and benefits of sediment management in general that can be applied to weigh other techniques.

Solutions Workshop participants will work to produce a list of ideas and a simplified cost estimate. Ideas that show engineering and economic promise will be recommended for a more detailed investigation in Phase 3.

“This is not only a Missouri River problem. Reservoirs all over the United States and world are trapping sediment, limiting their useful lives and creating challenges downstream. Phase 2 isn’t just about identifying a way to manage and transport sediment, but also answering questions of how are we weighing decisions to act,” Stockholm said.

Visit the open house June 17 in Yankton to learn more and provide feedback. Additional information will be provided at MSAC’s website: www.keepitwater.org. Comments can be left on forms provided at the open house or emailed to MSAC at comments@keepitwater.org. To show appreciation of the public’s involvement and support of our park systems, a drawing will be held at the event for one of four free state park passes.

20th Annual Membership Meeting

Join us at 1 pm, May 11th for a free webinar. Historian Dr. Michael Lawson to provide presentation on the impact of Pick-Sloan dam projects on Sioux Reservations in the Dakotas and Nebraska.

(SPRINGFIELD, SD) – Join the Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition for its 20^th Annual Membership Meeting to be held via webinar at 1 p.m. (CST) May 11, 2021.

The meeting is free and open to the public. All interested people are encouraged to attend. The online event will be recorded and available at MSAC’s YouTube channel.

MSAC has invited Michael Lawson, an author and historian based in Annandale, Virginia, to present a glimpse at the decades of his research which provided the factual basis for Congressional legislation establishing tribal recovery trust funds totaling $385.8 million for five Sioux tribes (Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, Lower Brule, Yankton, and Santee). Dr. Lawson is the author of two books on the impact of the Missouri River Pick-Sloan dam projects on Sioux Reservations in the Dakotas and Nebraska. Dammed Indians: The Pick Sloan Plan and the Missouri River Sioux, 1944-1980, was published by the University of Oklahoma Press in 1982. Lawson updated that volume in a second work entitled Dammed Indians: The Continuing History of the Pick-Sloan Plan and the Missouri River Sioux, published by the South Dakota Historical Society Press in 2009.

In February, MSAC marked the beginning of Phase 2 to develop a sediment management plan for the Lewis and Clark Lake region. Shortly after Gavins Point Dam was completed in 1957 near Yankton, SD, people at the upper end of the lake and upstream began to feel the impacts of accumulating sediment. Currently, the lake is at least 30 percent full of sediment and by the year 2045 it is projected to be 50% full of sediment. The project to develop a sediment management plan is jointly funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the local sponsor, MSAC. To date, 13 stakeholders along with MSAC and its members have contributed funds to the effort.

“Building a plan for the future of the Missouri River reservoirs needs not only today and tomorrow’s perspectives but also a historical one. We must remember the impacts created with the Pick-Sloan dam projects from the beginning,” said Sandy Stockholm, MSAC coordinator. “How do we collaborate and plan for the future together, everyone – local governments and Tribes – up and down the Missouri River?”

Lawson is President of MLL Consulting, LLC in Annandale. The second book, which included forewords by Senator George McGovern and the Sioux scholar Vine Deloria, Jr., was awarded the Independent Publishers 2011 Silver Medal. The South Dakota Humanities Council and the South Dakota Center for the Book also chose this volume to be its “One Book South Dakota” selection for 2012. This annual program encourages readers throughout the state to read and discuss the same book during the course of a year.

The settlements and Congressional legislation establishing the tribal recovery trust funds provided additional compensation for reservation resources and infrastructure lost to the Pick-Sloan projects. The accrued interest from these trust funds will eventually total in the billions of dollars. More recently, Lawson conducted research for the MHA Nation regarding ownership of Missouri River mineral rights within the boundaries of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota.

Before becoming a historical consultant in the private sector in 1993, Lawson served as a government historian for the National Park Service, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. During the initial part of this 13-year career with the BIA he was the staff historian for what is now the agency’s Great Plains Regional Office in Aberdeen, SD.

Additional business for MSAC’s annual meeting will be a Phase 2 update and a Board of Directors member election. MSAC’s Board of Director members with terms expiring are: Tim Cowman, representing Class I membership (government) and Jeff Peters, representing Class II membership (organizations.)

A full agenda continues to be developed and will be available at MSAC’s Facebook page or at www.msaconline.com or www.keepitwater.com. Please note that the webinar will be free via an internet connection. A participant may choose to connect by telephone, in which case long distance charges may apply. MSAC requests that meeting attendees register via the website. Connection information will be emailed to registrants.

REGISTER: MSAC 22nd Annual Meeting May 19, 2023 (CLOSED – SEE RECORDING)

(SPRINGFIELD, SD) – Join the Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition for its 22nd Annual Membership Meeting scheduled for 10 a.m., Friday, May 19, 2023, at the United Way Community Room, 920 Broadway Avenue, Yankton, SD. Attendees will have the option of joining via webinar. Please register to ensure receiving the latest information.

The meeting is free and open to the public. Interested people are encouraged to attend. Register with button above to obtain the webinar link or email msacinfo@keepitwater.org.

Paul Boyd, hydraulic engineer – River and Reservoir Engineering Section of the USACE – Omaha District, will provide an update brief on Phase 2 and next steps. Joining Boyd will be Justin Brewer, Chief, Economics and Planning Quality Review for USACE – Omaha District. Phase 2 is part of the effort by MSAC, stakeholders and the USACE to develop a sediment management plan for the Lewis and Clark Lake region. Phase 2 includes a detailed economic inventory of benefits and a review of possible sediment management actions that could produce positive sustainability benefits. Next steps will be discussed.

Shortly after Gavins Point Dam was completed in 1957 near Yankton, SD, people at the upper end of the lake and upstream began to feel the impacts of accumulating sediment. Currently, the lake is at least 30 percent full of sediment and by the year 2045 it is projected to be 50% full of sediment. In 2018, MSAC requested technical assistance from the USACE to develop a sediment management plan for the Lewis and Clark Lake region. The project is jointly funded by the USACE and the local sponsor, MSAC. To date, 14 stakeholders along with MSAC and its members have contributed funds to the local effort. MSAC anticipates lessons learned in this process will help the other Missouri River reservoirs in future planning.

Additional business for MSAC’s annual meeting include a Board of Directors member election. MSAC’s Board of Director members with terms expiring are: Mark Simpson, at large, and Paul Lepisto, at large, and Mary Hurd, at large.

MSAC, a 510c3 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. The agenda continues to be developed and will be available at MSAC’s Facebook page or at www.keepitwater.com. Please note that the webinar is free via an internet connection. Participants may choose to connect by telephone, in which case long distance charges may apply.

Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, the appointment to and termination from its Board of Directors, hiring and firing of staff or contractors, selection of volunteers, selection of vendors, and providing of services.

Emerging Technologies Webinar – Mazdak International

Mazdak to outline technology focused on addressing reservoir sedimentation
Join MSAC for a free webinar

Emerging technologies could assist in lengthening the lifespans of the nation’s reservoirs plagued by sedimentation. The Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition invites the public to learn more about one approach from Mazdak International Inc., during a free webinar Friday, Oct. 28^th beginning at 11 a.m. central.

Mazdak International Inc. of Sumas, Washington, was a finalist in the Guardians of the Reservoir Prize Competition and captured the Innovation Award in September with its slurry pulsejet engine. Baha Abulnaga and David Dibley of Mazdak developed this new technology.

Abulnaga will outline the technology and provide information about another of its projects designed to address the transport of sediments.

“The Guardians of Reservoirs noticed that current technology at depth exceeding 50 feet was very limited and challenged the innovators for new solutions for depth of 50 feet to 200 feet or even deeper, such as the Hoover Dam that is 600 feet deep,” Abulnaga said. “Mazdak International developed a new submersible platform that operates on the principle of an internal combustion liquid piston engine. The submersible dives to the depth of 200 feet and operated on the principle of creating the pressure needed to push the slurry up to a mother barge. This is achieved by the detonation of a mixture of a gaseous fuel and air against a liquid piston of dredged sediments and water. Fuel and compressed air are supplied from the mother barge, while slurry and exhaust gases are directed in the opposite direction in separate pipes to the mother barge and then pumped further around the dam in a floating slurry pipeline. The invention is called ‘Slurry Pulsejet Engine’ because it generates pulses of slurry.”

The inventors are also working on collecting methane emissions from reservoirs to convert them as fuel for dredging using the slurry pulsejet engine. It is estimated that the methane emissions from water lakes, rivers and reservoirs could cover all the electricity needs of the Earth for 2018, Abulnaga said.

Continued sedimentation at the nation’s reservoirs threatens project benefits and impacts the environment downstream of dams. It can also impact areas upstream of the reservoir including tributaries.

Email msaconline@gmail.com for the webinar link or visit www.keepitwater.org to register. MSAC intends to offer additional webinars introducing emerging reservoir sedimentation management technologies. MSAC continues to develop a sediment management plan with stakeholders and river managers for the Lewis and Clark Lake region. MSAC is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to education and promoting action to address sedimentation in and around the Missouri River reservoirs.

The Bureau of Reclamation selected D-Sediment team from Germany as the prize winner of the Guardians of the Reservoir Prize Competition, according to Reclamation’s press release dated Sept. 15, 2022. The 3 D Dredger™ Team was presented with the Versatility Award. Reclamation partnered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and NASA Tournament Lab and HeroX on this competition, which was launched on July 14, 2020 to develop more cost-effective sediment removal methods for reservoirs.

To Register Follow this LINK and a fillable form will open. Your link will be emailed before the event.
Or Email: msaconline@gmail.com

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Mazdak International Website

2022 MSAC Annual Meeting Recording Available

Hydraulic engineers, Tim Randle and Jennifer Bountry with Bureau of Reclamation Sedimentation and River Hydraulics Group Office of Denver, provided an informative presentation concerning reservoir sedimentation at MSAC’s annual meeting May 20th. They have worked on multiple dam removal projects in the western United States, river restoration design and analysis, and reservoir sedimentation issues throughout the world.

Dr. Randle is a civil engineer with over 40 years of experience in rivers and reservoirs. He retired from the Bureau of Reclamation as Manager of the Sedimentation and River Hydraulics Group and is working for them again on a part-time basis. He presently chairs the National Reservoir Sedimentation and Sustainability Team.

Both have been named Reclamation’s Engineer of the Year, Randle in 1997 and Bountry in 2017. Bountry has been with the Bureau since 1998 serving in both technical and project management roles. She has been pro-active in leading inter-disciplinary studies aimed at linking geomorphology, physical science, engineering and biology expertise to develop river rehabilitation strategies for endangered and threatened species in the Pacific Northwest.

The mission statement of the Bureau of Reclamation is to manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public.
Established in 1902, Reclamation works in 17 western states. Reclamation has constructed more than 600 dams and reservoirs including Hoover Dam on the Colorado River and the Grand Coulee on the Columbia River.
https://www.usbr.gov/main/about/mission.htm

View the Presentation Slide Deck Below. Use the back button on your toolbar to return to this page.

May 20, 2022 BOR Reframing Reservoir Sedimentation Presentation MSAC Meeting Download

In other business, Paul Boyd, hydraulic engineer with the US Army Corps of Engineers, presented an update on Phase 2. MSAC and stakeholders recently submitted $25,000 to further meet local cost share requirements of approximately $107,000 (50% of Phase 2 total expenses – See first slide in presentation). Phase 2 is expected to be complete later this year. Watch the update below.

View the Phase 2 Presentation Slide Deck Below. Please note it is in Draft Form. Use the back button on your toolbar to return to this page.

Phase 2 Update May 20, 2022 Download

Three individuals with terms expiring were elected to the MSAC Board of Directors for 3-year terms. They were Nathan Johnson, at large, Butch Becker, representing Class IV membership (individuals), and Randy Holmquist, representing Class III membership (commercial).

REGISTER: MSAC 21st Annual Meeting May 20, 2022 (CLOSED – SEE RECORDING)

Join Us In Person at Yankton or Online via Zoom

Bureau of Reclamation staff to provide insight on reservoir sedimentation
at MSAC’s Annual Meeting May 20^th in Yankton

Select Button Below to Register and obtain email for webinar link. Or email msaconline@gmail.com

SPRINGFIELD, SD) – Join the Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition for its 21st Annual Membership Meeting to be held in Yankton at the United Way Community Room, 920 Broadway Avenue, at 10 a.m., May 20, 2022. Attendees will have the option of joining via webinar also.

The meeting is free and open to the public. All interested people are encouraged to attend. Registration is available at www.keepitwater.org to obtain the webinar link. The online event will be recorded and available at MSAC’s YouTube channel.

Two hydraulic engineers will provide a special presentation entitled “How Bureau of Reclamation is Reframing Reservoir Sedimentation.” Tim Randle and Jennifer Bountry, based in the Bureau’s Denver Sedimentation and River Hydraulics Group office, will join MSAC’s annual meeting via webinar.

MSAC has requested an update on the Guardians of the Reservoir Challenge. The Bureau of Reclamation, in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is sponsoring a three-phase competition spanning nearly two years that seeks development of more cost-effective sediment removal methods for reservoirs. This competition builds upon the successes of the “Sediment Removal Techniques for Reservoir Sustainability” competition, and looks to continue progress in the development of new processes and technologies that collect and/or transport sediment from reservoirs at a rate that sustains their current capacity.

In June of 2021, MSAC collaborated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to host a Solutions Workshop as part of Phase 2 to develop a sediment management plan for the Lewis and Clark Lake region. Shortly after Gavins Point Dam was completed in 1957 near Yankton, SD, people at the upper end of the lake and upstream began to feel the impacts of accumulating sediment. Currently, the lake is at least 30 percent full of sediment and by the year 2045 it is projected to be 50% full of sediment. The project to develop a sediment management plan is jointly funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the local sponsor, MSAC. To date, 14 stakeholders along with MSAC and its members have contributed funds to the local effort.

Additional business for MSAC’s annual meeting will be a Phase 2 update provided by Paul Boyd, hydraulic engineer – River and Reservoir Engineer Section, of the US Army Corps of Engineers-Omaha District. There will also be a Board of Directors member election. MSAC’s Board of Director members with terms expiring are: Nathan Johnson, at large, and Butch Becker, representing Class IV membership (individuals), and Randy Holmquist, representing Class III membership (commercial).

Solutions Workshop 2021 Recap

Join us for a Free Webinar July 14, 2021 with author Tyler Kelley

(YANKTON) – The havoc caused by the buildup of sediment behind Gavins Point Dam is detailed in a new book by Brooklyn-based author Tyler J. Kelley. Holding Back the River: The Struggle Against Nature on America’s Waterways tells the story of our attempts to bridle the country’s most powerful rivers through personal portraits of the men and women whose lives and livelihoods depend on these tenuously tamed streams.

Learn about this important topic during a free webinar with Tyler J. Kelley on Wednesday, July 14 at 2 p.m., hosted by the Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition. Kelley will talk with Jerry Oster, veteran news director at WNAX in Yankton. Kelley, who grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has written for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker among other publications. He spent four days visiting Yankton, Springfield, and Niobrara in 2018, getting to know the area and its people, including members of the Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition and the Santee Sioux Nation.

Holding Back the River not only explores the nation’s aging waterway infrastructure, including locks and dams, but also addresses the racial and economic injustices that have long been part of our government’s responses to economic and environmental disasters. The book considers our aging infrastructure–much of it built in the 1950s–and asks that we reimagine it, because while our climate and values have changed, our dams and levees have not.

Email msaconline@gmail.com for the webinar link or visit www.msaconline.com.

Join Webinar July 14 at 2 pm

Or Try This Link. Audio and video will be available via Zoom. If you utilize telephone for audio, long distance charges may apply.