(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.