A Walleye & Lunch
Posted on 03/24/2003 12:05:30 PM PST by floriduh voter
South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle said last week he had convinced the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dig into its budget for as much as $9.5 million to help keep boat ramps open this summer on drought-plagued Lake Oahe.
And Daschle said about $8.7 million of that could come from the operating budget of Oahe Dam.
That came as puzzling news to some Corps officials contacted Wednesday, the day after Daschle announced the agreement. They confirmed that the total operating budget for Oahe was about $12 million to $13 million and wondered how the project could function with a two-thirds cut in its budget.
Even Thursday, a spokesman for the agency could confirm only the intentions of officials to help, not the amount they would spend.
And the state Game, Fish & Parks Department was left wondering all week about Daschle's news release and the Corps response, even though that agency owns and operates most of the ramps in question. By Friday, Doug Hofer, GF&P's parks and recreation director in Pierre, said he still had not heard from the Corps about its plan.
"We're not sure what the news is yet," Hofer said.
But if the news out of Washington is confusing, the weather reports out of the Montana and Wyoming mountains are not. Heavy snows hit parts of the drainage basin that shapes the upper Missouri River, improving the predictions for runoff.
If the snows continue, the issue of how much the corps is prepared to spend on ramp extensions could become a moot, or at least reduced, point of discussion.
"We're hoping the precipitation we've been getting in March continues, and that we don't have to extend ramps. That would be good for boaters and for fishermen," Hofer said. "But we'd also love to have some money from the corps if we need to."
Without any previous indications of help from the corps, GF&P had begun planning a $1.1 million ramp-extension program of its own to begin this spring. The agency would defer other scheduled projects to free up money for the work on 12 priority ramps believed to handle at least 70 percent of boat traffic.
One of those ramps is at Minneconjou Bay, near the mouth of the Cheyenne River about 35 miles northwest of Pierre. Although it is not a high-use ramp, it's a crucial Oahe access point for anglers from western South Dakota that gets heavy use for periods during the spring.
As a member of a GF&P study group on ramp priorities, Rapid City angler Russ Backus fought for Minneconjou improvements.
"That's where the big walleye bite is in the spring and fall. It's a vital ramp for people coming out of western South Dakota," Backus said. "We need to keep that one in the water."
Before recent snows, corps projections called for sharp declines in water levels on already diminished Oahe, threatening first spawning fish in the lake and next access by summer boaters.
GF&P estimated that without extensions, 30 of the 32 ramps on the lake would be out of operation by the middle of summer. The 12 key ramps could handle the bulk of fishing and boating access needs, Hofer said. But he said the agency would gladly work on additional ramps if needed and if Corps' money were available.
Daschle had been lobbying the Corps to spend money directly out of its operating budget for ramp extensions. He said in a release Tuesday that top officials in the agency had agreed.
Daschle, a frequent critic of the Corps who wants to strip the agency of its river-management duties, announced in a news release Tuesday that top-level Corps officials had agreed to spend up to $9.5 million on ramp extensions. Daschle said they had determined that $8.7 million could come from the annual operating budget of Oahe Dam. An additional $800,000 could come from other existing funds, Daschle said.
"I am pleased that the Corps has done the right thing and agreed to provide the state of South Dakota with the funding needed to extend our ramps," Daschle said in the release.
But that came as news the next day to Corps officials who monitor and control river flows from Oahe and other dams on the Missouri. They didn't know anything about the agreement or the amount of money Daschle mentioned.
And even by Thursday, the official corps spokesman,Lt. Col. Gene Pawlik, wasn't sure how much money would be needed for the ramp work on Oahe.
"It's certainly critical to South Dakota and the fishing and recreation industry that folks can reach the water. And we'll try to help them," Pawlik said. "There is money in the budget that would allow us to do that work. There wasn't a solid dollar figure for extension of ramps."
Corps officials are analyzing costs now and should have an estimate in the next couple of weeks, he said.
In the end, that dollar figure could be determined more by snowfall than any political wrangle or budget tinkering in Washington. In recent years, the snow pack there has been down in the 70 percent range.
"That snow was good news," Johnston said. "The runoff hasn't shown up yet, obviously. But Oahe has come up half a foot in the last week and a half."
Rising water in the spring is crucial to Oahe. It helps spawning fish and also provides volume to help maintain decent levels as water levels drop after the spring runoff.
More than two years of drought have caused the massive lake to shrivel, hurting fish reproduction and recreation and damaging tourism in central South Dakota. The Corps has dropped lake levels in order to maintain a commercial shipping industry below Sioux City.
When he was still governor last year, South Dakota Rep. Bill Janklow led a lawsuit against the Corps to protect Oahe water levels during the spawn. Daschle followed by calling for an end to Corps management of the river system.
Daschle still believes that's a good idea. But for now, he is working with the agency for ramp-improvement money. Daschle maintains that Congress allocated money for that very purpose.
"If we don't get the boat ramps extended before the summer, the recreation industry along the Missouri River will be devastated," he said.
kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com
There is much here that sums up how Daschle thinks. Let's divert taxpayer money from a dam or the Corps. to build boat ramps for use during a potential drought. Everyone appears to be confused.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for the walleye biting and I have some ideas on where that aren't fit to print.
WE MUST DEFEAT DASCHLE IN 2004. Please confirm that you are on the Daschle Watch Ping List or join up. It's low volume but it's important work. Fregards, Floriduh Voter
A Walleye & Lunch
So appropriate for Springtime.
I hope he'll be wearing that outfit out on the boatdock as he dives into the mud.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.