Big Muddy Speaker Series presents:

When the Missouri River Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project (BSNP - the project to channelize the Missouri River) was originally authorized by Congress, the design called for a 3,000 foot floodplain (distance between levees) along the Missouri River from Sioux City to Kansas City, with a 5,000 floodplain from KC to the Mississippi River.

As local levee districts and private property owners built their own levee system, there was no authority taken by federal or state governments to protect this designed floodway capacity. Later, when the effects of channelization on ecosystem function became clear, legislation was passed by Congress in 1986 and in 1999 under WRDA authorizing the Corps to create habitat by purchasing floodplain land from willing sellers to increase habitat and floodplain capacity

With this only partially completed, why is funding being slashed for these projects, including the Missouri River Recovery Program? Why was this floodplain never protected in the first place?

Brad and Caroline will use this history as the beginning of a discussion on how local groups can work for what the law already demands - more floodplain capacity and improved river habitat.