Big Muddy Speaker Series presents:

The ongoing flooding on the Missouri River is particularly impacting farmers and agricultural communities. This pain is increasing calls from politicians and constituents to do more to stop flooding. There is a belief amongst some people that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has changed river management to benefit fish and wildlife, and that this has caused increased flooding. One piece of evidence that is often cited to support this idea is the Ideker lawsuit.

In 2014, 372 Missouri River valley farmers filed a class-action suit, Ideker Farms v. United States of America, claiming that the US Army Corps of Engineers has taken farmers’ property through flooding caused by habitat restoration programs undertaken since 2004. In 2018, the judge in the case ruled partly in favor of the farmers, but the science underlying their ongoing case is controversial.

We'll be joined by freelance journalist Robert Langellier, who has been traveling the lower Missouri River valley this spring interviewing many parties involved in the lawsuit, scientists studying the river's hydrology, the Corps officials charged with managing water flow, floodplain farmers and conservationists. Robert said, "We’ll try to understand that complex science (I once thought hydrology was as simple as ‘water flows down’!). We’ll also discuss the case’s implications for Missouri River management through the perspectives of farmers, Army Corps engineers, environmentalists and barge shippers."