I hate barges and....

[mtwalleye]

I hate barges and I ain't too darn happy with anyone who voted in the politicians from Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri either. The water wars between the states going on right now over the Missouri River all seem to center around floating barges on the lower river -- gotta float them thar barges.

How bad does that make it on the upper Missouri states like Montana which is entering its fourth year of drought in a row and still has to send so much water downstream?

Check this photo out. It ran with a story I wrote in the Billings Gazette today on the latest round in the battle:

http://www.billingsgazette.com/rednews/2002/05/14/build//local/75-courtswater_large.inc

That little spec in the foreground more than a half-mile from the water is a boat ramp. To get to the next boat ramp, you drive more than 100 miles. Yes there are still ramps where we can launch. But there were only 10 boat ramps total to begin with on a lake with a shoreline as long as the Pacific Coast of California. Two ramps are already out of the water. If the lake drops much more, we'll lose others. And then there's the effect on the walleyes and other fish.

Like I said -- I hate barges. -- mark
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Walleyes Unlimited
www.walleyesunlimited.com

[Dutchman]

I couldn't agree more. Check out this article on the COE www.audubon.org/chapter/mo/mo/newsre~1.htm I would really love to see the COE come under someones thumb....

" Fishing is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope "

[Eyesrfn]

atta boy Mark
about time someone has set the corp back on its heels a little. maybe we can keep some water in Peck for boat use of our own. Eyesrfn

[ristorapper]

I have only one idea for those barges. ND, SD and MT buy em up with our tourism money, we take em out on the ocean some where and put em under water using a few explosives; they would make great fish habitat.

bw(ND)

[EyeBoy]

Mark;
Well stated, it will be intresting to see how the TROs go in slapping the COEs hands, and maintaining some water in Peck. With the water this low it increases the chance many-fold of tearing the bottom out of the boat, or at least the lower-end off of the engine/outdrive. Not to mention to what it does to the spawning of fish, as you mentioned in your article. Sometimes I think that the COE is untouchable, but maby now there is a chance to make a change.
Catch a Wave.....
Tom

[buy'n and sale'n]

I think i should go into the buying and sale of barge companies then. In other words if they buy them out, what's gonna stop someone from starting another one up, just so they can sell it for a profit to these states?

signed, making money

[BlackSilver]

This jeremiad reminds me of all the dismayed hand wringing a few years back when some reservoirs on the upper Mississippi were drawn down a few feet during dry times.

The impoundments were originally built to maintain a certain level of water in the Mississippi, but times were good for a couple decades and the water wasn't needed. People got used to the impoundments being full.

When the water was needed (because the city of Minneapolis had a water shortage -- just the sort of need the impoundments were built to serve) there was all manner of wailing and gnashing of teeth by cabin owners, etc., who decried the release of "their" water.

SET the hook!!!

Hans/MN

[Larry L]

Mark, is there any chance that Montana will return the water to Wyoming that it gets flowing down the Big Horn. I sure could use it in Boysen.:) As I understand it, our own politicians sold off our water rights years ago to downstream users. Maybe they could legislate some more snow in the mountains.

[REW]

Mark, \

I was talking to my brother in Bozeman last week, who indicated that the snowpack in the souther rockies was near normal?
Is it apparent in the melt yet - or is there so much dry area, that even an average snow melt won't help the situation a lot?

Take care
REW

[mtwalleye]

Larry --

We were hoping Wyoming would send some water our way for Bighorn Lake. (Yeah, I know, Wyoming doesn't have it either). All the boat ramps on Yellowtail have been shut down by the National Park Service with no guess on when levels might come up. Right now, the water levels are still below the ends of all the ramps on the lake. Tough times for water in the West. Pray for rain!! -- mark
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Walleyes Unlimited
www.walleyesunlimited.com

[Larry L]

I was over the Big Horns last weekend. There is very little snow there. The irrigation canals are full. I cannot belive that there is anywhere near the amount of snowpack needed to bring up the level of Boysen or Yellowtail, let alone the big lakes on the Missouri. A normal snowpack wouldn't do the job anyway. The Big Horn river is very low and will get lower i am afraid.

[mtwalleye]

REW:

Good to hear from you. Snowpack in the Montana mountains is still below normal in all but the northwestern corner of the state. Even in the best areas elsewhere it's running about 80 percent of normal. Some places are more like 60 percent of normal. Plus, it has been so dry for the past three years that groundwater reserves have been depleted. Reservoirs are low. Snow that has melted has sunk into the ground. No real runoff from the mountains yet and all the low level snow is gone. The Yellowstone River was hitting 100-year-lows pretty much all last fall and over the winter. Yeah, overall, not good news for Big Sky Country. -- mark
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Walleyes Unlimited
www.walleyesunlimited.com

[wheels]

Wyoming is great at selling off it's water rights. We watch Glendo drain into Nebraska every year.

"Friends don't let friends fish for trout!"

[mtwalleye]

In good water years, sending the water downstream from Montana, Wyoming, Colorado isn't a problem. The problems come in when we've got persistent drought and the downstream states want water we haven't got.

I'm just not sure those folks understand. You read the papers and people have wells going dry, streams going dry, and we don't get that much moisture even in an "average" year -- between 10 and 17 inches for the whole year.

People will be fishing walleyes this summer. They'll catch some good ones, too. But we need to be conserving water. We don't control Mother Nature. We don't know when this is going to end.

The downstream states need to be sharing a little of this pain -- not expect business to continue as normal at the upstream states' expense. -- mark
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Walleyes Unlimited
www.walleyesunlimited.com

[troutaholic]

Dang, talk about a long way from the boat ramp!!!

On the less-negative side, those cabin owners sure did increase their plot size if it was stated "to water's edge" on their deed!!!!

On the negative side, their property tax will sky rocket!!!