Missouri River Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Program Fish Community Monitoring and Habitat Assessment of Off-channel Mitigation Sites

Authors

Van Sterner, Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Royce Bowman, Iowa Department of Natural Resources
Brandon Eder, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Missouri River Program – Fisheries Division
Sabrina Negus, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Missouri River Program – Fisheries Division
Gerald Mestl, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission Missouri River Program – Fisheries Division
Kasey Whiteman, Missouri Department of Conservation Nodaway Valley CAFollow
Darrick Garner, Missouri Department of Conservation Nodaway Valley CA
Vince Travnichek, Missouri Department of Conservation Nodaway Valley CA
Joshua Schloesser, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Columbia National Fish & Wildlife Conservation Office
Joseph McMullen, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Columbia National Fish & Wildlife Conservation OfficeFollow
Tracy Hill, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Columbia National Fish & Wildlife Conservation Office

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2009

Citation

Missouri River Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Program, Fish Community Monitoring and Habitat Assessment of Off-channel Mitigation Sites, Section I. Introduction, Fish Sampling Methods, Chute Analytical Methods and References

Comments

Copyright 2009 nebraska.gov

Abstract

The Missouri River has been developed for flood control, commercial navigation, irrigation, fish and wildlife conservation, municipal water supply, water quality control and hydropower production through a series of congressional acts. However, prior to development, the lower Missouri River was characterized by a highly sinuous to braided channel with abundant log jams, sand bars, secondary channels and cut-off channels. Construction of the Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project (BSNP) converted the lower Missouri River into a narrow, self scouring channel. The active channel downstream of Sioux City, Iowa was as wide as 1.8 km before river modification, but is now confined to a 91.4 m channel. Total river and floodplain habitat altered or destroyed by the BSNP is estimated at 211,246 hectares.