OMAHA, NE -- The Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee (MRRIC) met August 25–27 in Omaha, Nebraska. The meeting was held at the Embassy Suites Downtown/Old Market. At the meeting, MRRIC reached final consensus on a suite of recommendations regarding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2016 Fiscal Year Recovery Program draft annual work plan. In the recommendation, MRRIC requested USACE conduct a formal review of the pallid sturgeon propagation program and asked the Corps to maintain full funding of their Integrated Science Program.
USACE announced that the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that will cover the Missouri River Recovery Management Plan will consist of three Alternatives and be completed by the end of calendar year 2016. MRRIC discussed consequences and tradeoffs for a number of bird actions that could become part of the EIS.
The committee also heard from the Independent Science Advisory Panel and the Independent Social and Economic Technical Review Panel regarding the scientific, adaptive management, and socio-economic components of the emerging management plan. Committee members heartily represented the interests of their constituents and communicated their commitment to working with the lead agencies in efforts to complete the management plan and EIS.
MRRIC is a 70-member committee that comprises stakeholders and representatives of Tribal, state and federal governments throughout the Missouri River Basin. This committee provides recommendations to federal agencies on the current and future activities of the MRRP. The committee makes its substantive recommendations by consensus.
For additional information regarding the MRRIC, please contact Dr. Michael Mac, committee chair, by e-mail at mrric@usace.army.mil. Information about the Missouri River recovery efforts is available online at https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/mrrp/mrric/ and https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/MRRP/. The committee, established in fall 2008, meets quarterly at various locations throughout the Missouri River Basin. It will begin the upcoming meeting having approved over 20 substantive recommendations addressed to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, who is responsible for endangered species protection and recovery, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who operates the bank stabilization and navigation project and the mainstem dams on the Missouri River. The committee’s next quarterly meeting will be held in November 2015.
MRRIC is staffed by RESOLVE, a Washington, D.C. dispute resolution firm (www.resolv.org), under a contract with the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution and with the assistance of federal agency staff.
Release no. 20150828-01