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Case Digest Spring
2003 South Dakota, North Dakota,
Montana, & Nebraska: Operation of Missouri River Dams
and Reservoirs
South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, & Nebraska: Operation of Missouri River Dams and Reservoirs
Agency: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
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As reported in previous Case Digests, historic properties are being threatening by erosion, vandalism, and recreational development from the Army Corps of Engineers’ operation of dams and reservoirs in its Missouri River Mainstem System in South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Nebraska. Recently, the ACHP issued a report on the Corps’ management of its Mainstem System. The ACHP continues to work with the Corps, Indian tribes, State and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, and others to develop an agreement on the Corps’ treatment of the historic properties in its jurisdiction. |
In December 2002, at the request of Indian tribes consulting with the Corps on the development of the Missouri River Mainstem System agreement, the ACHP provided training on the Section 106 process. Held in Rapid City, South Dakota, the training session was sponsored by the Mni Sose Intertribal Water Rights Coalition and attended by representatives of Indian tribes and the Corps, among others.
Missouri River, South Dakota
(photo courtesy of John Mitterholzer)
In February 2003, the ACHP participated in the Corps’ second Missouri River Cultural Resources Task Force meeting in Fort Yates, North Dakota. ACHP panel members were Chairman John Nau: Ray Soon; Philip Grone, representing the Secretary of Defense; Lou Gallegos, representing the Secretary of Agriculture; and Kitty Higgins, representing the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The next month, the ACHP produced a status report on the Corps’ historic preservation program for the Missouri River Mainstem System. The report considers the Corps’ substantial challenges as steward of thousands of important historic properties along the nearly 6,000 miles of Missouri River shoreline, and acknowledges the agency’s recent improvement in trying to address its historic preservation responsibilities by increasing the project’s budget from $500,000 to $3 million.
The report also recommends how the Corps can improve the effectiveness, coordination, and consistency of its Mainstem System historic preservation program pursuant to Section 202(a)(6) of the National Historic Preservation Act.
The report was transmitted to U.S. Army Secretary Thomas White; U.S. Army Corps Chief of Engineers Robert Flowers and Northwest Division Engineer David Fastabend; Indian tribes; the involved State Historic Preservation Officers; and a congressional delegation from the Mainstem System States, among others.
The evaluation of the Mainstem System historic preservation program was conducted by a panel of ACHP members that consisted of Chairman John Nau, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Lou Gallegos, Native Hawaiian member Raynard Soon, and Vice President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation Kathryn Higgins.
The ACHP continues to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Indian tribes, State and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, and others to address the considerable historic preservation issues related to the system’s operation and to develop an agreement on the measures that the Corps must take to protect historic properties on affected lands.
For background information on this case, see the Case Digest archive at www.achp.gov/casedigest/.
Staff contact: Margie Nowick
Posted August 15, 2003
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