Great Plains Region

Stories & Media

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  Record of Decision Signed for Lower Yellowstone Fish Passage Project

  BILLINGS, Mont. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and Bureau of Reclamation signed a Record of Decision (ROD) today for the Lower Yellowstone Intake Diversion Dam Fish Passage Project selecting the Bypass Channel Alternative and associated Adaptive Management and Monitoring Plan (AMP) for implementation.

  
  

  "Signing the ROD is the final step in the process that highlights the efforts of so many people," said Col. John W Henderson, Omaha District commander for the Corps. "This is a positive step forward in getting this project off the ground." Read More →

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  Interior Department Releases Report Underscoring Impacts of Climate Change on Western Water Resources

  Putting the national spotlight on the importance of water sustainability, the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation released a basin-by-basin report that characterizes the impacts of climate change and details adaptation strategies to better protect major river basins in the West that are fundamental to the health, economy, security and ecology of 17 Western states. The SECURE Water Act Report, produced by Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation and its state and local partners, was released following the first White House Summit on Water in observance of World Water Day. The report identifies climate change as a growing risk to Western water management and cites warmer temperatures, changes to precipitation, snowpack and the timing and quality of streamflow runoff across major river basins as threats to water sustainability. Water supply, quality and operations; hydropower; groundwater resources; flood control; recreation; and fish, wildlife and other ecological resources in the Western states remain at risk. Read More →

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  Stacy Ann Froelich Selected as Bureau of Reclamation's 2016 Engineer of the Year

  WASHINGTON - Stacy Ann Froelich, P.E., is the Bureau of Reclamation's Engineer of the Year for 2016. Froelich, a civil engineer, is being recognized for her contribution toward overseeing and supporting several rural water contracts including tribal construction and operation and maintenance contracts with the Oglala, Rosebud and Lower Brule Sioux Tribes, plus construction of the non-tribal rural water system, West River/Lyman-Jones.
  
  Froelich, who works at Reclamation's field office in Pierre, South Dakota, is also a top ten finalist for the National Society of Professional Engineers’ Federal Engineer of the Year Award for 2016. She will be honored with her peers at a luncheon ceremony on Friday, February 26, at the National Press Club, in Washington, District of Columbia, as part of National Engineers Week. Read More →

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  Reclamation signs Northwest Area Water Supply Project Record of Decision

  The Bureau of Reclamation signed a Record of Decision selecting the preferred alternative proposed for the Northwest Area Water Supply Project (NAWS). The project is designed to deliver a bulk water supply to meet municipal and rural water needs of people in northwestern North Dakota.
  
  The Record of Decision was signed by Reclamation's Great Plains Regional Director Michael J. Ryan, and would implement the preferred alternative identified in the NAWS Project Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). Read More →