The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is updating and revising its master plan for Gavins Point Dam and Lewis and Clark Lake. One component is gathering public input, comments, and concerns.
Mark Sweeney is a professor of sustainability and environment at the University of South Dakota. He says the lake has a sediment problem.
“The US Army Corps of Engineers is considering a variety of options including no action, resulting in the reservoir filling up with sediment, redirecting sediment to maintain recreation, but the reservoir will still fill with sediment eventually, building large islands by dredging sediment from the delta, which will prolong the life of the reservoir, and removing sediment by a pipeline that would feed it to the Missouri River downstream of the dam. All these actions cost money, but the Corps wants the public's opinion on which option to take.”