Big Dam Era: A Legislative and Institutional History of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program - Flood Control, Missouri River Valley, Water Resources Development

This is the story of the Missouri River Division's sixty year relationship with one of America's greatest rivers the wide Missouri. The story begins in 1933 with the construction of Fort Peck Dam in Montana and the establishment of the Missouri River Division in Kansas City. It concludes with the complex management challenges the Division faces today as it celebrates sixty years of dedicated service to the Nation and the people of America's Heartland. The focus of the narrative is on the six main stem dams that were built between 1933 and 1964 that today are managed as a single system.

In order to address problems and opportunities associated with management of the reservoir system, it is important to look back in time and account for changes and events that have taken place since the system was authorized. Except for the Fort Peck project, the dams and reservoirs in this system were authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944 which implemented the Pick-Sloan plan. Big Dam Era synthesizes this important legislative history.
This book demonstrates how the regional political culture has shaped the development and management of the main stem system. Water resources development and management are not left to just the technical solutions or solely to experts. Interest groups, elected officials, and the public are rightfully involved. The Missouri basin states have continued to be active participants in the decision making process.

Central to the challenge of providing improved water resources management is developing institutions through which the complex, conflicting issues of water management can be examined in an impartial, objective way. This book details the institutional history of the Missouri River main stem system and highlights the contributions personnel of the Missouri River Division have made to the successful management of the system.

CHAPTER I - FLOOD CONTROL PLANS * CHAPTER II - UPPER BASIN CONCERNS * CHAPTER III - THE SLOAN AND PICK PLANS * Chronological Summary of Reports, Conferences and Congressional Action on the Pick-Sloan Plan * Photo Essay: Constructing a Big Dam on the Missouri River * CHAPTER IV - MISSOURI VALLEY AUTHORITY * CHAPTER V - MISSOURI BASIN INTER-AGENCY COMMITTEE * CHAPTER VI - A MODEL RIVER BASIN ORGANIZATION * CHAPTER VII - SYSTEM OPERATION * CHAPTER VIII - MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES * APPENDIX A - Missouri Basin Water Resources Development: A Chronology of Selected Events * APPENDIX B - Comparison of Pick and Sloan Plans

Dettagli