Basin authority to meander into regional river role

StateGazette.com
October 24, 2008

The West Tennessee River Basin Authority plans to participate in efforts to improve habitat, recreation and access along the Mississippi River.

The basin authority's board of directors voted Oct. 15 to do two things.

First, the agency plans to get involved with the Lower Mississippi River Resource Assessment being conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Congress authorized the assessment in 2000, and the Corps has been proceeding as funding is provided. The assessment is supposed to gather data needed for river-related management, habitat needs and river access and recreational uses.

Second, the board instructed basin authority Executive Director David Salyers to attend Lower Mississippi Conservation Committee hearings. The committee is a nonprofit organization that promotes the protection, restoration, enhancement, understanding, awareness and wise use of the river's natural resources.

The basin authority has traditionally focused exclusively on West Tennessee rivers outside of the Memphis metropolitan area. However, at the last board meeting in July, Sen. Mark Norris said a new report accuses Southern states of not protecting the Mississippi River from contamination. He questioned whether a Lower Mississippi River Basin Authority could help the basin authority achieve its goals.

The Lower Mississippi Conservation Committee is collaborating with the Corps on the assessment. Also participating are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, seven states, conservation groups, businesses, levee districts and the public.

The river resource assessment covers 954 river miles of the Lower Mississippi River from its confluence with the Ohio River in Cairo, Ill., to the Gulf of Mexico, the Corps announced in a press release earlier this year. Engineers and scientists are analyzing river reaches and adjacent floodplains of the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley that have commercial navigation channels.

"The river's 2.7 million-acre leveed floodplain nearly equals the Florida Everglades in size and contains 1.6 floodplain lakes and 145 side channels encompassing more than 110,000 acres," Corps project manager Leighann Gipson said in the press release. "The Lower Mississippi River remains one of the most productive freshwater ecosystems in the world."

Ultimately, the press release said, the study will provide a blueprint for future restoration of the river's natural resources and allow riverside communities to develop locally led plans to entice nature tourists to economically deprived rural areas in the Lower Mississippi Valley.

"Tourism and outdoor recreation are major industries worldwide," the Corps' press release said. "International tourism generates $2 billion daily and arrivals are projected to reach 1 billion annually by 2010. A recent study found that outdoor recreation is a $628 billion industry and accounts for one in 17 jobs in the United States."

Ron Nassar, coordinator of the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee, said "the Lower Mississippi River region's natural resources, history and culture represent a virtually undeveloped, non-exportable industry."

In other business Oct. 15, the basin authority board:

* Agreed to extend the engineering contract with Buchart Horn Inc. of Memphis for another year. The current contract is scheduled to expire on Jan. 15; the board voted to extend the contract to 2010. Salyers said he plans to recommend that the agency be allowed to use up to $325,000 for engineering services.

* Reviewed the agency's 2009-2010 budget request. It calls for operating expenditures of $1.467 million, which is about the same as this year's estimated budget. The maintenance budget calls for $1.215 million, or about $40,000 less than the current budget.

* Learned that Salyers plans to request $110,000 for an amphibious trackhoe contract next year.

* Learned that the basin authority is working with the Chickasaw Shiloh R, C & D Council, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Department of Agriculture and the Nature Conservancy to construct eight gradient control structures in Dry Creek. Dry Creek is the largest contributor of sediment to Clover Creek, and Clover Creek is the second largest sediment contributor to the Hatchie River. The structures are designed to stabilize sections of the creek and landowners have been happy with the work, Salyers said. The project costs about $275,000, with the basin authority chipping in about $54,000.

* Learned work has started on the Crooked Creek channel and floodplain restoration project in Carroll County. Salyers said the project has been very difficult, but he hopes to have it 80 percent complete by the end of the year.

* Learned the basin authority worked with the city of Jackson to restore flood and sediment storage capacity in Campbell Street Lake. The basin authority provided a bulldozer and a trackhoe to scoop up 87 truckloads of sediments, which were hauled away.

Prior to the meeting, Salyers reported on several local projects.

He said engineers are analyzing the seismic stability of the Coon Creek flood control structure near Lenox. Salyers said he has no reason to believe the dam isn't stable, but the seismic design standards for all dams were recently revised. The Tennessee Division of Safe Dams recommended the study. Salyers said he believes the study will be completed in 30 to 60 days.

Engineers are also revising the Stokes Creek river restoration project in southeastern Dyer County. Once the design is complete, Salyers said he'll meet with landowners and seek the necessary environmental permits. He hopes construction will begin in late summer or fall of 2009.

A bio-engineered bank stabilization project is being considered on the South Fork Forked Deer River near Unionville. Salyers said the basin authority has been monitoring the situation for years and noticed that the erosion rate had really accelerated this spring. He said the problem stretches about 500 feet on the north side of the channel near the Unionville Road bridge. Salyers said he's trying to determine what kind of environmental permits will be needed. If the work can be done under a general permit, work could begin this fall. If the basin authority has to get an Aquatic Resource Alteration Permit (ARAP), work won't begin until next year.