OMAHA, Neb. - The Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee (MRRIC) will hold its 37th meeting in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, May 23-25, 2017. The meeting will be at the Sioux Falls Convention Center, 1101 N. West Ave., Sioux Falls, SD 57104, beginning at 8 a.m. Tuesday, May 23, and concluding at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, May 25. The draft MRRIC meeting agenda can be found online at www.MRRIC.org.
A major milestone in the Missouri River Recovery Program (MRRP) was reached in December 2016 with the publication of a draft Missouri River Recovery Management Plan Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) analyzing program options for the future. At the May meeting, MRRIC members will discuss their perspectives on these options and will seek consensus on the approach to committee engagement in MRRP’s transition to an adaptive management process. MRRIC will also discuss the status of the three threatened and endangered species – the interior least turn, piping plover, and pallid sturgeon – and the results of an independent external peer review on the DEIS.
MRRIC Chair Gail Bingham observed, “The Corps of Engineers, Fish and Wildlife Service and MRRIC members have accomplished something extraordinary in recent years. Much remains to be learned about meeting recovery program objectives over as large an area as the Missouri River Basin and about how to do so in harmony with human concerns. However, MRRIC has built a strong foundation for success by listening to, and learning from, one another in the best tradition of our American democracy.”
The meetings are open to members of the public who will have an opportunity during each daily session to address the committee and the lead federal agencies – the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
MRRIC is a 70-member committee comprised of stakeholders and representatives of Tribal, state and federal governments throughout the Missouri River Basin. This committee provides recommendations to federal agencies on the current and future activities of the MRRP. The committee makes its substantive recommendations by consensus. The committee, established in the fall of 2008, meets quarterly at various locations throughout the Missouri River Basin. The next quarterly MRRIC meeting will be held Aug. 8-10, 2017.
For additional information regarding the MRRIC, please contact Ms. Gail Bingham, committee chair, by e-mail at info@MRRIC.org. Information about the Missouri River recovery efforts is available online at www.MRRIC.org and www.MoRiverRecovery.org.