L&D #3 Fish Passageway Update 1/26/11

Quoted email from Dan Wilcox as follows.

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

All,

Just wanted to bring everyone up to speed on where we are in the planning
process for the above project.

1. The Preliminary Draft Definite Project Report was received from
HDR on December 4. The report was reviewed in Dec/Jan by a team from outside
the Mississippi Valley Division as required by new Corps guidance. Comments
by this review team have been addressed by HDR and MVP. Most of the comments
made were minor, however, there were a few questions related to Dam Safety
Assurance. Additional comments were also received from Phil Delphey and
Kevin Stauffer.

2. A VE Study (Value Engineering) started yesterday and should be
completed by the end of this week. The VE study will be incorporated into
the report as an appendix. Any cost/schedule saving identified are usually
incorporated/implemented during the plans and specification phase.

3. The next step is to brief Mississippi Valley Division on the
report before it gets released for the 30-day public review period (will
include another public meeting in Red Wing). I don’t see this happening
until February.

4. An additional limited independent external peer review (IEPR)is
also required because of the Dam Safety issue. This will be done concurrent
with the public review. The IEPR will only focus on Dam Safety and when
completed, will be included in the final report.

Please call me directly if you have any additional comments, concerns or
questions.

Tom Novak
Project Manager
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District
180 5th Street East, Suite 700
St. Paul, MN 55101-1678

…and here’s the smoking gun.

“Reconstructing Lock and Dam 3 to be Fish Friendly

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working on a major reconstruction of Lock and Dam #3 (6 miles upriver from Red Wing) costing $51 million. Congress has appropriated money for a fish passageway ($15 million), but the Corps is only studying the fish ladder, while proceeding ahead with navigation and embankment construction. Fish passage is needed to connect tens of thousands of acres and more than 200 miles of suitable habitat above and below the dam for the use of more than two dozen species of endangered, threatened and special concern fish and mussels (which depend on the fish for dispersal).

Among the species to be benefited by passage are Paddlefish and Lake Sturgeon, Higgin’s Eye and Winged Mapleleaf Mussels, as well as robust populations of Walleye and Sauger. Audubon is working with the Departments of Natural Resources in Wisconsin and Minnesota, with our Coulee Region Audubon chapter and with leaders in Congress to make sure construction of a fish passageway does occur with the money that has already been appropriated for this project. We see this as a test for the Corps to determine if they are serious about moving environmental project forward when navigational improvements are made, as they have often stated. The fish passage has been in discussions for 15 years and now is the best chance to finally get it constructed.”

National Audubon Society<<

This again leads to further distrust of the WI DNR. In the last public hearing in Red Wing, MN the WI DNR official went on to say, “this is just a feasibility study. There are no funds appropriated.”

This all leads to one question. What is the truth?

The truth is that a fish passage way is not about the fish, it’s not about the invasive carp…it’s about forcing the Corp of Engineers into spending money needlessly in hopes of paving the way for more “asian carp passageways”.

I urge you to attend the public hearings at Red Wing in February!

Quote:

---

I urge you to attend the public hearings at Red Wing in February!

---

X2

For all the years these fish somehow managed fine without needing to travel north or south. All the pools of the miss are self sustaining the currnt populations of fish. Seems really stupid to spend money on such a project. This isn’t an area where a dam was built in the natuaral migration pattern of breeding fish such as salmon. I fully agree that this will be a future problem in the transport of invasive species up the river system.

im in

I remember a DNR study/report that I read several years ago wherein the DNR (WI or MN) tagged several walleyes and saugers with transmitters in the Alma area of WI. According to their own reports, they found that several tagged fish made it all the way up into the St. Croix within just a few days of being tagged. It appears to me that the fish ALREADY travel through the locks and river system very well. I guess without knowing more about a clam though, I could not say the same. ….Maybe 3-4 feet per day??
Sounds to me like the money that was spent on that past study already proves fish movement in the system – and I’m sure they did that under a shoestring budget.

ill be sure to go not a fan of all this

Quote:

---

Maybe 3-4 feet per day??

---

Slipshot, the clams and mussels they are talking about attach to fish. The fish transport them up stream.

And Thank YOU for reminding me of that study.

Any Idea on which Congressmen/women are sponsoring the bill.

Jeff, if it were only that easy.

This is not a bill or legislation.

[email protected]

Daniel B. Wilcox

Fisheries Biologist

Environmental and GIS Branch

US Army Corps of Engineers

St. Paul District

180 5th St. East

Suite 700

St. Paul MN 55101-1678

And CC: [email protected]

Kevin Stauffer

Area Fisheries Supervisor

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

1801 S. Oak Street

Lake City, MN 55041

651-345-3365 x229

Quote:

---

Any Idea on which Congressmen/women are sponsoring the bill.

---

Sponsoring the bill to STOP invasive such as asian carp.

[email protected]

Thanks secret friend!

I would like pose a question for the Bandwagon against the installation of a fishway in the Upper Mississippi:

Had there not been an imposing threat from invasive asian carp species, would you still be adamantly against the installation of a fishway? If so, what other arguments are there against the installation of a fishway?

I’ll pass on drinking the cult’s Coolaid this round….

PS – Thanks for the update!

Absolutely against. There are so many ways now for the fish to get to the next pool so they don’t need to spend millions of your’s and my money for another way through, let alone just to study the damned thing.

Why don’t they call it what it really is/will be, The Invasive Expressway?

Not sure of your opinion on this subject, but I surely wouldn’t label myself as the “Bandwagon against”. Very few of us are making comments, so that’s hardly a bandwagon.

Brian, I’m not against fish passage ways, ladders and such.

We both know that L&D #3 doesn’t need one as Herb stated.

Taking the Asian Carp out of the picture changes my thoughts to just a BIG WASTE OF TAX PAYER MONEY.

Bottom line? Unless people see this for what it really is and contacts their Federal and State elected officials…it’s a done deal.

$14,000,000.00 PLUS of your money for the WI DNR to prove a point.

Ok, I’m off my one man bandwagon (for a little while).

Quote:

---

I would like pose a question for the Bandwagon against the installation of a fishway in the Upper Mississippi:

Had there not been an imposing threat from invasive asian carp species, would you still be adamantly against the installation of a fishway? If so, what other arguments are there against the installation of a fishway?

I’ll pass on drinking the cult’s Coolaid this round….

PS – Thanks for the update!

---

It’s always the easiest path to ignore a problem, and then when it has to be dealt with in the future raise your voice and ask what happened here? and why didn’t we do something to prevent it?

Ultimatley in the end it will cost more to try and solve the problem than preventing it in the first place.

I’ll pass on being one of the Sheep and follow the leader who runs first, this time around.

Quote:

---

I urge you to attend the public hearings at Red Wing in February!

---

According to the latest update, the public meeting won’t be until June and the passage way price tag is $22,000,000.00 2010 dollars.

22 Million just to help the asian carp get into the st. croix?

I spoke with Dan Wilcox of the Corp of Engineers yesterday on the way home.

As this was a phone call, this is not an exact quote.

The fish passage way on the WI side of Lock and Dam #3 has been abandoned because of the cost. The earth is not stable enough to handle a passage way. Reconstruction of this area is cost perhibitive.

We are now looking at the feasibility of locating the passage way on the MN side of the dam, on the Federally owned island between the lock and the dam.

This report and it’s plans won’t be ready for public review for at least a month and will be held in Red Wing, MN.

When I asked Mr. Wilcox which of the DNR’s are supporting this, he replied with “The WI DNR, the MN DNR is not in support of a passage way”.

Dan went on to say, “there isn’t any funding for this.”

Although once approved the WI DNR might have enough leverage to have funding approved in Washington.

On a side note, with the above average water levels the lower embankment project has been at a stand still.

It was agreed that with or without a fish passage way Asian Carp will travel past the dam.

The question remains, if fish can find ways around the dam now, why do we need to spend millions when nature is taking care of this for us?

You can’t trust Mother Nature BK. Thanks for the update.

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

LD 3 Fish Passage Stakeholders,

I apologize for the lack of communication of where we are with the above
project. We have been looking at alternative fish way channels that are less
expensive that the current channel thru the Wisconsin embankments.

1. As you know the current Preliminary Draft Report showed an increase in
Project Cost for just the fish way channel which is now in excess of $19M.
Most of the cost is associated with imported cofferdam fill/removal and the
channel borrow removal as well.

2. The in-house team has been looking at two other possible less expensive
fish way channel locations on the lock side thru the island. One uses the
Auxiliary lock chamber (as suggested by Value Engineering team) and a second
channel alternative is located between the auxiliary lock and the dam (see
attached poor quality sketch). Cost estimates are being generated to see if
these two alternative channels are less expensive than the Wisconsin
embankment channel to construct and still meet the original goals and
objectives.

3. Costs should be complete in about two weeks.

Tom Novak

Tel: 651.290.5524
Cell: 612.201.6390
Fax: 651.290.5258
eMail: [email protected]

Bump to view

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Brian,

We had a meeting last week with our cost engineer to finalize the lock side
channel. She won’t have any new final numbers until next week. The aux lock
chamber is definitely a no-go due to geotechnical/structural concerns.

Tom

Tel: 651.290.5524
Cell: 612.716.6542
Fax: 651.290.5258
eMail: [email protected]

Anyone hear of a second Public hearing??

I’m on the email list and I didn’t.

Below are snippits of the
REVIEW PLAN
LOCK AND DAM 3
FISH PASSAGE IMPROVEMENT
HABITAT REHABILITATION AND ENHANCEMENT PROJECT
DEFINITE PROJECT REPORT WITH INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND
APPENDICIES
St. Paul District MVP

Schedule for IEPR for the Lock and Dam 3 Fish Passage Project.
Task Date
Kick‐off Meeting with PDT and IEPR Team May 2011
IEPR review of PIR June 2011
Submit Final IEPR Report August 2011
Input final IEPR comments to DrChecks August 2011
PDT responses to Final Panel Comments in DrChecks September 2011
IEPR panel responds to PDT responses (Backcheck) September 2011
Submit pdf of DrChecks file and Closeout of DrChecks October 2011
Project Closeout November 2011
 IEPR costs are estimated to be $100,000‐$125,000.
 Model

The best buy plans selected included the
following:
 No Action
 Nature‐like Fishway at Truedale Slough/Vermillion River (G0T0B1F0)
 Modified Dam Gate Operation and Nature‐like Fishway at Truedale Slough/Vermillion River
(G1T0B1F0 )
 Modified Dam Gate Operation, and Nature‐like Fishway at Truedale Slough/Vermillion River,
and Nature‐like Fishway at Lock and Dam 3 (G1T0B1F1)
 Modified Dam Gate Operation, Vertical Slot Fishway, Nature‐like Fishway at Truedale
Slough/Vermillion River, and Nature‐like Fishway at Lock and Dam 3 (G1T1B1F1)
The results of the ICA were considered with other factors, including management objectives,
critical needs with the region, and ecosystem needs to the Upper Mississippi River system.
The recommended plan for the Lock and Dam 3 Fish Passage Improvement project is a
combination of measures that include Modified Dam Gate Operations, a Nature‐like Fishway at
Truedale Slough/Vermillion River and a Nature‐like Fishway at Lock and Dam 3. This alternative
is thought to provide the best opportunity for fish passage, allowing all sizes and species to pass
along either side of the river and stronger swimming fish through the dam gates at higher levels
of river discharge.

The project/study is not likely to have significant negative interagency interest and has
significant support from the State of Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources;

The project/study may be controversial: the PDT has conducted at least two public outreach
meetings and has demonstrated broad public support for the project, however there is still
some concern regarding Asian Carp and the ease of which they could travel via a fish passage;

The total project costs are approximately $23,000,000.

The public has participated in two public meetings for the project. No major controversy exists, and the public is generally supportive of the project. There has been some
minor discussion regarding Asian Carp.

Project Review Plan
January 2011
rev 1 March 2011
rev 2 April 2011
rev 23 June 2011

Link to Full Report<<

When they say ‘broad public support’, who is this public? Governmental employees cannot be included into this statement, so who from the public sector is supporting this?

Since I’m not inclueded in the updates…and never heard of the second (or more) public meetings…the only public “group” I’m aware of is the Natures Conservancy.

Gretchin has many ties with the WI Dnr.

Reconstructing Lock and Dam 3 to be Fish Friendly

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working on a major reconstruction of Lock and Dam #3 (6 miles upriver from Red Wing) costing $51 million. Congress has appropriated money for a fish passageway ($15 million), but the Corps is only studying the fish ladder, while proceeding ahead with navigation and embankment construction. Fish passage is needed to connect tens of thousands of acres and more than 200 miles of suitable habitat above and below the dam for the use of more than two dozen species of endangered, threatened and special concern fish and mussels (which depend on the fish for dispersal).

Among the species to be benefited by passage are Paddlefish and Lake Sturgeon, Higgin’s Eye and Winged Mapleleaf Mussels, as well as robust populations of Walleye and Sauger. Audubon is working with the Departments of Natural Resources in Wisconsin and Minnesota, with our Coulee Region Audubon chapter and with leaders in Congress to make sure construction of a fish passageway does occur with the money that has already been appropriated for this project. We see this as a test for the Corps to determine if they are serious about moving environmental project forward when navigational improvements are made, as they have often stated. The fish passage has been in discussions for 15 years and now is the best chance to finally get it constructed.

and…

National Audubon Society<<

Oh phttttttttttt!

You still have 10,000 lakes to fish in.

And that’s still better than our 10,000 aquariums err farm ponds here in Iowa.

Now, don’t you feel better?

Quote:

---

“All of the strategies … relied on the presumption that they were not yet above the Coon Rapids Dam,” said Don Arnosti, policy director for the Audubon Society of Minnesota. “I think it’s a big shock to everybody.”

---

Hmmm, seems the Audubon Society missed a memo.