Barge Operators To The Corps: Plover Protection For The Birds!

Forty-one birds, $8-Million. That’s how many endangered shore birds the Army Corps of Engineers estimate they saved this summer by not releasing water from some dams on the Missouri River in the Dakotas and how much that move cost barge operators when the river ended up being shut down for about a month this past summer. Corps officials says they had to save the birds to stay within the Endangered Species Act. But, Don Huffman with a company operating barges on the Missouri says the Corps is not meeting its congressional mandates. Huffman says the Corps has moved the nests in the past, saving the birds without hurting barge traffic. The Corps says the Fish and Wildlife Service recommended against moving the nests.