River Management Comments - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

River Management Comments

The international group that manages the Mouse River is asking for your input on potential changes to the operations manual that governs river management.

The International Souris River Board held a public hearing today, offering a look at what's called the "plan of study" for the manual.

That's the list of policies and procedures that will be reviewed over the next few years in an effort to improve management of the river.

Colonel Michael Price of the Corps of Engineers and a member of the ISRB, says the outcome of the 2011 flood could have been different with different management rules.

And he says that's the goal.

(Col. Michael Price, International Souris River Board) "We're going to look at the current operating plan, review it, and see if it's operating like it's supposed to be operating. And then the study is going to look at everything else in the basin and see if the plan needs to change. That's the bottom line. We want to see if it's working and see if the hydraulics has changed in the basin and then make recommendations to change the plan if we need to."

If you missed today's public meeting, you may still make comments about the ISRB's "Plan of Study," through the website of the International Joint Commission.

Go to www.ijc.org and click on "boards" and then "ongoing task forces."