View source for Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program

{{Short description|Flood control}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2019}}
[[Image:Map Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program.png|thumb|upright=2|Missouri river with dams and reservoirs built in the Pick–Sloan Program since the 1940s, and Indian reservations affected by reservoir flooding.]]
[[Image:CanyonFerryDamoverhead.jpg|thumb|[[Canyon Ferry Lake]] near [[Helena, Montana]] ]]
[[Image:Lake sakakawea.jpg|thumb|Van Hook Arm of [[Lake Sakakawea]], upriver of the Garrison-Dam in [[North Dakota]]]]
[[Image:USACE Fort Thompson Big Bend Dam.jpg|thumb|Big Bend Dam and Lake Sharpe at [[Fort Thompson, South Dakota|Fort Thompson]], South Dakota]]
[[Image:Pierre South Dakota.jpg|thumb|[[Lake Oahe]] and Dam near [[Pierre, South Dakota]]]]
[[Image:Fort-randall-dam1.jpg|thumb|[[Fort Randall Dam]] and Lake Francis Case]]
[[Image:Gavins-point-dam1.jpg|thumb|[[Gavins Point Dam]] and [[Lewis and Clark Lake]] near [[Yankton, South Dakota]] ]]
The '''Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program''', formerly called the Missouri River Basin Project, was initially authorized by the [[Flood Control Act of 1944]], which approved the plan for the conservation, control, and use of [[water resources]] in the [[Missouri River]] Basin.
The intended beneficial uses of these water resources include [[Floods|flood control]], aids to navigation, [[irrigation]], supplemental [[water supply]], [[Hydroelectricity|power generation]], municipal and industrial water supplies, [[Water pollution|stream-pollution]] abatement, [[sediment control]], [[conservation biology|preservation]] and enhancement of fish and [[wildlife]], and creation of recreation opportunities.
The construction of dams such as the [[Oahe Dam|Oahe]], [[Garrison Dam|Garrison]], and [[Fort Randall Dam|Fort Randall]] flooded out significant parts of many [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] reservations, including those at [[Standing Rock Indian Reservation|Standing Rock]], [[Cheyenne River Indian Reservation|Cheyenne River]], [[Fort Berthold Indian Reservation|Fort Berthold]], [[Crow Creek Indian Reservation|Crow Creek]], and [[Lower Brule Indian Reservation|Lower Brule]]. One source called the program the single most destructive act ever perpetrated on any tribe by the United States.
It derives its name from the authors of the program–[[Lewis A. Pick]], director of the Missouri River office of the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]], and [[William Glenn Sloan]], director of the [[Billings, Montana]] office of the [[United States Bureau of Reclamation]].<ref>Bureau of Reclamation (July 29, 2004) [http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/html/psmbp.html Pick–Sloan Missouri Basin Program] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090118035708/http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/html/psmbp.html |date=January 18, 2009 }}</ref>
==History==
===The Pick plan===
In May 1943, the House Flood Control Committee chose the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] to create a solution for extreme flooding in the Missouri Basin. [[Lewis A. Pick]] developed a proposal for the corps called the Pick plan, which was finished in August of the same year.<ref name="Dammed Indians">{{cite book|last1=Lawson|first1=Michael L. Jr.|title=Dammed Indians : the Pick-Sloan plan and the Missouri River Sioux, 1944–1980|date=1982|publisher=University of Oklahoma press|location=Norman|isbn=978-0806116570|edition=1st}}</ref>
The Pick plan introduced three different projects to be carried out by the Army Corps of Engineers. The first undertaking involved the construction of 1,500 miles of [[levee]]s from [[Sioux City]] to the [[Mississippi River]] to protect from [[Missouri River]] flooding. The second proposal called for the construction of eighteen dams on Missouri's [[tributary|tributaries]]. Eleven of those dams had been previously approved by Congress. Five dams were planned to be located on tributaries of the [[Republican River]] in the lower basin. Of the remaining dams, the Pick plan recommended construction of one on the [[Bighorn River]] in Wyoming and another on Montana's [[Yellowstone River]]. The Pick plan's third project was the creation of five multi-purpose dams on the Missouri River. Initially, the plan's total cost was estimated to be $490 million.<ref name="Dammed Indians" />
The original Pick plan was supported by the National Rivers and Harbors Congress, the Mississippi Valley Association, the Propeller Club of the United States, the American Merchant Marine Conference, the Mississippi Valley Flood Control Association, and other lower-basin residents. Senators [[Joseph O'Mahoney]] (D-WY) and [[Eugene Millikin]] (R-CO) offered [[amendment]]s to the plan that would also provide for the interests of people in the upper basin. The amendments created an emphasis on [[irrigation]] over river navigation and gave precedence to arid states for the use of basin water. O'Mahoney and Millikin's amendments also called for Congress to inform any states associated with proposed [[Drainage basin|watershed]] development. The amendments were later added to the Pick plan.<ref name="Dammed Indians" />
===The Sloan plan===
The Sloan plan was developed by [[William Glenn Sloan|William G. Sloan]], the assistant director at the [[United States Bureau of Reclamation|Bureau of Reclamation's]] regional office who had previously worked for the Corps of Engineers. The plan was submitted on May 4, 1944, to Congress.
In contrast to the Pick Plan, Sloan's strategy was more intricate. His 211-page program involved plans for ninety irrigation and power development projects. It was proposed with a budget of $1.26 billion.<ref name="Dammed Indians Revisited" /> The Sloan plan pushed for reservoir storage in upper tributaries of the Missouri River located in smaller dams, which would provide irrigation for 4.8 million acres in areas where the land suffered from drought.<ref name="Dammed Indians" /> The Sloan plan allotted 1.3 million acres of irrigated land in North Dakota. South Dakota, Montana, and Nebraska were allotted about 1 million acres each.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last1=Carrels|first1=Peter|title=Uphill against water : the great Dakota water war|date=1999|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln [u.a.]|isbn=978-0803263970}}</ref>
The plan picked up support from the National Reclamation Association and the [[National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry|National Grange]].<ref name="Dammed Indians" />
===The Omaha Conference===
On October 17, 1944, the Omaha Conference was scheduled for the consolidation of the Pick and Sloan plans. In total, the plans had proposed 113 different projects. Once the plans were merged, 107 of those projects remained. The combined Pick-Sloan plan allowed the Corps of Engineers jurisdiction over flood control, navigation projects and five main-stem dams. The Bureau of Reclamation was granted permission to build 27 dams in the Yellowstone Basin. In addition, the Corps of Engineers and the Reclamation Bureau were both given authority to develop [[hydroelectricity|hydroelectric power]] on the Missouri River.<ref name="Dammed Indians" />
The newly merged Pick Sloan plan was accepted by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] in 1944. It was officially titled as the Missouri River Basin Development Program and was presented in conjunction with the [[Flood Control Act of 1944]]. President Roosevelt authorized $200 million for the program. In its entirety, the Pick-Sloan plan arranged for 107 dams, 1,500 miles of protective levees, 4.7 million acres of irrigation systems, and 1.6 million kilowatts of electric power.<ref name="Dammed Indians Revisited">{{cite book|last1=McGovern|first1=Michael L. Lawson ; forewords by George|last2=Deloria|first2=Vine Jr.|title=Dammed Indians revisited : the continuing history of the Pick-Sloan plan and the Missouri River Sioux|date=2009|publisher=South Dakota State Historical Society Press|location=Pierre|isbn=9780979894015}}</ref>
===Early critics===
Many early critics of the Pick-Sloan plan were in favor of creating a Missouri Valley Authority (MVA). They claimed that the MVA would provide a more unified solution to water development on the Missouri River than the merged ideas of opposing bureaucracies. Ideas for the MVA were influenced by the success of the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]]. Senator [[James E. Murray]] of Montana and Congressman [[John J. Cochran]] from Missouri developed bills for the Missouri Valley Authority. The MVA bills planned to navigate Missouri into a number of stairstep lakes linked together by [[lock (water navigation)|locks]]. They would also arrange for giant reservoirs to supply irrigation and cheap hydroelectricity power, arguing that this would produce more public power and leave less condemned private land.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Campbell|first1=David C.|title=The Pick-Sloan Program: A Case of Bureaucratic Economic Power|journal=Journal of Economic Issues|date=January 6, 2016|volume=18|issue=2|pages=449–456|doi=10.1080/00213624.1984.11504244}}</ref> The bills were presented in the 79th Congress, but they were later brought down.
==Interventions==
Several water-control measures were introduced through the [[Pick–Sloan legislation]] that variously affected the [[Missouri River Valley]] and its environs.
The Pick–Sloan program dams built between 1946 and 1966 are:
* [[Canyon Ferry Lake|Canyon Ferry Dam and Lake]] in Montana
* [[Garrison Dam]] and [[Lake Sakakawea]] in North Dakota
* [[Oahe Dam]] and [[Lake Oahe]] in South Dakota
* [[Big Bend Dam]] and [[Lake Sharpe]] in South Dakota
* [[Fort Randall Dam]] and [[Lake Francis Case]] in South Dakota
* [[Gavins Point Dam]] and [[Lewis and Clark Lake]] in South Dakota and Nebraska
Based on Pick–Sloan legislation, the ''Reclamation Project Authorization Act'' of October 20, 1972 authorized the Bureau of Reclamation to build additional dams at the [[North Loup River]] and [[Middle Loup River]] in [[Nebraska]]: Six dams were constructed between 1976 and 1994:<ref>[[Bureau of Reclamation]]: [http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1038&context=usblmpub ''Resource Management Plan: Calamus Reservoir, Nebraska Great Plains Region'']. In: ''U.S. [[Bureau of Land Management]] Papers.'' Paper 39, 2010 (Bureau of Reclamation: [https://www.usbr.gov/gp/nkao/calamus_rmp_final.pdf '#Resource Management Plan: Calamus Reservoir, Nebraska''], June 2010)</ref>
* [[Davis Creek Dam]]
* [[Virginia Smith Dam]] and Calamus Lake (formlery Calamus Dam and Reservoir) at the [[Calamus River]]
* Kent Diversion Dam
* Sherman Dam and Reservoir
* Milburn Diversion Dam
* Arcadia Diversion Dam
Other dams along the Missouri River that were not part of the Sloan–Pick program are [[Toston Dam]] (1940), [[Hauser Dam]] (1907), [[Holter Dam]] (1908), [[Black Eagle Dam]] (1927), [[Rainbow Dam]] (1912), [[Cochrane Dam]] (1958), [[Ryan Dam]] (1915), [[Morony Dam]] (1930) and [[Fort Peck Dam]] (1940), all located in Montana.
== Native American relocation ==
Over {{convert|200,000| acres}} on the [[Standing Rock Indian Reservation]] and the [[Cheyenne River Indian Reservation|Cheyenne River Reservation]] in South Dakota were flooded by the [[Oahe Dam]], forcing Native Americans to relocate from flooded areas.<ref name=":1" /> The Fort Randall Dam flooded {{convert|221,497| acres}} of Indigenous land and {{convert|220,478| acres}} were inundated by the Big Bend Dam.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Estes|first=Nick|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1044540762|title=Our history is the future : Standing Rock versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the long tradition of Indigenous resistance|publisher=Verso|year=2019|isbn=978-1-78663-672-0|location=London|pages=157–158|oclc=1044540762}}</ref> In South Dakota, politicians and other proponents of the Pick-Sloan Program and dam construction had promised {{convert|1|e6acre|e3km2}} of irrigation as “appropriate compensation” for lost land.<ref name=":0" /> As of 2016, poverty remains a problem for the displaced populations in the [[Dakotas]], who are still seeking compensation for the loss of the towns submerged under [[Lake Oahe]], and the loss of their traditional ways of life.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|title = No Man's Land: The Last Tribes of the Plains. As industry closes in, Native Americans fight for dignity and natural resources|url = http://www.msnbc.com/interactives/geography-of-poverty/nw.html|access-date = September 28, 2015|last = Lee|first = Trymaine|website = MSNBC – Geography of Poverty Northwest}}</ref>
The construction of main-stream dams also affected other Native American tribes living along the Missouri River on the [[Fort Berthold Indian Reservation|Fort Berthold]], [[Cheyenne River Indian Reservation|Cheyenne River]], [[Standing Rock Indian Reservation|Standing Rock]], [[Crow Creek Indian Reservation|Crow Creek]], and [[Lower Brule Indian Reservation|Lower Brule]] Indian reservations. The [[Garrison Dam|Garrison]], [[Oahe Dam|Oahe]], and [[Fort Randall Dam|Fort Randall]] dams created a reservoir that eliminated 90 percent of timber and 75 percent of wildlife on the reservations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shanks|first=Bernard D.|date=June 1, 1974|title=The American Indian and Missouri River Water Developments1|journal=JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association|language=en|volume=10|issue=3|pages=573–579|doi=10.1111/j.1752-1688.1974.tb00598.x|bibcode=1974JAWRA..10..573S|issn=1752-1688}}</ref>
According to Native American historian [[Vine Deloria Jr.]], the "Pick–Sloan plan was, without doubt, the single most destructive act ever perpetrated on any tribe by the United States."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dammed Indians: The Pick-Sloan plan and the Missouri River Sioux, 1944–1980|last=Lawson|first=Michael|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=1982|pages=xiv}}</ref>
== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{commons category|Dams of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program}}
{{Missouri River}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program}}
[[Category:Missouri River]]
[[Category:Flood control in the United States]]
[[Category:Irrigation in the United States]]
[[Category:Lakota]]
[[Category:Dakota]]
[[Category:Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation]]