The Missouri River Basin:

The Missouri River flows roughly 2,500 miles from its headwaters near Three Forks, Montana to its junction with the Mississippi River just north of St. Louis, Missouri.  The river drains a 530,000 square mile basin that includes all or parts of ten states and small portions of southern Alberta and Saskatchewan.   The basin ranges from high mountain regions to plains that are only 400 feet above sea-level.  Within the basin are some of the nation's most sparsely populated counties and major metropolitan areas like Omaha and Kansas City.

The Missouri is one of the country's most highly engineered river systems.  The upper river has been impounded by six large dams that can store up to 73 million acre-feet of water in the reservoirs, enough to cover an area the size of Pennsylvania in nearly a foot of water.  The lower river has been channelized, reducing the river to a tenth of its original width and isolating the river from its floodplain.

The engineering activities have produced significant economic benefits, but they have come at the expense of native fish and wildlife.   Two birds and one fish species are currently listed as threatened or endangered, and several other types of native fish are being considered for listing.

Another issue before the basin is how to manage the reservoir system in a drought.  The Missouri generally carries enough water to support all the major uses of the river.  However, during a major drought like the one that hit the basin in the late 1980s, inflows are insufficient to fully support a reservoir recreation industry and downstream uses like navigation.  Conversely, too much water in the system results in higher water releases from the reservoirs, threatening the viability of farming in the floodplain.  The Missouri River Basin Association is working with the basin's water users, interest groups, and federal agencies to address all these issues.  Its goal is to produce an economically and environmentally healthier river basin.