FORT PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers district commander whose responsibilities include overseeing operations on the Missouri River sat down with a table of tribal officials and elders from South Dakota on Tuesday for an impromptu talk about how they want the river managed and promised that he would meet with them again.
Brigadier General William C Hannan, Jr., assumed duties in June as head of the Corps’ 14-state Northwestern Division. The Missouri River is part of the division’s Omaha District. Hannan and other Corps officials were in Fort Pierre as part of their series of fall meetings at key points along the river.
Faith Spotted Eagle, a member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, suggested that Hannan should get together afterward with a variety of officials from various tribal governments who had come to the meeting.
Hannan had already heard during the meeting from Crow Creek Tribal President Peter Lengkeek, who wanted to know what the Corps is doing about zebra mussels that have invaded the river, as well as Standing Rock Sioux Tribe water administrator Doug CrowGhost, who said the river’s fluctuating water levels cause erosion that exposes graves of long-ago ancestors.