The St. Paul District

Minnesota Minnesota

Wisconsin Wisconsin

N

St. Paul St. Paul

CANADA

MICHIGAN

IOWA

NORTH

 DAKOTA

OMAHA

DISTRICT

DETROIT

DISTRICT

SOUTH 

DAKOTA

St. Paul District offi ce

St. Paul District boundaries
Introduction

2

Table of Contents
3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

4

10

44

72

114

150

174

198

220

236

241

242

244

260

1 - Introduction

2 - Reinventing the St. Paul District

3 - Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

4 - Civil Works Program II: Flood Control Projects

5 - The Regulatory Mission

6 - Cultural Resources and History

7 - Recreation

8 - Emergency Operations and Recovery

9 - External Relationships

10 - Conclusion

Acronyms

District Commanders

Bibliography

Index
Lock and Dam 3, Mississippi River: the 

river is seen here in high water, October 

1995. (Photo courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
Introduction

1

5

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is one of fortyone districts in the Corps’ organization. As the northernmost district 

in the Mississippi Valley Division, it centers on the headwaters of the 

Mississippi River and the uppermost section of the river’s nine-foot 

navigation channel. The St. Paul District oversees civil works projects 

and conducts disaster relief within the geographic boundaries of the 

district, implements the Corps’ regulatory program in the states of Minnesota and 

Wisconsin and assists with other Corps’ missions wherever needed. The following 

history updates the book Creativity, Confl ict & Controversy: A History of the St. Paul 

District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, published in 1979.1

 This book describes how 

the St. Paul District responded to enormous changes in the Corps’ missions and 

organization in the last quarter of the twentieth century. 

The St. Paul District in the Environmental Era

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been the federal government’s leading civil 

works agency for more than two centuries. It built its reputation largely on river and 

harbor improvements, such as the nine-foot navigation channel in the Mississippi 

River and dikes and dams for fl ood control and hydroelectric power. In the 1960s and 

1970s, the environmental movement fundamentally altered the public outlook on the 

Corps’ works. Many people recognized rivers and lakes and wetlands to be some of 

the most vulnerable elements of the natural environment. Dams, some argued, were 

perhaps the most egregious example of heavy-handed transformations of the landscape. 

Engineering projects that were unquestioningly termed “improvements” in the past 

were condemned by environmentalists as misguided and destructive. Moreover, the 

public developed a more skeptical attitude toward government and technocracy and 

demanded greater participation in public land management decisions. In response, the 

1Introduction
Introduction

1

6

Corps reinvented its public image, evolving from the nation’s leading dam builder to 

its principal steward of water resources. Seeking to win public confi dence, it navigated 

through a changed political landscape of environmental impact studies and public 

review. More than a few social scientists and environmentalists marveled at the Corps’ 

success, though many still contended that the Corps wrought environmental damage 

wherever it worked. 

The St. Paul District has played a signifi cant role in the “greening” of the Corps. 

It embraced the Corps’ new mission of environmental management on the Upper 

Mississippi River – a project that Congress has continually funded since 1986. When 

the Corps performed maintenance on the nine-foot channel, it placed dredged material 

so as to create islands and back channels that would provide new wildlife habitat. The 

Corps came to occupy a key role in interagency administration of the river, mediating 

between environmentalists and recreational-use interests on the one hand and fl oodprone communities and commercial-navigation interests on the other.

The St. Paul District similarly embraced the Corps’ expanded mission in regulatory 

matters, particularly its role in protecting wetlands. The district took initiative in 

redrawing regulatory boundaries to conform to state lines so that it could work more 

effectively with state regulatory programs in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Since these 

states had two of the most aggressive wetlands protection programs in the nation, the 

St. Paul District forged ahead of many other districts in proving the Corps’ commitment 

to the protection of this resource.

The St. Paul District demonstrated environmental sensitivity in other areas, from new 

project designs such as the $115-million Rochester, Minnesota, Flood Control Project 

to restoration efforts such as the Weaver Bottoms Rehabilitation, both of which were 

recognized with the Chief of Engineers Award of Excellence – the most prestigious 

award given to civil works projects. Since 1975, the St. Paul District has received four 

Awards of Excellence, an outstanding record. The professionalism the district has 

cultivated in the course of improving its environmental standing extends to other 

programs, including innovations in the development of recreational facilities and the 

making of one of the Corps’ strongest district history programs.

Unlike most districts, the St. Paul District does not participate in military programs, 

but rather focuses exclusively on civil works. This is one factor that encourages the 

district to excel in its areas of specialization. Moreover, it is said that the individuals 

who comprise the St. Paul District tend to be less mobile within the organization, less 

inclined to seek or accept a reassignment, more loyal to their sense of place than is 

characteristic of most district staff. Longevity has both advantages and disadvantages 

for the organization, but one of its advantages is producing people with a greater 

commitment to quality of living. Many people in the St. Paul District are reluctant to 

transfer elsewhere because they like St. Paul and the region – they have a personal stake 

in the environment. Yet, the human resource may be less signifi cant than the geographic 

and political setting in explaining the St. Paul District’s orientation.
Introduction

1

7

Most of this region is fl at. The major exception is the “Driftless Area” of southwest 

Wisconsin, so-named because it escaped glaciation during the Ice Ages and is lacking 

glacial “drift” or deposit, therefore exhibiting a much older geologic imprint of 

uplift and dissection by water erosion. Other hills include the Mesabi Range and 

the Vermillion Range in northeast Minnesota, which form the divide with the Great 

Lakes Basin. Generally, the topography of the St. Paul District shows the marks of past 

continental glaciers, which left behind thousands of natural lakes and prairie potholes, 

as well as low, rounded hills, kettle moraines, ancient fl ood plains, and dry river 

channels.3

 The Red River Valley, the fl attest area in a region known for its fl atness, is the 

bed of the gigantic glacial Lake Agassiz. Its rich, black soil is extraordinarily fertile. 

Indeed, most of the area within the St. Paul District features soil that is highly 

productive for agriculture – another consequence of past glaciation. The continental 

glaciers not only covered the original land surface with a deep, fl at layer of glacial 

till, they also imported and deposited limestone and other minerals that made good 

soil-building material. Deposits of loess in some areas and lacustrine materials of old 

lakebeds in others formed additional mantles of good 

soil. Most of the St. Paul District, from North Dakota’s 

Red River Valley in the west to Wisconsin’s central 

counties in the east, has yielded rich farm crops for 

more than a century.4 

The climate of this region is continental, marked by 

temperature extremes from winter to summer, as well 

as by dramatic temperature shifts within each season. 

For its mid-continent location it is also relatively 

humid, with 30 to 40 inches of annual precipitation. 

Rainfall is generally highest in the summer, with 

much of it occurring in torrential thunderstorms. 

These climatic conditions, added to the fl at 

topography and the abundance of water, make large 

areas of the St. Paul District particularly fl ood prone. 

Because the region is mid-continent and devoid of 

mountain barriers, the rivers and lakes have provided 

pathways of commerce for centuries. Since the 

nineteenth century, the Mississippi River has served 

as the main artery of commerce with the outside 

world. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, 

formed at the river’s farthest point of navigation 

at St. Anthony Falls, became the region’s largest 

metropolitan area very early. The U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers opened an offi ce in St. Paul in 1866 for 

the purpose of surveying the Upper Mississippi and 

its tributaries – a permanent presence that eventually 

became the St. Paul District.

Upper and Lower Locks at St. 

Anthony Falls, Minneapolis: 

The falls were the highest 

point of navigation on the 

Mississippi River when the 

Corps of Engineers opened 

an offi ce in St. Paul in 1866. 

(Photo courtesy of St. Paul District, 

Corps of Engineers)
Introduction

1

8

Throughout its history, the St. Paul District has made the Mississippi River its central 

focus. In the 1930s, it oversaw dredging of a nine-foot channel for navigation as far 

upriver as St. Anthony Falls. This project assisted farmers and industry by facilitating 

the transportation of grain downstream and coal upstream. The project had unintended 

environmental consequences, however, as the dumping of dredge material in 

backwaters along the edges of the river harmed vegetation and wildlife habitat in these 

sensitive wetland areas.

By the 1960s and 1970s, public concern for the ecological and recreational values of 

the Mississippi River vied with more traditional considerations of its navigability 

and susceptibility to fl ooding. In the last quarter of the century, the Corps devoted 

increasing attention to reclamation and preservation of the river’s natural features.5

In addition to lakes and rivers, the region contains a vast amount of wetlands. 

Outside of Alaska, the St. Paul District encompasses more wetlands than any other 

Corps’ district in the nation – much of it in the form of prairie potholes and inland 

fresh marshes that interface 

with agricultural lands. Long 

maligned by the general public 

as worthless, these areas were 

once converted to farmland as 

fast as they could be ditched 

and drained. In the last quarter 

century, however, the public 

value of wetlands has changed 

radically. The Corps of Engineers 

now plays an important role in 

preserving the nation’s wetlands, 

and the St. Paul District occupies 

a strategic place in this effort. 

Political Setting of the St. Paul District

The St. Paul District overlaps portions of fi ve farm 

states. Agriculture built these state economies and 

continues to have a strong infl uence on state politics. 

In North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa, farmers and 

farming-based communities are a dominating factor in 

most local governments. In Minnesota and Wisconsin, 

agricultural interests similarly control most county 

governments. However, in Minnesota and Wisconsin, 

there are large cities, as well as numerous small cities, 

and the state economies are more diversifi ed, meaning 

that urban and nonagricultural interests have a greater 

infl uence at the state level.

St. Paul District boundary: 

The current boundaries, 

after the realignment in 

1979, of the St. Paul District 

include portions of fi ve 

states. (Map courtesy of St. 

Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Introduction

1

9

Wisconsin in the last quarter of the twentieth century has remained less urban than the 

nation as a whole. Though highly industrialized, comparatively few of its people live in 

large cities. The majority of Wisconsin residents live in cities of less than 50 thousand, or 

towns, or in the country; about twenty percent live on farms. Minnesota, with slightly 

fewer people than Wisconsin, has the larger metropolitan area of the two states: the 

Twin Cities. Minnesota’s next largest cities, Duluth and Rochester, each have fewer 

than 100 thousand inhabitants. Yet even Duluth and Rochester are larger than North 

Dakota’s largest city of Fargo, which contains a population of 75 thousand.

Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota received large numbers of German and 

Scandinavian immigrants in the nineteenth century. All three states developed political 

traditions of agrarian dissent and populism. In Wisconsin, the Republican Party 

embraced a persistent progressive wing. In Minnesota, the state Democratic Party 

fused with the leftist Farmer-Laborites in 1944 to form the Democratic-Farmer-Labor 

party, which occupies the left of the political spectrum to this day. In North Dakota, 

leftist farmers formed the Nonpartisan League, which gained control of the state 

government for a few years in the early twentieth century. The Nonpartisan League 

eventually vanished into the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party prevails in the 

state today. In each of these states, liberal and conservative divisions do not run along 

predictable fault lines, and the Corps encounters politically active citizens both in rural 

and urban contexts. 

This district history is organized into ten chapters (including an introduction and a 

conclusion). Six central chapters focus on a Corps’ mission or program: navigation, 

fl ood control, wetlands protection, recreation, cultural resources management and 

disaster relief. The two remaining chapters address organizational change: the fi rst 

concentrating on internal reform and the second discussing external relationships. Since 

the main theme of this history is how the St. Paul District participated in the Corps’ 

efforts to reinvent itself in the environmental era, we begin with the chapter on internal 

reform of the organization.

Chapter 1 Endnotes

1 Raymond H. Merritt, The Corps, the Environment, and the Upper Mississippi River Basin

(Washington, D.C.: Historical Division, Offi ce of Administrative Services, Offi ce of the 

Chief of Engineers, 1984).

2 William E. Lass, Minnesota: A Bicentennial History (New York: W.W. Norton & 

Company, Inc., 1977), 3.

3 Richard Nelson, Current, Wisconsin: A Bicentennial History (New York: W.W. Norton & 

Co., Inc., 1977), 12-13.

4 John H. Garland, ed., The North American Midwest: A Regional Geography (New York: 

John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1955), 6.

5 Lass, Minnesota, 4-5.
Site survey: Mike Dahlquist (left) and Jim Sentz 

look at survey information for the St. Cloud, 

Minnesota, erosion control project. (Photo by 

Shannon Bauer, courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

11

During the past thirty years, the Army Corps of Engineers has proven 

adept at embracing new missions to meet the changing needs of the 

nation. In particular, the Corps has responded to environmentalism. 

As early as the 1970s, the Corps’ adaptability became the subject of an 

in-depth study by the Brookings Institution, Can Organizations Change? 

Environmental Protection, Citizen Participation, and the Corps of Engineers. 

The authors of the study were cautiously optimistic that the Corps could assimilate new 

environmental values into its varied missions and that its environmental mission could 

be translated into new programs.

1

 In the following decades, the Corps moved toward 

more environmentally-sensitive approaches in its traditional workload involving river 

and harbor dredging and fl ood control projects; and, at the same time, the Corps came 

to occupy a central role in the growing federal commitment to protection of wetlands. 

These impressive changes notwithstanding, the Corps faced additional challenges 

in demonstrating it could improve its effi ciency. Efforts to downsize the federal 

bureaucracy and to trim the Department of Defense after the end of the Cold War fell 

heavily on the Army Corps of Engineers, especially in the 1990s. The Corps responded 

with successive plans and initiatives to streamline its decentralized administrative 

organization of divisions and districts, to revamp the way it conducted business and to 

stretch federal dollars by means of cost-sharing agreements with local sponsors.

The St. Paul District faced in microcosm the challenges that beset the whole Corps. 

Most of the pressure for organizational change came from Congress and from 

within the executive branch of the federal government; therefore, most of the 

direction to change sprang from the Corps’ Headquarters Division, or HQUSACE, 

and emanated outward through the fi eld divisions to the districts in the Corps’ 

organization. However, the districts continued to serve as primary points of contact 

for members of Congress, so political pressures at the district level shaped the 

process of organizational change as well. In general, the St. Paul District underwent a 2Reinventing the 

St. Paul District
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

12

transformation during the past thirty years in step with other Corps’ districts and in 

response to national trends and developments.

Organizational change in the St. Paul District may be divided into two principal 

areas: realignment of the district’s geographical boundaries (and, later, its transfer 

from one division to another) and modifi cations in the district’s internal organization. 

This chapter examines organizational change in these two contexts. A third area of 

organizational change, which involves how the district and the Corps interact with 

other agencies, governments and nongovernment organizations, is addressed in 

Chapter Nine.

Realignment: The St. Paul District and the Corps

The Corps is a decentralized organization with offi ces and key personnel distributed 

widely throughout the United States so as to be near the resource and available to 

local and state offi cials and members of Congress in their respective districts. In the 

nineteenth century, offi cers were stationed in various cities, and the projects in their 

charge defi ned the geographic range of their respective offi ces. The Corps began to refer 

to projects as “districts” in the 1890s and gave names to the districts in 1908. It described 

the geographic boundaries of each district for the fi rst time in 1913. The districts took 

shape within a divisional organizational structure, each district offi cer reporting to 

a division commander. There were fi ve divisions in 1889, nine in 1908 and eleven by 

the end of World War II, while the number of districts fl uctuated. After World War II, 

Congress reduced the number of districts.

2

The St. Paul District dates to 1866, when Major Gouverneur Kemble Warren opened an 

engineer’s offi ce in St. Paul and initiated a survey of the Upper Mississippi River and 

its tributaries. The earliest description of the St. Paul District’s boundaries included 

the Mississippi River drainage from the river’s headwaters to the lower end of Lock 1 

between St. Paul and Minneapolis, together with the Red River of the North drainage 

as far as the international boundary with Canada, and the Rainy River drainage in 

northern Minnesota, which encompasses the boundary waters area. The district was 

enlarged in 1919 by the addition of the Mississippi River from Lock 1 downstream to 

the mouth of the Wisconsin River. It was enlarged again in 1930 by the addition of the 

whole Wisconsin River drainage. The boundaries were extended further in 1940 to 

include more of the Mississippi River down to Lock and Dam 10 at Guttenberg, Iowa. 

A portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan draining into Lake Superior and Isle 

Royale were added to the district in 1941. The St. Paul District was originally part of the 

Northwest Division. It was transferred to the Upper Mississippi Valley Division and 

then to the North Central Division – where it remained when discussion about another 

reorganization of the Corps ensued in 1978.

3
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

13

Realignment of District Boundaries

When the Corps examined 

alternatives for a realignment of 

districts and divisions in 1978, it 

was the largest such reorganization 

effort since World War II. The 

underlying reason for reorganization 

was recognition of the fact that the 

Corps had a declining workload. 

The era of large-scale water 

resource development projects had 

passed. Changing environmental 

considerations, coupled with rising 

construction costs, led to a steady 

winnowing and down-scaling of 

project proposals. Soon after taking offi ce in 1977, President 

Jimmy Carter identifi ed water resource development projects 

as some of the most egregious examples of the pork-barrel 

politics that he had promised to fi ght in his presidential 

campaign. Carter prevailed on Congress – particularly on the 

Democratic leadership – to cut many projects from the annual 

appropriation bill in 1977, and he vetoed the bill altogether in 

1978. This political fi ght “left deep scars” and was one of the 

primary sources of Carter’s troubled relations with Congress, 

according to Carter’s memoir.

4

 But it established a precedent 

that subsequent presidents would follow – of challenging the 

close relationship that Congress had long enjoyed with the 

Army Corps of Engineers.5 Thus, the Corps had to adjust to 

an uncertain future in which new projects would be smaller 

and more varied and appropriation bills would be sorely 

contested by Congress and the Administration.

Another reason for reorganization was to bring the districts 

into better alignment with major river basins. Increasingly, 

river basins drew attention as rational geographic units 

for interagency planning, and river basin commissions 

were formed to guide such efforts. The Upper Mississippi 

River Basin Commission, established in 1972 by President 

Richard Nixon at the request of seven state governors, was 

one such body. The commission sought to improve public 

decision-making by bringing together ten different federal 

agencies that oversaw land and water resource programs in 

the river basin and by encouraging maximum participation 

by the public.

6

 The growing emphasis on interagency 

regional planning caused the Corps to reexamine its district 

boundaries with the intent of making the Corps a more 

effective team player.

Baldhill Dam, 

Sheyenne River, N.D.: 

The district operates 

and maintains 

approximately 

sixteen multi-purpose 

reservoirs, mainly for fl ood control, and 

another thirteen 

locks and dams for 

navigation. (Photo by 

Ken Horner, courtesy of 

St. Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

14

These two factors – declining workload and watershed management – led the Corps 

to study various alternatives for a nationwide reorganization of divisions and districts. 

Looking at the Upper Midwest, the Corps considered eliminating both the Rock Island 

and Chicago districts by dividing the Rock Island District between the St. Paul and 

St. Louis districts, and splitting the Chicago District between the St. Paul and Detroit 

districts. Either scenario would have added responsibilities and personnel to the St. 

Paul District and enlarged its profi le on the Upper Mississippi River. Both scenarios 

encountered resistance by Illinois’ congressmen, who did not want a closure of either 

Illinois offi ce.7 

Instead, a plan emerged in which the St. Paul District would be divided. On May 25, 

1979, Major General Richard Harris, North Central Division commander, announced 

the reorganization plan for the Upper Midwest. He recommended transferring the area 

of the St. Paul District that drained into Lake Superior – parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin 

and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, as well as Isle Royale – to the Detroit District. In 

addition, he proposed eliminating Chicago District, transferring the area that borders 

Lake Michigan to the Detroit District and transferring the area comprising the Illinois 

River drainage to the Rock Island District. In concept, this proposal sought to allow 

the St. Paul District to focus on the Upper Mississippi River and to allow the Detroit 

District to focus on the Great Lakes. Rounding out this conceptual plan, Major General 

Harris proposed the transfer of the St. Louis District from the Lower Mississippi Valley 

Division to the North Central Division. The whole North Central Division was to 

benefi t from this conceptual framework, in which three western districts (St. Paul, Rock 

Island and St. Louis) would share responsibility for the Upper Mississippi River all the 

way down to its confl uence with the Ohio River, and two eastern districts (Detroit and 

Buffalo) would share responsibility for the Great Lakes.

8

Although the plan had merit conceptually, it had little to recommend it politically. 

The Illinois politicians quickly blocked the move to close the Chicago offi ce, and local 

interests in St. Louis successfully resisted the transfer of that district to the North 

Central Division, leaving just one part of Harris’s proposal alive: the realignment of the 

St. Paul and Detroit districts. At issue was the Corps’ presence in Duluth. Predictably, 

Congressman James Oberstar, whose congressional district included Duluth, opposed 

the transfer. Oberstar was close to the Corps. Before his election to Congress in 1974, he 

had served as administrative assistant to his predecessor, Congressman John Blatnik, 

and had been an administrator for the House Committee on Public Works from 1971 

to 1974. He preferred to deal with an offi ce in St. Paul rather than Detroit, and he 

pointed out that the St. Paul District in its present confi guration served almost the 

whole state of Minnesota. However, Oberstar, a Democrat, received no support from 

Minnesota’s other members of Congress. In the previous election year, the Republicans 

had campaigned on a platform of reduced government, and Minnesotans had elected 

two new Republican senators and a Republican governor, none of whom opposed 

the plan.

9

 Moreover, the Carter Administration favored the realignment and Vice 

President Walter Mondale, Minnesota’s most infl uential Democrat, was loyal to the 

administration initiative. Oberstar fi nally withdrew his opposition to the realignment 

after conferring by telephone with Mondale’s offi ce. The transfer was formally 

announced a few days later in mid-November 1979.10
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

15

What did the St. Paul District and the Corps gain or lose by this realignment? The 

harbor at the extreme western end of Lake Superior serves the cities of Duluth, 

Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin. Harbor improvements by the Corps date from 

1867 in Superior and 1871 in Duluth. The ports were combined in 1896, and the facilities 

were subsequently expanded and modifi ed by ten separate River and Harbor Acts, 

the latest (in 1960) authorizing the Corps to increase the depth of several channels and 

slips to accommodate deep-draft Great Lakes vessels. The Corps had completed most 

of the harbor-deepening project by 1968 at a cost of $14.5 million. All previous harbor 

improvements had amounted to $1.5 million, while the cost of maintenance from the fi rst year they were authorized until 1979 was $18 million.11 The harbor area is about 

19 square miles and contains 17 miles of dredged channels. Most of the cargo shipped 

in and out of the harbor consists of iron ore, grain, coal and limestone. The extensive 

facilities and the amount of commerce make this harbor one of the most important on 

the Great Lakes and in the nation.12

In 1979, the Duluth fi eld offi ce had 

an annual budget of $3.5 million and 

employed about a hundred people 

at peak season. Dredging and other 

activities contributed another $1.2 

million to the area economy. Despite 

initial concern that the realignment 

would cost Duluth money and jobs, the 

personnel and dredging equipment in 

Duluth were not relocated. The Corps’ 

personnel in the Duluth offi ce accepted 

the change with equanimity; some 

happily anticipated a greater degree 

of autonomy in working under the 

supervision of the more distant Detroit 

offi ce.13 Duluth’s port director, Davis 

Helberg, noted that dealing with Detroit 

would pose some logistical challenges 

but this could be offset by the Detroit 

District’s greater involvement in Great 

Lakes operations.14

The realignment mainly impacted the 

St. Paul District offi ce, where twentyeight employees were slated for transfer 

to Detroit to supervise Duluth-area 

operations.15 It resulted in the loss of 

several construction projects at a time 

when the St. Paul District already faced 

a declining workload. It also eliminated 

the district’s most visible point of contact 

with the general public – the Marine 

Duluth jetties, Minnesota: Transfer of the 

Duluth harbor from St. Paul District to 

Detroit District took place in 1979. (Photo 

by Casondra Brewster, courtesy of Detroit 

District, Corps of Engineers)
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

16

Museum in Duluth, which attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.16 On 

the other hand, it allowed the St. Paul District to focus on rivers, as the reorganization 

plan had originally conceived, and offi cials presumed that the Detroit District benefi ted 

by the infusion of expertise from St. Paul for managing projects on the Great Lakes.17

The challenge of leading the St. Paul District personnel through the process of 

realignment fell largely on the shoulders of the new district engineer, Colonel William 

W. Badger, who took command of the district in June 1979. The reduction in size of 

the district from four major watersheds to three, and its loss of the harbors on Lake 

Superior – which cut the district’s dredging work by half – left Colonel Badger with 

limited options. He assumed charge of an offi ce that was already top heavy with 

senior staff and imposed a virtual hiring freeze for two years. In the political climate 

surrounding the realignment, he found it diffi cult to be innovative. In an effort to 

justify more senior-level positions, he proposed to his division commander, Major 

General Harris, that his people could take responsibility for river dredging, geophysical 

investigations and hydropower studies for all districts in the North Central Division. 

The St. Paul District, Badger suggested, could even handle all small fl ood control 

projects throughout the division. Harris cautiously agreed that the St. Paul District 

would become one of the lead districts for low-head hydropower studies, but he could 

not make the St. Paul District a regional resource center for the other items on Badger’s 

agenda. It was not possible, Harris explained, “in light of the reorganization decision.”18

The search for projects required much of the district engineer’s energy. Prior to his 

assignment to the St. Paul District, Colonel Badger had served the Chief of Engineers 

as special assistant for international programs. It was a new position, in which Colonel 

Badger had helped to develop a growing overseas program for the Corps largely 

funded by foreign governments. After his arrival in St. Paul, Badger tried to involve 

the St. Paul District in water conservation projects in Gabon, Nigeria, China and 

elsewhere overseas.

This search for additional work outside the district brought little reward. By the end 

of his three-year tenure, Colonel Badger was focusing on planning, concerned about 

further reductions in the workload in the future. He had become worried that he would 

“not have the projects in the pipeline that will keep the district healthy in the future,” he 

told an interviewer. “This may sound like survivalism, and in a way it is. I look at the 

district as a national asset, especially during a time of mobilization.”19

Although the St. Paul District lost Duluth in the realignment of 1979, it survived; 

and in the 1980s, efforts to change the organizational structure of the Corps focused 

primarily on staff development, staff organization and project management – internal 

developments that will be discussed later in this chapter. These innovations could only 

go so far, however, in addressing the organizational problems that were evident in 

1979: declining workload, rising overhead costs and, as a further consequence of the 

Corps’ diminishing horizons, an aging professional workforce. Moreover, as military 

construction declined toward the end of the Cold War, the Army Corps of Engineers 

found another one of its primary missions fading. As a result, Corps’ leadership called 

for renewed discussion of a major reorganization of the Corps’ fi eld structure. This 

time, the St. Paul District was on the list for elimination.
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

17

The Reorganization Plan under the First Bush Administration

In 1988, the new Chief of Engineers, Lieutenant General Henry Hatch, initiated a 

comprehensive review of the Army Corps of Engineers’ missions, goals and structure. 

He identifi ed reorganization of the Corps’ divisions and districts as a vital component 

of reinventing the Corps. The effort gained momentum with passage of the Energy 

and Water Development Appropriations Act of 1990, which directed the Corps to 

“initiate a broadbased conceptual study of potential fi eld organizational structures.” 

Congressional reports accompanying the appropriations bill for fi scal year 1991 

reinforced this directive.20

In June 1990, Chief of Engineers Hatch formed a study team under Fred H. Bayley III, 

chief of engineering in the Vicksburg District, Lower Mississippi Valley Division, to 

develop alternative approaches to reorganization. The study team’s report, called the 

Bayley Report, proposed fi ve alternative conceptual approaches for reorganization: 

realignment, regionalization, decentralization, elimination of division offi ces and a 

“combination option.” Pursuant to Congressional directive, the report was merely 

conceptual; it did not recommend specifi c changes that would impact one district or 

another. The Bayley Report was submitted to Congress on January 4, 1991.21

In the meantime, other developments were afoot that would have a crucial effect on the 

reorganization process and its outcome. With the end of the Cold War, the Department 

of Defense began to examine the need for reorganization of the entire U.S. military, with 

an emphasis on military installations that might be closed or consolidated. This wider 

effort commenced in mid-1988 after Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney established the 

Commission on Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC Commission. Recognizing 

that base closures would affect local economies, that the economic consequences would 

fall unevenly across the nation and that the process would therefore become highly 

politicized, Congress attempted to cope with this problem in the Defense Authorization 

Amendments and Base Realignment and Closure Act of October 24, 1988, which 

provided that the Secretary of Defense and Congress must accept all or none of the 

recommendations by the BRAC Commission. However, this only raised the political 

stakes. Reluctant to accept the BRAC Commission’s early recommendations, Congress 

passed the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1990, which established 

another commission to review the recommendations made by the Department of 

Defense. The latter commission’s recommendations would also require approval 

or rejection in their entirety. As these developments were brewing in 1990, Corps’ 

leadership began to consider whether the Corps’ plan for reorganization should be 

incorporated into the BRAC plan. Given the way Congress had picked apart the Corps’ 

previous reorganization effort in the late 1970s, it appeared that the BRAC process 

might offer the Corps the best chance for pushing its own reorganization plan through 

Congress. As a result, when Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) Dr. G. 

Edward Dickey submitted the Bayley Report to Congress on January 4, 1991, he averred 

that the next phase of the Corps’ reorganization effort would be aimed at inclusion in 

the BRAC process.22 

By this time, Chief of Engineers Hatch had formed a second reorganization study team 

for the specifi c purpose of hitching the Corps’ effort to the BRAC Commission’s 
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

18

wagon. Lieutenant General Arthur E. Williams headed the new team. While the team 

included many members of the Bayley team, it worked on an independent report 

using various methodological tools provided by the BRAC Commission, most notably 

a “D-PAD Model.” In essence, the D-PAD computer analysis involved scoring each 

district and division on numerous capabilities and weighting the relative importance of 

those capabilities in order to determine the most effi cient scenario for realignment. After 

the D-PAD analysis was completed, the team sought intuitive input from twenty senior 

leaders in the organization “to supplement the purely analytical results” from D-PAD.23

District leaders, however, were not invited to participate in the process.24

The Williams team worked from November 1990 to February 1991 and produced 

its own report, “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Reorganization Study.” It made 

specifi c recommendations to realign the existing ten divisions and thirtyfi ve districts in 

the contiguous United States into six divisions and twenty-two districts. The plan called 

for a parallel realignment of divisions for the Corps’ civil works and military support 

missions, but division and district boundaries would conform to watershed boundaries 

for the civil works mission, whereas division boundaries would conform to state 

borders for the military support mission. Just one district in each division would be 

responsible for military construction throughout the division’s jurisdiction (compared 

to fi fteen districts with a military construction mission under the existing structure). The 

plan would eliminate 2,600 jobs and transfer 6,600 others. The authors estimated a cost 

for implementation of $266 million and annual savings of $112 million.25

The plan called for the closing of the St. Paul District together with twelve other 

districts. The St. Paul District would be combined with the Rock Island and St. Louis 

districts to form a single district for all of the Upper Mississippi River with its central 

offi ce in St. Louis. The plan contemplated expansion of the North Central Division and 

relocation of its headquarters to Louisville, Kentucky.

The Williams team released the scores used in its D-PAD analysis together with 

its recommendations. These scores revealed that the St. Paul District ranked high 

in the two broad categories of “fl exibility and expendability” and “quality of life/

competence,” – it had a skilled professional staff and it was admirably situated in St. 

Paul to take advantage of educational opportunities and other services. It was average 

in “operational effi ciencies” – a general measure of the cost of doing work. Its score 

suffered, however, in the two broad categories of “mission essentiality” and “mission 

suitability.” These categories refl ected the basic problem of a declining workload, and 

the D-PAD analysis indicated that the St. Paul District was feeling that pinch more than 

other districts. Indeed, the D-PAD analysis ranked the St. Paul District in twentyfi rst 

place among thirty-six civil works districts. (Districts with military construction were 

ranked separately.)26

As soon as the Corps’ reorganization plan was completed, members of Congress whose 

districts would suffer the loss of a division or district offi ce – including Congressman 

Bruce Vento (DFL-Minnesota), whose congressional district included St. Paul – began to 

pressure the Administration to scuttle the plan. They threatened to oppose the military 

base closures initiative if it included Corps’ offi ces. Members of Congress argued that 
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

19

the Corps could not be included under BRAC because congressional oversight of the 

Corps fell to the Senate and House committees on public works, not the committees 

on armed services. Anxious to protect the BRAC process, Secretary of Defense 

Cheney announced in April that he would not propose the Corps reorganization plan. 

Although he supported it in principle, the Administration would not try to include 

the Corps’ reorganization with the Administration’s current push to close thirty-one 

military installations around the nation. Not content with Cheney’s announcement, 

Congressman Vento went to Corps’ headquarters in Washington, D.C., to confi rm 

the plan was tabled. “There is no proposal or decision as of today to close the St. Paul 

District offi ce,” he told reporters afterwards.27

A month later, on May 24, 1991, Cheney announced the reorganization plan for 

the Corps. Although it was now separate from the base-closing plan submitted in 

April, there was no change in the Corps’ approach.28 Immediately the Corps’ concept 

for reorganization fell under attack. Governor of Minnesota Arne H. Carlson and 

Governor of Wisconsin Tommy Thompson argued that the reorganization plan was 

poorly conceived; the Corps would be unable to provide the same quality of service 

from a remote location in Buffalo, New York, or St. Louis, Missouri.29 Other critics 

charged that the reorganization plan was based on politics. For example, it seemed 

the St. Paul District and Rock Island District offi ces were to be consolidated with the 

St. Louis District offi ce, the smallest of the three, because the latter happened to be 

located in the district of House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt. Congressmans Vento 

and Oberstar responded to Cheney’s announcement by going to the chairman of the 

House appropriations subcommittee on energy and water development, Congressman 

Tom Bevill (D-Alabama), and obtaining a formal commitment that none of the Corps’ 

appropriations for the next fi scal year could be used to close or relocate the St. Paul 

District offi ce.30

At this point, the BRAC Commission entered the debate over the Corps’ reorganization 

plan. In a clear signal to Congress that it wanted to include the Corps within its 

purview, it invited various witnesses to testify at a June 5 hearing on the Corps’ 

reorganization. On July 1, it made its recommendations on base closures. The 

recommendations included a provision that would allow Congress an opportunity to 

develop its own plan for reorganizing the Corps but at the expiration of one year (July 

1, 1992) the Administration’s reorganization plan for the Corps would go into effect 

under BRAC’s authority. On July 10, President George H. W. Bush presented the BRAC 

Commission recommendations to Congress without comment on this provision.31

In the fall of 1991, Congress passed a series of acts that fi rmly detached the Corps 

from the BRAC process and crushed the Corps’ reorganization plan. First, it explicitly 

rejected the one-year deadline for developing a plan of reorganization for the Corps 

when it approved the BRAC recommendations on base closures. Second, it prohibited 

the expenditure of funds for closing Corps’ division or district offi ces in both the public 

works and armed services appropriations bills. Finally, for good measure, it included a 

provision in the appropriations bill for 1992 that defi ned what could be considered a 
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

20

The Corps of Engineers Centre: A Brief History 

The building that housed the Army Corps of 

Engineers, St. Paul District, from 1993 to 2010, enjoys 

a rich history, with ties to the fl ourishing fur trade 

industry of the nineteenth century; nationally 

renowned Minnesota architect Clarence Johnston; 

and Minnesota’s favorite son, Charles Lindbergh. 

The building at 333 Sibley in St. Paul was fi rst 

constructed as an industrial structure to house the 

manufacturing and sales activities of the Gordon & 

Ferguson Company, a fur corporation fi rst founded 

by Richards Gordon in 1854. In 1912, the company, 

under the leadership of Charles Gordon, Richards’ 

son, began planning construction of the building 

at Sibley and 4th Street. Gordon hired the famed 

Minnesota architect, Clarence Johnston, for the project. At a cost of $250,000, 

the structure, named the Gordon & Ferguson Building, covered nearly half of a 

city block to the height of nine stories, with eight above ground and one below. 

The main entrance was originally located on Sibley Street. While housed in this 

structure, the Gordon & Ferguson Company prospered, even manufacturing 

the fl ight suit worn by Charles Lindbergh on his precedent-setting, non-stop fl ight 

from the United States to Paris in “The Spirit of St. Louis.” By 1944, the Gordon & 

Ferguson Company had outgrown its residence, and it abandoned the building, 

leaving it vacant for nearly fi fteen years.

In 1958, John J. Kaplan, president and treasurer of the Globe Paper Box 

Manufacturing Company of St. Paul, purchased and refurbished the structure, 

renaming it the Nalpak Building (Kaplan spelled backwards). Under their 

ownership, the structure housed mostly state offi ces, including the Minnesota 

Department of Administration, Records Management Division; the Minnesota 

Council on Developmental Disabilities; and the Minnesota Department 

of Human Rights. The Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, began 

leasing portions of the building in 1988 for eighty employees of the district’s 

Construction-Operations Division. In 1993, after more than 53 years in the old 

Post Offi ce, the St. Paul District adopted the building as its headquarters. The 

structure was completely renovated for the district and renamed the Corps of 

Engineers Centre.

-Matt Pearcy, St. Paul District Historian (from 2001-2006)
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

21

military installation under BRAC. A military installation did not include “any facility 

used primarily for civil jurisdiction or control of the Department of Defense.”32

In the spring of 1992, the Administration went back to the drawing board. Offi cials 

who had worked for months to develop a plan of reorganization under the BRAC 

process felt disappointed and chastened by Congress’s action. Newly appointed 

Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) Nancy Dorn told a House committee in 

March 1992: “The message that Congress sent was clear. While there may be a need to 

reorganize the Corps to meet the challenges of the 21st century, the proposed plan was 

unacceptable and there should be an opportunity for Congressional involvement in 

any future plan.” Congressman Vento, who impugned the previous year’s effort as a 

“sort of top-down type of slam dunk effort to reorganize the Corps,” welcomed Dorn’s 

“fresh perspective.”33

The Corps formed a fi eld advisory committee to develop a new reorganization plan. In 

contrast to the Williams’ team, the fi eld advisory committee included representatives 

from every district and division. Louis E. Kowalski, Planning Division chief, served as 

the St. Paul District representative. After several months of data gathering, a smaller 

task force, under the leadership of Brigadier General Albert J. Genetti, Jr., produced a 

report in July 1992. That same summer saw a change of Corps’ leadership, according 

to the usual four year rotation of the chief of engineers, Lieutenant General Arthur E. 

Williams, who had been closely involved with reorganization over the previous yearand-a-half, replaced Hatch. During September and October, he reviewed the new 

reorganization plan with the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) and other 

Administration offi cials and released it on November 19, 1992, shortly after the election.

The new proposal refl ected the infl uence of Congress. Districts would be given a robust 

standing in the new fi eld organization while divisions would be consolidated and 

downsized. The number of divisions in the contiguous United States would be reduced 

from eleven to six, and the number of districts would be increased by one to thirty-six. 

However, some district capabilities would be consolidated: planning and engineering 

functions would be transferred from twenty-one districts to the remaining fi fteen, 

which would be called technical centers.34

The St. Paul District was identifi ed as one of the technical centers. Staff writers for 

the News-Tribune were quick to note the turnaround. “The St. Paul District offi ce of 

the Army Corps of Engineers that was to all but close under a plan last year, instead 

will almost double in size to more than 800 workers under a major restructuring,” 

they wrote. District Engineer Richard W. Craig explained that the St. Paul offi ce had 

been selected to be a technical center because it had a nearby airport and a signifi cant 

technical staff already in place and it could obtain room to expand. (He was prepared 

to relocate the offi ce from the old post offi ce building to the Sibley Building at 5th and 

Sibley streets one block away.)35

Ironically, in developing a plan more to Congress’s liking, the Corps cut itself off from 

the new Administration. Chief of Engineers Williams was premature in unveiling the 

plan two weeks after the election, without even a pause for consultation with Presidentelect Bill Clinton’s nominees for Secretary of Defense or Secretary of the Army. One day 
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

22

after President Clinton took offi ce, Secretary of Defense Les Aspin announced that the 

plan was withdrawn.36

Restructuring under the Clinton Administration

Chief of Engineers Williams gradually lowered the drumbeat for reorganization, 

despite the investment that he and so many other Corps’ offi cials had put into it.37

He was in an awkward position with the new Administration and needed to build 

credibility with Secretary of Defense Aspin and other incoming civilian political 

appointees in the Department of Defense. Moreover, he understood that the rank and fi le in the organization were tired of all the uncertainty and stress that had accompanied 

the reorganization effort and they needed a reprieve. Many people who worked 

under Williams were relieved when the new Chief told Congress he would prefer 

not to restudy the issue. The St. Paul District Commander, Colonel Craig, applauded 

Williams’ position. The St. Paul offi ce had been on a roller coaster ride – facing closure, 

then expansion and then uncertainty again – and Craig wanted to restore his staff’s 

confi dence. “We’ve been down at the lowest levels, and we’ve been at the highest 

levels,” Craig told an interviewer. “We’re on a norm now, and we recognize the turf 

that we’re on, and, hopefully, we won’t go up or down.”38

The Clinton Administration made its effort to introduce organizational change in the 

Corps part of a much larger strategy of “reinventing government.” In his election 

campaign, Clinton promised to make government work better while costing less 

money to the taxpayers. On March 3, 1993, Clinton requested Vice President Albert 

Gore head a taskforce of some two hundred people to conduct an intensive review of 

how the federal government performed. The effort, called the National Performance 

Review, had six months to make its report. After the taskforce completed its work in 

October, the Clinton Administration drafted legislation to implement various changes 

in government processes. The legislation addressed numerous agencies in all the 

departments of the executive branch. Clinton’s plan for the Corps appeared in Section 

3201 of the bill:

The Secretary of the Army shall reorganize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by 

reorganizing the Headquarters offi ces, reducing the number of Division offi ces, and 

restructuring the District functions so as to increase the effi ciency of the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers and reduce staff and costs, with the goal of achieving approximately 

$50 million in net annual savings by fi scal year 1998.39 The legislation was eventually 

enacted as the Federal Workforce Restructuring Act of 1994.

The Clinton Administration’s strategy for “restructuring” the Corps – a term it 

preferred to “reorganization” – followed from the National Performance Review. It 

focused on the headquarters and divisions and eliminated various functions that were 

redundant with functions carried out at the district level. For example, it divested 

the divisions of responsibility for technical review. It also worked on consolidating 

(regionalizing) human resources offi ces and fi nance offi ces in the Corps. These 

initiatives resulted in signifi cant reductions of “full time equivalent” positions, or FTEs, 

in the headquarters and division offi ces. While some of these changes were anticipated, 
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

23

a decisive innovation in the Clinton plan was that it accomplished these changes using 

the “General Expenses” account in the Corps’ budget, thereby obviating the need for 

Congress to approve a line item for the cost of “reorganization.”40 Moreover, by leaving 

all districts intact, it recovered control of the reorganization process from Congress. 

However, the problem of realigning the divisions and districts remained.

The Clinton Administration commenced its own study of reorganization of the Corps’ fi eld structure in June 1994, when Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil 

Works) John Zirschky called a conference of about two hundred people comprising 

division and district Corps’ personnel and representatives of non-federal Corps’ 

partners to examine relationships between headquarters, divisions and districts. For 

obvious reasons, this effort was accompanied by little fanfare. Eventually, the Clinton 

Administration arrived at a plan that did not differ too much from the plan the Corps 

unveiled in November 1992. Instead of reducing the number of divisions from eleven 

to six, they were reduced to eight. There were two signifi cant innovations. Divisional 

offi ces in Portland and Omaha became regional offi ces, and all of the districts on the 

Mississippi River were combined under one command, the Mississippi Valley Division. 

As with the Clinton Administration’s other restructuring efforts, this approach allowed 

the plan to be implemented using General Expense accounts of the headquarters 

and divisions. Rather than closing any division offi ces, they were converted (and 

downsized) to regional centers. The new divisional structure went into effect on April 1, 

1997, with full implementation – expressed most simply in terms of reduced FTEs – to 

be accomplished by April 1, 2002.41

The divisional restructuring placed the St. Paul District in a new division. It was 

transferred from the North Central Division to the Mississippi Valley Division with 

headquarters in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The change was not entirely comfortable. 

Colonel J. M. Wonsik, district engineer, characterized the St. Paul District and the 

North Central Division as “introspective” in the way they conducted business, while 

the Mississippi Valley Division was “aggressive” in its practices. Concerned that his 

district risked losing its edge, he encouraged his staff to communicate more with their 

counterparts in the other districts within the Mississippi Valley Division and to learn 

from the district’s “new neighbors.” Wonsik advised his staff to examine what the 

districts on the lower Mississippi River were doing and “steal shamelessly what other 

people are doing very, very well.” He also wanted his people to take every opportunity 

to help those districts’ staffs learn from them. In his view, realignment of the Mississippi 

Valley Division presented an opportunity for “crossfertilization” between districts.42

Reorganization had a signifi cant impact on employee morale and productivity. People 

feared for their jobs and all the discussion about redundancy and streamlining lowered 

people’s sense of commitment. The concern about job loss was most critical in 1991, 

when Corps’ leadership proposed to deactivate the St. Paul District. But the duration 

of the process upset people as well. In the mid-1990s, the offi ce was under constant 

pressure to reduce FTEs, and people grew impatient with the continuing uncertainty 

as reorganization was simply held in abeyance. Finally, the divisional restructuring 

that took effect in 1997 provided a measure of relief by simply bringing an end to 

the process, but it too left a mark on the St. Paul District staff. It accentuated the St. 
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

24

Paul District’s vulnerability even as districts strengthened their position within the 

organization. Change was unsettling. Although the realignment brought opportunity, 

it also caused insecurity. Wonsik told an interviewer in January 1998, with apparent 

misgivings, “It felt like we were traded from the [Minnesota] Vikings to the [Green Bay] 

Packers.”43 All factors combined, morale in the district probably reached a low point 

during Wonsik’s tour from 1995 to 1998.

Changes in Internal Organization

Much of the restructuring that occurred 

under the Clinton Administration involved 

changing how staffs were organized within 

each offi ce or how the Corps got its work 

done. Some of these initiatives fl owed 

from the National Performance Review; 

other initiatives began much earlier. Like 

the reorganization effort, these internal 

organizational changes were made in 

response to two broad imperatives. First, the 

Corps sought to reinvent itself in light of its 

increasing role in environmental protection. 

Second, the Corps sought to change the way 

it managed civil 

works projects 

in order to 

perform more 

effi ciently at 

less cost. 

Addressing Environmentalism

The environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s refl ected profound shifts in public 

attitudes about the environment and resulted in numerous laws aimed at reforming 

society’s relationship to the natural world. The American people’s new environmental 

awareness extended into many areas, including wilderness preservation, endangered 

species protection, reduction of air and water pollution and hazardous waste cleanup. 

The broad ranging issues that underpinned the environmental movement were as 

interwoven as they were varied. They stemmed from such broad societal trends as 

the nation’s rising affl uence in the post-World War II era, the increasing scientifi c 

understanding of ecology and the environment and the threats posed to humanity’s 

very existence by the development of nuclear weapons, the pressures of population 

growth and the depletion of nonrenewable resources.44 Practically all facets of 

This cartoon from a Sierra 

Club publication, 

published in the early 

1970s, presents the 

Corps of Engineers as 

a large, powerful force 

that bullied small, weak 

environementalists.
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

25

environmentalism impinged on the Army Corps of Engineers’ missions. Moreover, the 

Corps acquired new missions specifi cally aimed at protecting the environment.

Environmentalism was an outgrowth of conservation, but it also differed from 

conservation in fundamental ways. Traditional conservation, which blossomed in the 

early twentieth century, posited that the federal government had a responsibility to 

protect and manage natural resources for effi cient and sustainable use for the good 

of the nation. The conservation movement resulted in legislation directed at ensuring 

an effi cient and democratic approach to resource development. In contrast to the 

great giveaway of public domain that characterized public land policy in the late 

nineteenth century, conservation laws in the early twentieth century emphasized the 

commons: water resources, forest lands, fi sh and wildlife, scenic wonders. One of the 

fi rst great legislative acts of the conservation movement was the Reclamation Act of 

1902, which sought to develop rivers for purposes of irrigating arid Western lands. 

A central tenet of the conservation movement was the role of the scientifi c expert in 

resource management. Fledgling federal agencies like the Reclamation Service and the 

Forest Service assembled staffs of experts in their respective scientifi c disciplines and 

emphasized centralized planning in resource development. The Corps of Engineers, 

long recognized for its expertise in river and harbor improvement, fi t easily into the 

traditional conservation milieu.

In contrast to the earlier conservation movement, the environmental movement of the 

1960s and 1970s displayed a mistrust of federal resource management and a refusal 

to defer to scientifi c experts. More broadly, the new environmentalism emphasized 

the interconnectedness of the natural world. It doubted the ability of federal 

agencies concerned primarily with developing a single resource such as timber or 

water to consider the ramifi cations of their actions on the total environment. Indeed, 

environmentalists found that federal agencies such as the Forest Service, Atomic Energy 

Commission and Corps of Engineers were among the worst offenders against the 

environment.45 Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas did not mince words when 

he called the Corps of Engineers “public enemy number one.”46

To address these concerns, Congress enacted the National Environmental Policy Act, 

or NEPA, of 1969. This law, the most important environmental legislation of the era, 

mandated federal agencies to coordinate their efforts in managing the nation’s resources 

and to integrate public review and comment into all of their resource planning efforts. 

These guiding principles of national environmental policy recognized the need for a 

more holistic approach to the environment as well as the need to make decision-making 

more public and democratic.47 NEPA provided a clarion call for agencies such as the 

Army Corps of Engineers to reform their planning processes.

Various studies of the Corps have stated that the agency responded admirably to the 

new requirements mandated by NEPA. One study characterized the Corps’ response as 

“sincere, swift, and impressive.”48 Another study praised the Corps for the amount of 

autonomy it gave to environmental analysts in conducting environmental reviews. An 

internal study by the Corps’ Historical Division stated that the agency “developed new 

procedures to insure that environmental issues were properly addressed. Consequently 
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

26

the Corps became the fi rst federal water resources agency to institutionalize 

environmental views.”49

The critical provision of NEPA was the requirement that federal agencies produce 

an Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, for each proposed action signifi cantly 

affecting the environment. The EIS evaluated environmental impacts from the 

standpoint of various scientifi c and social-scientifi c disciplines to arrive at a wellrounded understanding of the consequences of an action. Rather than complain that 

the EIS requirement was onerous, the Corps built the EIS into its project authorization 

process and publicly stated that the EIS was helpful in allowing it to do a better job. 

The procedure for completing an EIS included an opportunity for public comment, so it 

defl ected criticism that the Corps ignored public opinion.50

Corps’ leadership at Headquarters initiated organizational changes to increase public 

participation and environmental sensitivity in Corps’ decision-making, and the 

divisions and districts soon emulated their example. Agency policy required that the 

district engineer hold public meetings when proposing a project. The object was to give 

local interests the “full opportunity to express their views on the character and extent 

of the improvement desired, on the need and advisability of its execution, and on their 

general willingness and ability to cooperate with the Federal Government.”51

In the early to mid-1970s, a number of districts experimented with citizen advisory 

boards.52 A fl ood control project in Minneapolis exemplifi ed the new emphasis on 

public participation. To help plan the project on Bassett Creek, which runs through 

the city, the St. Paul District assisted in forming a nine-member commission composed 

of interested citizens rather than experts. The Corps developed a fl ood control plan 

incrementally with frequent input by the commission and its consulting engineer, and 

the Corps prepared an EIS in tandem with this process. A member of the commission, 

Edward Silberman, lauded the result. “In the Bassett Creek fl ood-control problem, 

incremental plan development has been so effective that the Commission did not have 

to take a formal vote to adopt its fi nal plan,” he wrote. “This was not an accident but 

rather the result of a carefully conducted melding of bureaucratic and public input 

by the Bassett Creek Flood Control Commission with important assistance from its 

consulting engineers.”53

NEPA’s EIS requirement also led the Corps to hire new staff with expertise in fi sheries 

biology, wildlife biology, archeology, history, economics and sociology. As a result 

of this infusion of new staff skills into the organization, the Corps acquired greater 

sensitivity to environmental concerns. The interdisciplinary team that prepared an EIS 

for a project was usually situated in an environmental branch attached to the Planning 

Division. Indeed, the basic function of the environmental branch was to produce 

EISs. One of the challenges in changing the internal organization of the Corps was to 

integrate these units effectively into corporate decision-making. Engineers referred 

to the new staff positions as the “exotic disciplines,” and they tended to accord these 

specialists less respect than they did their fellow engineers. It took time to develop an 

interdisciplinary ethos in the agency.54

In the St. Paul District, the Environmental Branch was originally housed within the 

Engineering Division. The relationship was not a smooth one. The district’s fi rst chief 
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

27

ecologist, Dr. Barbara Gudmandson, was fi red in December 1971. She appealed her 

dismissal and was reinstated in April 1972, but was replaced one month later by chief 

ecologist Keith B. Larson. A year-and-a-half after taking the job, Larson resigned in 

protest, claiming that the district engineer, Colonel Rodney Cox, had signifi cantly 

altered a draft EIS, which in its original form found a proposed $18-million coal 

terminal at Pig’s Eye Lake in St. Paul to be environmentally unsound. At a press 

conference, Larson also disclosed that someone in the Corps had altered the conclusions 

of several contracted environmental reports prepared by fortyfi ve scientists from 

colleges and universities in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. Environmental 

groups expressed concern. A Sierra Club spokesman 

charged the Corps with removing environmental 

staff whenever they became effective and called 

for an independent citizens’ review of operations 

in the St. Paul District offi ce. A representative of 

the Minnesota Environmental Control Citizens 

Association asserted that the district’s Environmental 

Branch was “window dressing that has turned out 

to be pie in the face of the Corps.”55 These public 

controversies notwithstanding, the district stayed the 

course in its effort to integrate environmental review 

into its planning process.56

By 1980, the so-called exotic disciplines had made 

further inroads into the engineer-dominated agency. 

Some of the environmental staff was located in the 

Environmental Resources Branch under the direction 

of Robert Post, while some of it was in the Planning 

Branch headed by J. Robert Calton. Both of these staff 

groups remained in the Engineering Division under 

Roger Fast. Colonel Badger, district engineer, wanted 

to combine the two branches and elevate the latter to 

division status – separating the two staff groups from 

the Engineering Division. However, Calton and Fast, 

both veterans of more than thirty years in the district, 

opposed the change. Colonel Badger waited for the two 

men’s retirements in 1980 and 1981, respectively, and then appointed Louis Kowalski 

as chief of the Planning Branch and moved him into an offi ce next to his own. His new 

chief of the Engineering Division, Peter Fischer, occupied an offi ce on the other side. 

The position of these offi ces on either side of the district engineer’s offi ce, Colonel 

Badger found, prepared the district staff for the change that followed one year later. 

With the approval of the Chief of Engineers, Colonel Badger created the Planning 

Division on April 4, 1982. He appointed Robert Post assistant chief of the Planning 

Division as well as chief of the environmental resources staff.57

The Planning Division took the lead in encouraging the Corps to embrace more 

environmentally sensitive approaches in its project designs. Certainly the clearest 

manifestation of the Corps’ increasing sensitivity to the environment was its advocacy 

President Jimmy Carter 

and First Lady Rosslyn 

Carter on board the Delta 

Queen at Lock and Dam 

6, on August 18, 1979. 

(Photo by Lyle Nicklay, courtesy 

of St. Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

28

of nonstructural measures for fl ood control. Traditionally, the Corps supported 

structural improvements – primarily dams and levees – to reduce fl ood hazards. As 

Corps’ planners increasingly took an interdisciplinary view of river systems and their fl oodplains, they favored alternatives to dams and levees. These included buyouts 

of private property in the fl oodplain (and relocation of existing buildings away from 

the fl oodplain) and other means of social engineering to change land uses in fl oodprone areas.58 In 1979, the St. Paul District produced a report on The Development of 

Nonstructural Alternatives.59 The change from structural to nonstructural 

fl ood controls 

is discussed in more detail in subsequent chapters. 

If diversifi cation of staff specializations within the Corps was an important factor 

encouraging greater consideration of nonstructural projects, President Jimmy Carter’s 

controversial reform effort was another factor. Carter saw a need to revise how the 

Corps justifi ed civil works projects to Congress in order to make the Corps move away 

from its long-standing commitment to construction of dams and levees. The Corps’ 

traditional emphasis on hard structures, Carter found, was embedded in the Flood 

Control Act of 1936 as amended in 1938. The law provided for full funding of fl ood 

control structures. Local communities were far more supportive of structural than 

nonstructural fl ood controls because hard structures, such as dams and levees, were 

federally funded while nonstructural remedies 

entailed costs that had to be born by local 

governments. In 1977, Carter issued executive 

orders and proposed legislation that aimed to end 

this bias by introducing cost-sharing requirements 

for local governments on all fl ood controls – 

regardless of whether they were structural or 

nonstructural. The Administration termed this 

initiative a “redirected public works program.” 

Although Carter implemented the costsharing 

plan administratively, the plan did not receive 

congressional sanction until nine years later.60

As the Corps began to propose nonstructural 

solutions for fl ood control, environmental 

organizations took note. In 1975, Audubon ran an 

article praising the Corps’ “new look” in fl ood 

control. It cited the example of Prairie du Chien, 

Wisconsin, where the Corps recommended 

evacuation of the fl oodplain as the only 

economically justifi able solution to fl ood hazards. 

“No dams. No levees,” Audubon commented. 

“Instead, the Corps recommended that one 

hundred and fi fty-seven buildings be relocated 

out of the fl ood-prone area, that another fortyeight buildings be purchased and demolished by 

the federal government, that thirty-three homes 

be raised above fl ood levels, and that seven other 

Colonel William Badger, district 

engineer, and First Lady Rosslyn 

Carter. (Photo by Lyle Nicklay, 

courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

29

buildings be fl ood-proofed. The Corps also recommended that the cleared fl oodplain 

become a greenbelt, protected by state and local regulation.”61

Environmentalists were not the only group to note the change in the Army Corps of 

Engineers. Respected journals such as The Nation and Business Week commented on the 

Corps’ new approach to fl ood control. The agency was adapting, these journals pointed 

out, because growing concern about the environment had exposed serious limitations 

in the Corps’ traditional benefi t-cost analysis of proposed projects. One writer 

characterized the organizational change in the Corps as an “internal struggle” between 

engineers trained to “optimize economic aspects” of a project and others who wanted to 

modify projects “to enhance or preserve the environment.”62

The popular magazine Ms. examined organizational change in the Corps from a 

feminist perspective, noting not only the infusion of non-engineer specialists into the 

ranks of this peculiarly civilian unit of the Army but the Corps’ push to recruit more 

women as well. Speaking of the latter initiative, one offi cial was quoted, “We have a real 

shortage. We could use a lot more.”63 The increasing numbers of women in the Corps 

changed the face of the organization. The Corps was not alone in taking affi rmative 

action to hire more women in the 1970s; other federal agencies with traditionally maledominated staffs, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, underwent 

a similar transition during the decade.

In the 1970s, the Corps of Engineers acquired a new mandate relating to environmental 

protection. It became the administrator of regulatory programs aimed at protecting the 

nation’s wetlands. In 1972, Congress passed the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 

(later known as the Clean Water Act). Section 404 of the law prohibited the discharge 

of dredged or fi ll material into the “waters of the United States” without a permit 

from the Army Corps of Engineers. During the next few years, environmentalists 

sought to affi rm that the law applied to wetlands as well as navigable waterways. 

Environmentalists pushed the Corps to assert its regulatory responsibility under the 

law as widely as possible. Although the Corps initially resisted taking an aggressive 

stand on wetlands protection, judicial decisions in the mid-1970s forced the Corps to 

take a wider view of its “Section 404” responsibilities. According to historian Jeffrey K. 

Stine, the regulatory responsibilities of the Corps fundamentally altered its relationship 

with the environmental community. Some of the Corps’ staunchest critics in the 

environmental community suddenly began courting the Corps because of its key role 

under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.64

The evolution of the Corps’ regulatory program for the protection of wetlands and 

the regulatory activities of the St. Paul District in Minnesota and Wisconsin will be 

discussed in detail in another chapter. Suffi ce it to say here that Section 404 of the Clean 

Water Act had a profound effect on the Corps’ organization. To staff the program, the 

Corps recruited ecologists who specialized in ecological processes and values associated 

with wetlands, and it hired biologists who specialized in aquatic fl ora and fauna. 

Like the interdisciplinary teams that prepared EISs, the ecologists and biologists who 

evaluated Section 404 permit applications brought new perspectives to the organization. 

By 1991, the Section 404 permitting program funded thirty-one positions, including
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

30

fi eld offi ce positions located at Bemidji and Duluth, Minnesota, and Waukesha, Fox 

River, Green Bay and La Crosse, Wisconsin. Ben A. Wopat was chief of the Regulatory 

Branch, which was attached to the Construction-Operations Division.65 By 2001, the 

Regulatory Branch had grown to thirty-nine positions with fi eld offi ces in Two Harbors 

and Brainerd, Minnesota, and Waukesha, Green Bay, Stevens Point and La Crosse, 

Wisconsin. Robert J. Whiting was chief of the Regulatory Branch, while Wopat was 

assistant chief of the Construction-Operations Division.66

The St. Paul District’s Section 404 responsibilities involved the organization directly 

with state offi cials in Minnesota and Wisconsin. For purposes of wetlands regulation, 

the St. Paul District’s jurisdiction covered all of these two states. The district boundaries 

followed state lines rather than watersheds. The staff was organized into sections, one 

for each state. From 1977 to about 1987, there was a Surveillance and Enforcement 

Section. In the 1990s, a Metro Permit Section was created. The locations of some of 

the fi eld offi ces changed 

frequently. Organizational 

changes in the Corps 

provided tangible evidence 

that it was adapting to 

new public concern for the 

environment. Changes in staff 

organization and personnel 

enabled the Corps to address 

new legal requirements, such 

as the EIS, effectively. 

Organizational changes 

facilitated the Corps’ move 

toward nonstructural 

approaches to fl ood control 

and its increasing role in 

environmental protection 

– particularly wetlands 

protection. How these changes 

became manifested in particular 

projects and programs will be 

explored in subsequent chapters.

Improvements in Business

Operations

The civil works program was 

once the lifeblood of the Corps of 

Engineers, and new civil works 

projects were what sustained 

the program. 67 As the average 

Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, nonstructural fl ood 

control project: In 1978, the city of Prairie du 

Chien relocated numerous residents whose 

homes stood in a fl oodplain. This house was 

the fi rst to be moved under guidlines jointly 

developed by the St. Paul District and the city. 

Shown here is the homeowner, a man in his 

eighties who had built the house himself more 

than fi fty years earlier. (Photo courtesy of St. Paul 

District, Corps of Engineers)
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

31

size of new civil works projects decreased in the 1960s and 1970s, the administrative 

cost of moving any given project through consecutive phases of planning, design 

and construction rose proportionally. Moreover, small projects sometimes brought 

the Corps into direct competition with private- sector engineering fi rms, further 

highlighting the cost of its project-related work. By the mid-1970s, the Corps faced 

signifi cant pressure to reduce costs. During the next two decades, the Corps introduced 

various new approaches in how it funded and managed civil works projects. Two 

initiatives were of particular importance: cost-sharing and project management.

While these initiatives developed out of specifi c changes in the Corps’ civil works 

program – namely the smaller size of projects and the Corps’ greater sensitivity to the 

environment – they also mirrored much broader public concerns about the federal 

bureaucracy. Public confi dence in government fell sharply in the 1960s and early 1970s 

in response to the U.S. embroilment in Vietnam, the civil unrest in American cities, the 

degradation of the environment and, fi nally, the Watergate scandal. In the last quarter 

of the twentieth century, U.S. presidents made various attempts to reform the federal 

bureaucracy and to overcome the deep public cynicism toward government. President 

Jimmy Carter saw the public’s cynicism as rooted in mistrust of public offi cials and 

sought to restore government’s credibility. President Ronald Reagan responded to 

the public’s disillusionment by promising to cut taxes and to get government off 

people’s backs. President Bill Clinton believed the way to restore public confi dence 

in government was to make bureaucracy function more effi ciently, in large part by 

making it emulate certain aspects of the private sector. Organizational changes in the 

Corps mirrored these presidential initiatives, each of which cut across the whole federal 

bureaucracy: a heightened commitment to openness and accountability in the Carter 

years, an emphasis on downsizing and cost reduction in the Reagan-Bush years and a 

commitment to innovation and effi ciency in the Clinton years. Not since the Progressive 

Era and the New Deal had the United States experienced such a sustained effort to 

reform how its government worked. 

Some of the initiatives designed to make the Corps more open to public scrutiny and 

public input have been discussed above. The St. Paul District supported efforts in 

the 1970s to involve the public in decision-making through citizen advisory boards 

and hearings on EISs. In May 1979, President Carter introduced legislation aimed at 

stimulating greater involvement by state and local governments in the Corps’ civil 

works projects through mandatory cost-sharing. He proposed a requirement that state 

and local governments contribute 5 to 10 percent of the cost of each new river or harbor 

improvement project. In addition, state governments would contribute 5 percent and 

local governments would contribute 20 percent of the cost of each new fl ood control 

project. The state or local government would be responsible for its share of the cost 

from the project’s inception – beginning in the planning phase. Carter contended that 

the requirement for local participation would increase the quality of consideration of 

potential projects, “thereby improving the public’s ability to judge the comparative 

merits of many water project opportunities.” By the same token, it would give state 

and local governments a fi rmer role in rejecting unwanted federal projects.68 Congress 

did not pass this legislation, though it would adopt the cost-sharing model seven years 

later in the Water Resources Development Act of 1986. In the meantime, the Corps 
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

32

moved to implement cost-sharing agreements administratively wherever state and local 

governments were willing to cooperate.

For many fl ood-prone communities in the St. Paul District, the cost-sharing initiative 

was unwelcome. The editors of Fargo’s The Forum objected that the partnership 

would be unequal. “Hardly any state has the experience in construction of water 

projects that has been amassed by the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau 

of Reclamation,” they noted. Most of the obvious water projects were already built, 

so it was unfair to require state and local governments to share costs of determining 

whether water projects were economically feasible.69 The St. Paul Pioneer Press was more 

receptive to the Carter proposal but agreed with The Forum that the legislation would 

not pass Congress. Environmental groups, meanwhile, wanted the states to contribute 

up to a fourth of the cost of water projects.70

The Reagan Administration intensifi ed the push to implement cost-sharing agreements 

between the Corps and state and local governments. After Reagan took offi ce, Colonel 

William W. Badger, district engineer, was surprised by the strength and swiftness of the 

message that the new Administration delivered through Headquarters to the district 

engineers. “The essence of the new policy arrived very quickly and the comments about 

what we could say and could not say about cost-sharing were very exact,” Badger said 

in a March 1982 interview. The intent of the policy was to shift some of the burden 

and responsibility for civil works from the federal to the state level. Ironically, Badger 

noted, in its haste to federalize or decentralize the Corps’ operation, the Administration 

was moving the Corps “toward a more centralized operation.” Like a good soldier, 

Badger delivered the new Administration’s message that new projects would require 

signifi cantly greater state and local participation.71

Colonel Ed Rapp, who replaced Colonel Badger as district engineer in 1982, continued 

to take the Reagan Administration’s message to state and local governments within the 

St. Paul District. He held cost-share discussions with Wisconsin state offi cials over a 

highway project at La Crosse. In Minneapolis, city offi cials “signed up for cost-sharing” 

on the Bassett Creek fl ood control project. In North Dakota, Rapp held “preliminary” 

but “signifi cant” discussions concerning cost-sharing at Lake Darling. When the City 

of Rochester in Minnesota refused to share costs with the Corps for fl ood control on 

the South Zumbro River, Rapp was philosophical: “They could afford cost-sharing,” he 

told an interviewer. “They just chose to see if they could get a better deal somewhere 

else.” Much of the colonel’s discussion with local sponsors remained theoretical, while 

Congress deliberated over the cost-share proposal, laying the groundwork for future 

projects. “The Administration is getting in their licks,” he commented, “and I was glad 

we were able to support the Administration’s fi rm position.”72

In addition to wanting more cost-share agreements, the Reagan Administration sought 

to accelerate and streamline the Corps’ planning process. It wanted faster decisions, 

more results, less study. “Signals very quickly came down through the system,” Badger 

recalled. “People were stating over and over again that government should get off the 

people’s backs.”73 In particular, the Corps’ Section 404 program for the protection
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

33

 of wetlands came under attack. 

The Reagan Administration 

criticized the Corps’ permitting 

as excessively ponderous and 

obstructionist, and it wanted 

the Corps to streamline its 

process for reviewing and 

issuing permits.74 While this 

position found congressional 

support in some parts of the 

country, it was not popular 

in Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

The people of Minnesota and 

Wisconsin were generally 

sensitive to loss or degradation 

of wetlands, since the region 

contained such an abundance 

of wetlands, lakes, rivers and 

potholes, and they did not 

want to roll back the Corps’ involvement in wetlands 

protection. As the Reagan Administration moved to 

weaken the Corps’ Section 404 program nationwide, 

the St. Paul District worked hard to preserve its 

cooperative relations with the state governments. The 

greatest challenge to the Section 404 program in the 

St. Paul District, in Colonel Badger’s view, was that 

the Corps was regulating with uniform regulations 

nationwide when the regions were “drastically 

different.” The states of Minnesota and Wisconsin 

wanted more stringent standards than the Corps 

could support in other regions.75

Congress passed the Water Resources Development Act of 1986, or WRDA-86, ending 

a decade-long stalemate over the Army Corps’ civil works program. This landmark 

act not only included new project authorizations – the fi rst in twelve years – but also 

added force to the Corps’ efforts to develop more responsive and cost-effi cient ways 

of conducting business. WRDA-86 required the Corps to obtain cost-share agreements 

with local sponsors for virtually all new fl ood control projects. In general, the nonfederal share was between twenty-fi ve and fi fty percent of the cost of the project, 

with at least fi ve percent cash. Since the federal government would no longer bear 

the entire cost of acquiring land and relocating buildings out of the way of reservoirs, 

the law made future reservoir projects much less likely. WRDA-86 also required local 

sponsors contribute fi fty percent of the cost for feasibility studies. This provision had 

two major consequences. First, it signifi cantly reduced the number of feasibility studies 

undertaken, since local sponsors were reluctant to fund a feasibility study when the 

project authorization was in doubt. Second, it encouraged the local sponsor to take a 

much larger role in the project through its design and construction phases. WRDAConstruction on the 

South Fork Zumbro River 

Flood Control Project, 

1993: Although the city of 

Rochester initially balked 

at cost-sharing measures, 

the project later became 

one of the St. Paul District’s 

showcases for how to involve 

communities in fl ood control. 

(Photo courtesy of Russel Snyder, St. 

Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

34

86 placed an even heavier burden on the local sponsor for coastal harbor projects (a 

provision that did not adversely affect the St. Paul District). It did not require costsharing for inland waterways; however, Section 1404 imposed a fuel tax on commercial 

users. Revenue collected from the fuel tax would eventually contribute fi fty percent 

toward new inland waterway projects through the Inland Waterways Trust Fund.76

WRDA-86 energized the Corps. As so many years had elapsed without the passage of 

a water resources bill, people began to wonder what would happen to the Corps’ civil 

works mission. Was the Corps simply going to do maintenance on existing projects 

and use the continuing authorities program to complete those projects that had been 

in progress for the past twelve years? WRDA-86 gave the Corps a more promising 

future, and it ratifi ed the move toward cost-sharing that the Corps had been slowly 

implementing without congressional sanction since the Carter years. Colonel Joseph 

Briggs, St. Paul District commander when WRDA-86 was passed, described the effect 

as dramatic. “This [was] brand new in terms of how we were going to cost share and all 

of the new requirements placed upon different customers, whether the customers were 

within the Corps or outside of the Corps,” Briggs commented in 1988.77

As new cost-share projects came on line, the Corps gained experience in its new 

relationship with local sponsors or “partners.” Much effort went to cost-accounting so 

that sponsors would be cooperative and responsible in making regular payments to 

keep the project running. Colonel Roger L. Baldwin, St. Paul District commander from 

1988 to 1991, commented that this fi rst stage in the new relationship was developing 

smoothly. “We go out monthly and tell sponsors that they’ve got to have a check for so 

much in to the Treasurer or in to the Finance and Accounting Offi cer by such a date so 

that we can maintain the fi nancial progress of the project, and we’ve had, happily, no 

problems here,” he told an interviewer in 1991. “That system is established and working 

well.” Baldwin anticipated that project closeouts, when both parties conduct fi nal audits 

and reconcile their respective allowable costs, might raise disputes. Although the St. 

Paul District was keeping fi nancial records for each project, it had not yet closed out any 

projects nor had it developed procedures for working with sponsors in that area.78

Partnering with local sponsors occasionally led to disputes and the threat of litigation, 

as when the City of Minneapolis disputed real estate credits in cost-accounting for the 

Bassett Creek Project. To keep such disputes out of the courts, the Corps developed a 

process called Alternative Dispute Resolution in 1988. As Chief of Engineers Arthur E. 

Williams explained the program, Alternative Dispute Resolution “helps to create an 

atmosphere in which the clash of alternative viewpoints can be synergized into creative 

solutions. A neutral, third party mediator helps fi nd a middle ground to facilitate 

decisions which are acceptable to all parties.”79 The St. Paul District was the 

fi rst in the 

nation to use Alternative Dispute Resolution to resolve a real estate credit dispute.80

Another aspect of cost-sharing was the need to demand decisions by the sponsor 

to keep a project moving. Delays drove up costs. In one case, the St. Paul District 

redesigned a project fi ve times before the local sponsor approved it. Colonel Richard 

W. Craig, St. Paul District commander from 1991 to 1993, suggested that the Corps, and 

the St. Paul District in particular, had to get “a little tougher” with local sponsors who 

hesitated to make decisions. “We have small communities out there that have a tough 
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

35

time coming up with the money,” he stated. The St. Paul District had exceptionally 

good relations with partnering communities, Craig noted, but project costs were higher 

as a result.81 By the mid-1990s, the St. Paul District’s costs for engineering design were 

running ten to twelve percent higher than most other districts. Since the entire Corps 

performed engineering design at about ten percent higher cost than private engineering fi rms, the St. Paul District ran the risk of losing customers to the private sector.82

As more cost-sharing projects developed, it became clear the Corps must adopt a new 

process for moving projects through their planning, design and construction phases 

more effi ciently. The Corps’ traditional method of managing feasibility studies and 

projects was termed “functional management.” A project was passed from planning to 

engineering to construction, or from one functional unit to the next, and each functional 

unit assigned a different manager to the project. Project review occurred vertically 

in the organization. Planners at the district level, for example, submitted their work 

to planners at the division and headquarters 

levels. The problem with this process was that 

projects frequently bounced back and forth from 

one functional unit to another, with no single 

person responsible for keeping the project on 

schedule and on budget. Working within what 

were referred to as “stovepipes,” staff members 

became invested in their functional unit rather 

than in each project.83

The St. Paul District began experimenting with 

project management before other districts. 

Colonel Badger detailed what he termed 

“management by objective” in a memorandum 

dated April 30, 1981.84 Project managers had 

oversight of projects, but functional managers 

supervised the technical people who performed 

the engineering or environmental work on 

projects. It was a “matrix system” in which 

project managers and functional managers 

shared dual supervision over the staff. In 

an effort to promote teamwork – one of the 

essential goals of project management – Badger 

contracted with a consultant to conduct teambuilding courses for the Engineering Division and the 

project managers. He also emphasized cross-training in 

order to improve communication between functional 

units.85

Without fi rm direction from Headquarters, however, the 

stovepipes continued to operate in spite of the district 

commander’s best efforts to move projects along. After 

three years as district engineer, Badger expressed great 

Site survey: Mike 

Dahlquist (left) and Jim 

Sentz look at survey 

information for the 

St. Cloud, Minnesota, 

erosion control project. 

(Photo by Shannon Bauer, 

courtesy of St. Paul District, 

Corps of Engineers)
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

36

frustration with the technical staff members who held projects back. Increasingly, he 

went to congressmen and senators to apply outside pressure on the Corps in order to 

work projects through the system. “I have come to the conclusion ... I can’t just wait 

until all the minutia is done before sending a project forward and the technocrats or 

termites, the minutia people at that level, ask a lot of questions and send it back,” 

he told an interviewer in 1981. “I can’t live with a system that runs back and forth 

between termites. What I have to do is wrap up my projects, kick them up to the 

higher Headquarters.” To his chagrin, Badger found himself in favor of “going 

outside the system, getting the language written into law so that the Corps system is 

short-circuited.”86

Discussion of the need for changing the “Corps system” intensifi ed after Congress 

passed WRDA-86. Cost-sharing highlighted how often the Corps understated project 

costs and fell behind with project schedules. In response, the Corps adopted a new 

method of operations, modeled after the private sector, which it called “project 

management.” Initiative 88, distributed to all district engineers in July 1988, called 

for a project manager to be assigned to each civil works project. The project manager 

was responsible for keeping projects on schedule and on budget. The project manager 

oversaw a team of specialists drawn from the different functional units within the 

district offi ce.87 In practice the team remained fl uid, but the project manager generally 

stayed with the project and provided continuity through the life of the project.88 The 

project manager also served as a consistent contact for the local sponsor and others 

outside the Corps who had an interest in the project – an important public relations 

feature of project management known as “one door to the Corps.”89

Under Initiative 88, Headquarters directed each district offi ce to implement project 

management. All district commanders were directed to appoint a civilian as a deputy 

district engineer for project management, or DDE (PM). (Later the acronym changed to 

DPM, which was an abbreviation for deputy district engineer for program and project 

management.) Although the DPM reported to the district engineer, headquarters 

created an Offi ce of Project Management that fostered and protected the development 

of project management. Under the Chief Engineer’s directive, the new organizational 

structure was to be established without adding new staff positions.90

Project management introduced a matrix system – it did not do away with the 

functional units. The project managers had two signifi cant limitations: they did not have 

any control over year-to-year project funding, which remained in the hands of Congress 

and the president, and they did not control the resources, which were still organized 

by function. Nonetheless, the project managers were supported as leaders in the new 

system. Chief of Engineers Lieutenant General Henry Hatch affi rmed that the deputy 

district engineer for project management had equal rank with the chiefs of engineering 

and construction in each district. Hatch established a Project Management Division at 

the Headquarters level and directed district engineers to create similar divisions. By 

1991, the St. Paul District had a Programs and Project Management Division. In effect, 

the project management initiative resulted in its own stovepipe.91

The St. Paul District made a relatively smooth transition to project management. It 

had been a leader in developing interdisciplinary teams during the 1970s and 1980s 
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

37

and anticipated the push from Headquarters.92 It easily implemented procedures that 

were developed for the whole Corps, notably Life Cycle Project Management. District 

commanders provided project team meetings. They fostered better communication 

between functional division chiefs and project managers. Problems with the matrix 

organization persisted a decade after Initiative 88, however, particularly among some 

of the senior civilians. As District Engineer Colonel Kenneth Kasprisin remarked, 

“Anytime you change people, process, organization, or culture, it creates other issues 

... People get into a very comfortable routine, and anything that takes them out of that 

routine, out of that comfort zone, brings consternation.”93

Cost-sharing and project management were the big drivers of internal organizational 

change in the 1980s and 1990s, but the Corps pursued other innovations as well. 

Following the National Performance Review by the Clinton Administration in 1993 

and passage of the Government Performance and Results Act later that year, the Corps 

furthered its efforts to streamline procedures. In 1996, for example, the Corps revised 

its document review process to eliminate redundancies at the headquarters, division 

and district levels. To Headquarters fell the task of “policy review” – ensuring the 

Corps complied with law and administration policy. Divisions limited their review 

to “quality assurance review” – ensuring quality of planning and engineering in 

accordance with approved quality assurance plans implemented for each district. 

Districts were responsible for “technical review” – controlling the technical adequacy 

of the planning and engineering documents. Previously, the review process wended 

through the district, division and Headquarters of the Army Corps and could include 

the former Washington Level Review Center, the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil 

Works) and the Offi ce of Management and Budget as well. The revised review process 

compressed review time and reduced costs.94

While the National Performance Review and the Government Performance and Results 

Act provided a certain amount of philosophical guidance to the Corps’ reorganization 

efforts, much change resulted simply from the brute requirement of having to reduce 

full-time equivalent employees to mandated levels. Critics referred to this hatchet 

method of change as “salami slicing.” Across the nation, efforts to “downsize” the 

Corps resulted in a reduction of 1,770 FTEs, or about six percent of the workforce, 

between 1990 and 1995.95

Conclusion

In the last quarter of the twentieth century, the Corps faced two imperatives for 

organizational change. First, environmentalism created a host of new public values 

and legislative mandates to which the Corps responded. Second, government reform 

initiatives led the Corps to introduce fundamental changes in how it conducted 

business. These new imperatives forced change in the St. Paul District in two ways. 

Sometimes the district responded to decisions that occurred at a higher level in the 

Corps, the Administration or Congress, as with realignment of district boundaries 

and staff reductions. In other instances, the district took initiative in developing new 

approaches to its work, as when it teamed with local citizens on the Bassett Creek Flood 
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

38

Control Commission. Environmental Impact Studies, public review, cost-sharing, 

project management – these were the mechanics of internal organizational change 

in the Corps in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. In the following chapters, we will see 

how the St. Paul District put these new mechanisms to work in executing the Corps’ 

various missions.

Chapter 2 Endnotes

 1 Daniel A. Mazmanian and Jeanne Nienaber, Can Organizations Change? 

Environmental Protection, Citizen Participation, and the Corps of Engineers (Washington, 

D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1979), p. 187.

 2 Raymond H. Merritt, Creativity, Confl ict & Controversy: A History of the St. Paul 

District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Offi ce, 

1979), pp. 56-57.

 3 Merritt, Creativity, Confl ict & Controversy, pp. 60-61. See also Paul K. Walker, 

“Corps Historian Explains Past Reorganization Experience,” in The Reorganization 

Wrap-Up 1, no. 1 (19 November 1992): p. 14. The North Central Division was 

established in 1954.

 4 Jimmy Carter, Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President, (New York: Bantam 

Books, 1982): pp. 78-79. Also see Martin A. Reuss, Reshaping National Water Politics: The 

Emergence of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986, (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

Institute of Water Resources, 1991), pp. 49-52. 

 5 President George Bush and President Bill Clinton both asserted stronger 

executive control over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through their political 

appointees in the position of Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works).

 6 George W. Griebenow, “A Team Called Great,” Water Spectrum 9, No. 1 (Winter 

1976- 77): pp. 18-19.

 7 Raymond Merritt, “New Directions: Transitions in the St. Paul District, Corps 

of Engineers, 1976-1982,” unpublished manuscript, n.d., St. Paul District, pp. 92-93.

 8 Duluth News-Tribune, 26 May 1979.

 9 Merritt, “New Directions,” pp. 94-95. On Oberstar’s background see <http://

bioguide.congress.gov> (September 2002).

 10 Duluth News-Tribune, 11 November 1979.

 11 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, North Central Division, Water Resources 

Development by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Wisconsin, (Chicago: North Central 

Division, 1979), p. 124.

 12 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Water Resources Support Center, “The Ports of 

Duluth, MN and Superior, WI; Taconite Harbor, Silver Bay, and Two Harbors, MN; and 
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

39

Ashland, WI,” Port Series No. 49 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Offi ce, 2000), 

p. 1.

 13 Merritt, “New Directions,” p. 94.

 14 Duluth Herald, 12 November 1979.

 15 Duluth Herald, 12 November 1979.

 16 Merritt, “New Directions,” p. 94; Merritt, Creativity, Confl ict & Controversy, 

p. 406.

 17 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Offi ce of the Chief of Engineers, Engineer 

Profi les: The District Engineer, Interviews with Colonel William W. Badger, by Frank 

N. Schubert (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1983) [hereafter cited as 

Badger Interviews], p. 24.

 18 Merritt, “New Directions,” p. 126.

 19 Badger Interviews, pp. 81-82.

 20 Donita M. Moorhus and Gregory Graves, “The Limits of Vision: A History of 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 1988-1992,” unpublished ms, January 1999, Offi ce of 

the Chief Engineers, Offi ce of History, pp. 29-30.

 21 The Reorganization Wrap-Up 1., no. 1 (19 November 1992), p. 7.

 22 Moorhus and Graves, “The Limits of Vision,” pp. 31-32. See also “Background 

Paper on Corps of Engineers Reorganization” in Senate Committee on Environmental 

and Public Works, Reorganization of the Corps of Engineers, Hearing before the 

Committee on Environment and Public Works, 102d Cong., 2d sess., December 30, 1992, 

p. 12.

 23 Don Cluff, Memorandum for all USACE Division and District Commanders, 

no date, File “Reorganization,” Box 6250, St. Paul District administrative records, St. 

Paul [hereafter cited as SPDAR].

 24 Colonel Richard W. Craig interview by John O. Anfi nson, 20 July 1993.

 25 Moorhus and Graves, “The Limits of Vision,” p. 33; Don Cluff, Memorandum 

for all USACE Division and District Commanders, no date, File “Reorganization,” Box 

6250, SPDAR.

 26 Don Cluff, Memorandum for all USACE Division and District Commanders, 

no date, File “Reorganization,” Box 6250, SPDAR.

 27 Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 13 April 1991.

 28 Offi ce of Assistant Secretary of Defense, News Release, 24 May 1991, File 

“Reorganization,” Box 6250, SPDAR.
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

40

 29 Arne H. Carlson to Michael P. W. Stone, 26 April 1991, and Tommy Thompson 

to Richard Cheney, 7 June 1991, File 1105 Upper Mississippi River Basin Association 

Meetings (91), Box 4465, SPDAR.

 30 Unidentifi ed news clipping, File “Reorganization,” Box 6250, SPDAR.

 31 Moorhus and Graves, “The Limits of Vision,” p. 36.

 32 Moorhus and Graves, “The Limits of Vision,” pp. 36-37.

 33 House Subcommittee on Water Resources of the Committee on Public Works 

and Transportation, Water Resources Development Act of 1992 and the Reorganization 

of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 102d Cong., 2d sess., 4, 11, 19, 25 March 1992, p. 

618.

 34 The Reorganization Wrap-up 1, no. 1 (19 November 1992).

 35 Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 20 November 1992.

 36 Moorhus and Graves, “The Limits of Vision,” p. 39.

 37 Senate Committee on Appropriations, Energy and Water Development 

Appropriations Fiscal Year 1994, 103rd Cong., 1st sess., S. Hrg. 103-299 Part 1, May 1993, 

pp. 163-165; House Subcommittee on Investigation and Oversight of the Committee 

on Public Works and Transportation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Proposed 

Reorganization Plan, 103rd Cong., 1st sess., Serial 103-23, May 1993, pp. 449-454.

 38 Craig Interview.

 39 U.S. Congress, House, Proposed Legislation: “Government Reform and 

Savings Act of 1993,” Message from the President of the United States, 103d Cong., 1st 

sess., House Doc. 103-155, 1993, p. 14.

 40 Prepared statement of Lt. General Joe N. Ballard, Chief of Engineers, U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee 

on Energy and Water Development, 24 April 1997, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com> 

(September 2002).

 41 Prepared statement of Lt. General Joe N. Ballard, Chief of Engineers, U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee 

on Energy and Water Development, 24 April 1997, <http://web.lexis-nexis.com> 

(September 2002); House Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development of the 

Committee on Appropriations, Energy and Water Development Appropriations for 

2000, Part 1, 106th Cong., 1st sess., 1999, pp. 128-129.

 42 Colonel J. M. Wonsik, interview by John O. Anfi nson, 20 January 1998, pp. 4-5.

 43 Wonsik Interview, p. 5.

 44 The best comprehensive source on the historical development of modern 

environmentalism is Samuel P. Hays, Beauty, Health and Permanence: Environmental 

Politics in the United States, 1955-85 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987).
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

41

 45 Mazmanian and Nienaber, Can Organizations Change?, p. 1.

 46 William O. Douglas, “The Public be Dammed,” Playboy, 16 (July 1969), p. 186.

 47 Lynton Keith Caldwell, The National Environmental Policy Act: An Agenda for the 

Future (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998), p. xiv.

 48 Jeanne Nienaber Clarke and Daniel McCool, Staking out the Terrain: Power 

Differentials Among Natural Resource Management Agencies (Albany: State University of 

New York Press, 1985), p. 18.

 49 Martin Reuss, Shaping Environmental Awareness: The United States Army Corps 

of Engineers Environmental Advisory Board 1970-1980 (Washington, D.C.: Historical 

Division, Offi ce of Administrative Services, Offi ce of the Chief of Engineers, 1983), p. 1.

 50 Nienaber and McCool, Staking out the Terrain, p. 16.

 51 Clement and Lopez, Engineering a Victory for our Environment, pp. 2-11.

 52 Mazmanian and Nienaber, Can Organizations Change?, p. 38.

 53 Edward Silberman, “Public Participation in Water Resource Development,” 

Journal of the Water Resources Planning and Management Division (May 1977), p. 122.

 54 Mazmanian and Nienaber, Can Organizations Change?, pp. 39-47. See also 

Taylor, Making Bureaucracies Think, pp. 93-95.

 55 St. Paul Dispatch, 19 October 1973.

 56 According to Taylor, the St. Paul District was not the only district to 

experience tension between its environmental staff and project engineers. “In the Corps, 

although cantankerous environmental units were sometimes threatened with dispersal, 

the threat never materialized.” Writing in the early 1980s, Taylor praised the Corps for 

protecting the relative autonomy of the environmental units. “Because they are in a 

separate group, headed by someone in their own specialty, environmental analysts can 

more easily support one another. A group spirit can develop and be maintained against 

a hostile or indifferent internal environment.” Taylor, Making Bureaucracies Think, p. 108.

 57 Merritt, “New Directions,” pp. 127-130.

 58 Interagency Floodplain Management Review Committee, Sharing the 

Challenge: Floodplain Management into the 21st Century, (Washington, D.C.: Government 

Printing Offi ce, 1994), pp. 118-119.

 59 Cited in Merritt, “New Directions.”

 60 Clarke and McCool, Staking out the Terrain, pp. 24-25.

 61 “Corps’ new look in fl ood control: no dams, levees,” Audubon 77 (July 1975): 

pp. 103- 104.
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

42

 62 Steve Slade, “Army Corps of Engineers: Caught in Midstream,” The Nation

221 (6 September 1975): pp. 179-181; “Cost-benefi t trips up the corps,” Business Week (19 

February 1979): pp. 96-97.

 63 “The Civilian Side of the U.S. Army: The Corps of Engineers,” Ms. 11 

(September 1982): p. 77.

 64 Jeffrey K. Stine, “Regulating Wetlands in the 1970s: U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers and the Environmental Organizations,” Journal of Forest History (April 1983): 

p. 61.

 65 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Organization – Position 

Charts, February 1991,” p. 6.

 66 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Organization Directory and 

Position Chart, August 2001,” p. 7.

 67 Nationwide, military construction gradually overtook civil works as the most 

signifi cant portion of the agency’s budget. In addition, maintenance and operation of 

existing works overtook construction of new works as a major share of the overall civil 

works budget.

 68 The Forum (Fargo-Moorhead), 25 May 1979.

 69 The Forum (Fargo-Moorhead), 25 May 1979.

 70 The St. Paul Pioneer Press, 17 May 1979.

 71 Badger interview, 30 March 1982, pp. 83-85.

 72 Colonel Ed Rapp, interview by Mickey Schubert, 7 July 1983, pp. 6-7.

 73 Badger Interviews, pp. 40-43.

 74 Reagan appointed William R. Gianelli, a former head of the California State 

Water Resources Division, to the position of Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil 

Works). Gianelli stated that one of his primary objectives was to streamline the Corps’ 

Section 404 permitting process. See William R. Gianelli, interview by Martin A. Reuss, 

August 1, 1985.

 75 Badger Interviews, p. 43.

 76 Bory Steinberg, “The Federal Perspective,” in Water Resources Administration 

in the United States: Policy, Practice, and Emerging Issues, edited by Martin Reuss (East 

Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1993), pp. 264-267.

 77 Colonel Joseph Briggs, interview by Mickey Schubert, May 24, 1988, p. 9.

 78 Colonel Roger L. Baldwin, interview by John O. Anfi nson, 1 July 1991, pp. 

12-13.

 79 Arthur E. Williams, “The Role of Technology in Sustainable Development,” in 

Water Resources Administration in the United States, p. 128.
Reinventing the St. Paul District 2

43

 80 Baldwin Interview, p. 13.

 81 Craig Interview, p. 17.

 82 Colonel Kenneth Kasprisin, interview by Virginia Gnabasik, 13 July 2001, p. 3.

 83 Lisa Mighetto and William F. Willingham, Service – Tradition – Change: A 

History of the Fort Worth District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1975-1999 (Fort Worth, 

TX: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2000), p. 98.

 84 William W. Badger, Memorandum, 30 April 1981, File Oral History DES, Box 

7842, SPDAR.

 85 Badger Interviews, p. 7.

 86 Badger Interviews, pp. 58-59.

 87 Steinberg, “The Federal Perspective,” p. 271.

 88 Charles P. Spitzak, interview by Ted Catton, 9 May 2002, p. 1.

 89 Kasprisin Interview, p. 2.

 90 Mighetto and Willingham, Service – Tradition – Change, p. 99.

 91 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Organization – Position 

Charts, February 1991,” p. 1; Mighetto and Willingham, Service – Tradition – Change, p. 

98. 

 92 Spitzak Interview, p. 1.

 93 Kasprisin Interview, p. 2.

 94 “Prepared Statement of Lt. General Joe N. Ballard, Chief of Engineers, U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, before the Senate Appropriations 

Committee Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development,” 24 April 1997, 

<http://web.lexis-nexis.com> (September 2002).

 95 Mighetto and Willingham, Service – Tradition – Change, p. 102.
Navigation: Several 

barges being locked 

through Lock and Dam 

10 in Guttenberg, Iowa. 

(Photo by Shannon, Bauer, 

courtesy of St. Paul District, 

Corps of Engineers)
45

Meandering over 2,000 miles from Minnesota’s Lake Itasca to the Gulf of 

Mexico, the Mississippi River was once described by Mark Twain as the 

“crookedest river in the world, ... not a commonplace river, but on the 

contrary ... in all ways remarkable.”1 The upper portion of the waterway, 

stretching from the river’s headwaters to Guttenberg, Iowa, has been 

managed by the Corps of Engineers since the early nineteenth century. 

Throughout these years, the Upper Mississippi has been a vital lifeline of commerce and 

recreation for the Midwest. It has also functioned as a center of biodiversity and cultural 

heritage. To facilitate the different functions of the river and to preserve environmental 

quality, the St. Paul District has the task of dredging, straightening and widening the 

river; of ensuring that residents in the Upper Mississippi River Basin have adequate 

fl ood protection; and of mitigating the environmental effects caused by these activities.

The district’s navigation and fl ood control mission on the Upper Mississippi both 

fall under the umbrella of its civil works program. At the dawn of the twenty-fi rst 

century, the civil works program was drastically different than in 1975. Laws such as 

the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and the National Environmental Policy 

Act of 1969, or NEPA, forced the Corps to become more environmentally conscious. 

Whereas large structures such as dams and reservoirs characterized the Corps’ fl ood 

control efforts for much of the twentieth century, non-structural solutions were 

increasingly prevalent by 2000. Throughout the 1900s, the Corps dredged the Upper 

Mississippi River and other waterways with little consideration of the environmental 

effects on wildlife habitat and fi sh populations; but by 2000, the St. Paul District 

dredged far less than before, used the dredged material for constructive purposes and 

carried out an Environmental Management Program that restored habitat on the Upper 

Mississippi. In addition, although the federal government largely paid for most civil 

works projects, cost-sharing measures implemented in the 1980s shifted some 

3Civil Works Program I:

The Upper Mississippi
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

3

46

of the expenses to local sponsors, allowing local participation and involvement and 

establishing high levels of trust and cooperation. But some critics charged that the 

Corps still had a long way to go in accepting environmental responsibility and pointed 

to the controversial Upper Mississippi River/Illinois Waterway Navigation Study, 

which supposedly used skewed benefi t-cost analyses to justify extensive navigational 

developments on the Mississippi, as proof. Although there was some merit to the critics’ 

contentions, it was clear that the Corps of Engineers generally and the St. Paul District 

specifi cally had made great changes in the last quarter of the twentieth century. As John 

Anfi nson, former district historian, related, there was now “a much more open mind 

in St. Paul District as an organization to doing better by the environment and [still] 

meeting the needs of people who want fl ood protection and navigation.”2

Dredging the river: A Corps’ dredge in operation on the Upper Mississippi River. 

(Photo courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

3

47

The Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission and GREAT I

After the passage of NEPA in 1969, the Corps faced numerous attacks from 

environmental organizations, such as the Sierra Club, for its alleged support of 

navigation interests on the Upper Mississippi and on the detrimental effects of its 

dredging program on fi sh and wildlife. Through leadership and cooperation on a 

number of studies and commissions about the Upper Mississippi, including the Great 

River Environmental Action Team, or GREAT, and the Upper Mississippi River Basin 

Commission, the St. Paul District gradually embraced its role as protector of the river. 

Although criticism came from all sides, the St. Paul District continued to try to balance 

the different uses of the river.

Even before NEPA passed, Congress decided the time had come to coordinate 

navigation interests with wildlife and fi sh habitat protection and appointed the Corps 

of Engineers as the leader in this management. In 1962, a resolution adopted by the 

Senate Committee on Public Works called for the development of “a comprehensive 

plan of improvement for the Upper Mississippi River Basin.” In response, the Corps 

initiated the Upper Mississippi River Comprehensive Basin Study, an examination 

Dredging the Mississippi River: The Dredge Hauser, a small dredge operated by 

the St. Paul District. (Photo courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

3

48

of the river by an interagency committee chaired by the division engineer of the 

North Central Division. By the 1970s, this committee had morphed into the Upper 

Mississippi River Basin Coordinating Committee, containing representatives from 

the Departments of Agriculture; Commerce; Health; Education and Welfare; Housing 

and Urban Development; Interior; and Transportation, as well as individuals from the 

Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Power Commission. After consulting 

with seventy federal and state agencies about how to solve the water and land resource 

problems on the Upper Mississippi, the committee published its report in 1972, calling 

for “an orderly development of water and related land resources” through cooperation 

between federal, state and local agencies, including the Corps.3

Complementing the recommendations of the study was a request from several Upper 

Mississippi Basin governors for the completion of a river management plan. By 

executive order, President Richard Nixon established the Upper Mississippi River Basin 

Commission in 1972 to satisfy this demand. The commission immediately focused 

on the Corps’ nine-foot navigation channel. In the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1930, 

Congress authorized the Corps to dredge the Upper Mississippi to a depth of nine 

feet so that larger barges could traverse the river. During the years, the Corps often 

dredged three or four feet below the nine feet requirement in the interest of reducing 

the frequency of dredging operations. Along with the deeper dredging, the Corps 

constructed a series of twenty-nine locks and dams big enough for larger vessels.4

 The 

pools created by the locks and the disposal of dredged material in side channels leading 

to open backwater areas accelerated sedimentation in backwaters. These backwaters 

served as important fi sh and wildlife habitat, so the loss of approximately twenty-fi ve 

percent of these areas to marshlands heavily impacted fi sh and wildlife populations.5

According to Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission chairman George W. 

Griebenow, for years “commercial fi shermen, biologists, and sportsmen ... expressed 

deep concern” over Corps maintenance of the nine-foot channel. Their main complaint 

was that commercial navigation dominated the Upper Mississippi to the detriment of 

recreation and fi sh and wildlife management, even though Congress had established 

the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge in 1924 to preserve lands and 

waters for waterfowl.6 The situation intensifi ed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when 

the Upper Mississippi River Comprehensive Basin Study called for a twelve-foot 

channel and the Corps examined this possibility. Environmentalists worried that such 

deep dredging would cause the Mississippi to overfl ow into wetlands, that the increase 

in dredged disposal material would further damage already impaired wildlife habitats 

and that a deeper channel was not economically justifi ed.7

 The Corps did not disagree; 

in the early 1970s an EIS prepared by the Corps on the nine-foot channel revealed, in 

the words of two St. Paul District employees, that dredging and channel maintenance 

caused “signifi cant damage to the fragile backwaters, marshes, and sloughs” of the 

Upper Mississippi. However, the Corps at that time seemed unable or unwilling to 

mitigate these effects, in part because of questions over whether it was authorized to 

alleviate the damage.8

Based on information gained from the EIS, Representatives Albert Quie (R-Minnesota) 

and Vernon Thomson (R-Wisconsin), together with the Minnesota/Wisconsin Boundary 
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

3

49

Area Commission, recommended the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission 

delineate a river system management plan that would coordinate navigation, fi sh 

and wildlife interests, recreation, watershed management and water quality. At the 

same time, a lawsuit brought by the state of Wisconsin in the 1970s against the Corps 

temporarily halted dredging activities on the Upper Mississippi, convincing Congress 

that an investigation of dredging was needed. Congress appropriated $375,000 for 

a study in 1974 and provided $9.1 million more when it offi cially authorized the 

examination in the Water Resources Development Act of 1976. Upon the suggestion 

of the North Central Division of the Corps and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the 

Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission transformed its Dredged Spoil Disposal 

Practices Committee into the Great River Environmental Action Team, a collection 

of appointees from Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, including representatives from 

the Corps, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Environmental Protection Agency, the 

Soil Conservation Service, the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation and the Department 

of Transportation, with members from other interested organizations serving as 

ex-offi cio members. William R. Pearson, the chief of special studies for the St. Paul 

District, cochaired the study, which was divided into three parts: GREAT I examined 

the Upper Mississippi from 

the Twin Cities in Minnesota 

to Guttenberg, Iowa; GREAT 

II investigated the river from 

Guttenberg to the mouth of 

the Missouri River at Saverton, 

Missouri; and GREAT III 

studied the river from Saverton 

to its confl uence with the Ohio 

River at Cairo, Illinois.9

From 1975 to 1980, GREAT 

I explored the question of 

how the St. Paul District’s 

navigation and dredging could 

be coordinated with other 

river uses. As two members of 

the study related, because the 

team consisted of individuals 

from a variety of backgrounds, 

it was able to provide “a 

meaningful interdisciplinary 

approach through education 

and understanding of the 

many resources and physical 

factors involved with a river 

system so diverse as the 

Upper Mississippi.” In order 

to give different aspects of 

the river equal emphasis, 

Cooperation: The GREAT I studay area. (Map 

courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

3

50

the team divided into twelve work groups, each led by a different agency: dredging 

requirements, side channel openings, material and equipment needs, sediment and 

erosion control, fi sh and wildlife management, plan formulation, dredged material 

uses, recreation, water quality, commercial transportation, fl oodplain management and 

public participation and information. The Corps led the dredging requirements and 

material and equipment needs work groups. Dennis Cin, St. Paul District chief of the 

Mississippi River Maintenance Section, chaired the dredging requirements group, and 

Wayne Knott, an engineer for the district, led the material and equipment needs team.10

As it studied the river, GREAT I developed three 

different levels of goals: short-range or day-to-day 

decisions about the Mississippi; midterm, defi ned as 

those programs that could be completed within the 

study’s time frame; and long-range, referring to the 

master plan of overall river management.11 By 1978, 

GREAT I was reporting several accomplishments 

within its short- and mid-term goals. For one, it had 

helped convince the district to implement a reduceddepth dredging program in 1976 that ended the practice 

of dredging three or four feet below the required ninefoot depth. This change reduced the amount of material 

dredged from the Upper Mississippi from 1.6 million 

cubic yards to 650,000 cubic yards. For another, GREAT 

I recommended the Corps use advance site preparation 

to ensure that dredged material did not enter wetlands. 

Instead of depositing dredged spoils in backwaters, 

the Corps began placing them in seven pre-selected 

disposal sites on land, thus decelerating sedimentation 

in backwaters and creating recreational beaches at some 

areas. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, GREAT I 

facilitated communication among management agencies, 

the Corps and the general public, in large part through 

its Public Participation and Information Program, which 

held eleven public town meetings, nineteen special 

hearings and forty-one citizen executive board meetings 

about the Upper Mississippi.12

Between 1979 and 1980, the study’s different work groups 

submitted their individual reports. In September 1980, 

GREAT I published its general report, using information 

compiled by the different work groups and containing 

eighty recommendations on how the St. Paul District 

could better manage the Upper Mississippi. Among its 

suggestions was that Congress provide the Corps with 

additional authority and funding to implement wildlife 

enhancement projects, that the Corps place dredged 

material at pre-selected sites and that the Corps alter 

The Dredge William A. 

Thompson: The Thompson 

was the largest dredge in 

the St. Paul District’s Fleet. 

After 67 years of service, 

the William A. Thompson 

was replaced by a new 

dredge in 2005. (Photo 

courtesy of Marc Krumholz, 

St. Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

51

side channels and make structural fl ow modifi cations to alleviate sedimentation in 

backwaters.13 When district offi cials saw the report, they did not entirely agree with its 

conclusions but decided to support them anyway. As Colonel Badger, district engineer 

from 1979 to 1982, related, “We can never fully agree with a multi-agency report. But I 

think the effort that went into it was good, the ideas were good, and they [were] trying 

to do the right thing.”14 Other districts within the Corps, however, criticized St. Paul 

for allowing state and local entities to dictate 

how the Corps should conduct its affairs, and 

some offi cials even referred to St. Paul District 

employees as “ecofreaks” because of their 

environmental concerns.15

To ensure that GREAT I’s proposals were 

realized, Badger produced an implementation 

report, detailing what recommendations the 

St. Paul District considered to be of highest 

priority, how the district would execute 

these recommendations and what legislation 

and funding were needed. In this report, 

Badger discussed three possible future 

programs: the Basic Program, which would 

continue nine-foot channel dredging with 

only incidental considerations of fi sh and 

wildlife and recreation interests; the First 

Priority Program, which would consider fi sh 

and wildlife, recreation and water quality 

issues in nine-foot channel dredging; and the 

GREAT I Program, which would fully execute 

GREAT I’s suggestions by signifi cantly 

enhancing recreation and fi sh and wildlife 

opportunities. Taking the costs and benefi ts 

into consideration, Badger concluded the First 

Priority Program was the best plan to follow.16

To implement this program, Badger recommended 

that the St. Paul District receive $3 million a year from 

Congress in order to protect the fi sh and wildlife habitat 

on the Mississippi from Minneapolis to Guttenberg. This 

money would go toward purchasing land rights from 

owners in order to build new dredge disposal sites and 

would also be used to slow down the sedimentation 

occurring in the Upper Mississippi’s backwaters.17 As 

Badger stated, the plan enabled the district to “swim in the 

middle of the river” by balancing navigational interests 

and environmental concerns.18 This middle-ground 

approach, however, infuriated proponents of navigation. 

The Upper Mississippi River Waterway Association 

Dredging the Mississippi 

River: J. Skrede, a 

member of the crew on 

the Dredge Dubuque, 

positions pipe that will 

carry dredge material.

(Photo courtesy of, St. Paul 

District, Corps of Engineers)

3
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

3

52

denounced it because it “literally puts confi scation of private lands within the grasp 

of environmentalists,” while the U.S. Coast Guard believed it would eventually 

cause safety problems for river vessels. On the other hand, many environmental 

organizations, such as the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Minnesota Pollution 

Control Agency, generally supported the program as a step in the right direction, 

although they also claimed the Corps was not going far enough in environmental 

protection.19

By 1992, the St. Paul District had worked hard to execute the First Priority Program. 

The district had developed a forty-year dredged material placement plan for fi fteen 

active dredging sites, taking into consideration economic, environmental, cultural and 

social impacts on each location. In addition, the district developed a comprehensive 

Channel Maintenance Management Plan which governed the placement of dredged 

material. It successfully reduced the average annual dredging volume from 1.6 million 

cubic yards to only 650 thousand cubic yards. In the opinion of one project manager in 

the St. Paul District, the reduced dredging was one of the major environmental changes 

the district made in the last quarter of the twentieth century.20 At the same time, the 

district implemented the Weaver Bottoms Rehabilitation Project in 1987 to decrease 

sedimentation and restore habitat in that backwater lake, which was situated between 

Winona, Minnesota, and Wabasha, Minnesota. Although the Corps had deferred some 

of GREAT I’s recommendations, it had taken signifi cant steps toward alleviating the 

problems it considered most pressing, and it continued to develop plans for future 

mitigation efforts.21

Complementing the GREAT I study was another analysis of the Upper Mississippi 

coordinated by the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission. On October 21, 1978, 

President Jimmy Carter signed the Inland Waterway Authorization Act, which directed 

the commission to compile a Comprehensive Master Plan for the Management of the 

Upper Mississippi River System. This authorization resulted from a controversial 

Environmental Restoration

Environmental Restoration: The fi rst Upper Mississippi River Environmental 

Management Program project completed by the St. Paul District included the 

backwater restoration in 1987 of Island 42. The Corps excavated the channel 

in the center of the left photo. Pictured on the right is Island 42, a fi ll site. (Photo 

courtesy of Dan Wilcox, St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

3

53

Corps’ proposal to replace Lock and Dam 26 at Alton, Illinois, with two new locks 

that could accommodate larger barges, thereby improving navigational use of the 

Upper Mississippi. Railroad interests feared the new locks would be a boon to barge 

companies. Environmentalists worried about the ecological effects of increased 

navigation. Both tried to prevent the construction of the locks through unsuccessful 

appeals to Congress and the courts. Although opponents could not halt construction of 

one of the locks, they were able to convince Congress to forestall building the second 

lock until a master study had been conducted.22

According to the 1979 Annual Report of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission, 

the Comprehensive Master Plan intended to “seek a balance of present and future 

commercial navigation activities with the economic, recreational, and environmental 

objectives” of the river by specifi cally examining how an enlargement of navigational 

capacity would affect the Mississippi. After seeking public input, the commission 

adopted a Plan of Study on August 15, 1979, divided into four work teams – Resources 

and Transportation, Dredged Material Disposal Demonstration, Computerized 

Analytical Inventory and Analysis and Public Participation and Information – and 

commenced the study, hoping to complete it in four years.23 On September 11, 1979, the 

Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission entered into a Memorandum of Agreement 

with the Corps, stating that the Corps would take an active role in developing 

the master plan.24 The St. Paul District had the responsibility of determining the 

navigational carrying capacity of the Upper Mississippi, as well as evaluating the cost 

and benefi ts of depositing dredge spoil material in additional contained areas out of 

the fl oodplain.25

The commission worked on the master plan for two years before issuing the report 

to Congress in late 1981. Upon its appearance, environmentalists were disappointed, 

believing that the plan sacrifi ced environmental interests for the sake of navigation. In 

the report, the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission, with input from the Corps, 

concluded the second lock at Lock and Dam 26 was justifi ed, but that Congress should 

also provide more than $20 million for the next two years to control erosion along 

tributary streams and to protect backwater lakes and sloughs. The plan also called for 

the establishment of a ten year environmental management program. The Sierra Club, 

however, saw these proposals as mere smoke and mirrors. “The commission’s tangible 

recommendations are for improving navigation on the river,” Jonathan Ela, Midwest 

representative of the Sierra Club, stated. “The environmental stuff they recommend 

is puff.” Rod Searle, chairman of the UMRBC, disagreed. The barge industry, he 

declared, was “not as happy as Mr. Ela would want us to believe. Since we don’t 

have everybody happy (with the plan), that leads me to believe that we’ve certainly 

accomplished something.”26 For the St. Paul District, the plan merely reinforced many 

of the recommendations offered by GREAT I, especially backwater rehabilitation 

and erosion mitigation, and showed the value of interagency planning on the Upper 

Mississippi. Although President Ronald Reagan abolished the Upper Mississippi River 

Basin Commission due to budget constraints soon after it issued its master plan, the 

commission, together with GREAT I, had developed recommendations that pushed the 

district toward formulating an environmental management program on the river. 
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

3

54

Upper Mississippi River System Environmental Management Program

Indeed, largely because of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission’s report 

suggesting the establishment of a ten-year environmental management plan, Congress 

authorized the Upper Mississippi River System Environmental Management Program, 

Upper Mississippi River: Locations of habitat rehabilitation and enhancement 

projects conducted by the St. Paul District for the Upper Mississippi River System 

Environmental Managment Program. (Map courtesy of St. Paul District, 

Corps of Engineers)
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

3

55

or EMP, in the Water Resources Development Act of 1986. According to a report 

on the program, it was “designed to protect and balance the resources of the Upper 

Mississippi River Basin and guide future river management.” In order to accomplish 

this, fi ve elements received emphasis: habitat rehabilitation and enhancement, longterm resource monitoring, recreation projects, the economic impacts of recreation, 

and navigation traffi c monitoring. In terms of resources, the habitat rehabilitation 

and enhancement and long-term resource monitoring were the largest components, 

while the recreation facets received no funding “due to a low federal priority.” Habitat 

rehabilitation and enhancement projects consisted of restoring river and fl oodplain 

habitats degraded by dredging or other activities, while the resource monitoring 

program called for biological and ecological research to determine what actions would 

best preserve the river’s ecosystem. Federal management of the program lay with the 

Corps, which coordinated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological 

Survey, the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association (an organization formed by 

Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin after the UMRBC’s demise) and 

representatives from fi ve Upper Mississippi states. Although the North Central Division 

of the Corps chaired the project as a whole, the St. Paul District supervised habitat 

rehabilitation and enhancement in Minnesota and Wisconsin.27

In order to implement the EMP, the St. Paul District consulted with river management 

agencies, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the River Resources Forum. The forum, 

fi rst created in 1981 as the Channel Maintenance Forum (renamed the River Resources 

Forum in 1990), was an interagency team chaired by the Corps and the Fish and 

Wildlife Service to continue the coordination of channel maintenance and other riverrelated projects instigated by GREAT. Together, these groups evaluated different 

pools and areas along the Upper Mississippi and made a priority list of areas needing 

restoration. The fi rst project completed by the St. Paul District included backwater 

restoration in 1987 at Island 42, located in Pool 5 of the Upper Mississippi between 

Locks and Dams 4 and 5 in Minnesota. Because backwater sloughs were not receiving 

enough water fl ow to maintain dissolved oxygen levels for fi sh, the district excavated a 

channel, built a structure to bring fresh water into the sloughs and dredged the area to 

create a deep-water fi sh habitat.28

Another important undertaking included the Pool 8 Islands Habitat Project, involving a 

section of the river near Stoddard, Wisconsin. When the Corps completed construction 

of Lock and Dam 8 in 1937, it submerged the fl oodplain of Pool 8, initially enhancing 

the fi sh and wildlife habitat. But by the late 1980s, nearly 80 percent of the islands in 

Pool 8 had eroded, leading to increased wind fetch and turbidity. These conditions 

destroyed aquatic plants used by migrating canvasback ducks for food. In 1989, the St. 

Paul District, under the leadership of project manager Gary Palesh, began restoration on 

seven islands in Pool 8, reconstructing them from dredged material and protecting them 

with riprap and vegetation. The district also constructed six rockfi ll “seed” islands to try 

to stimulate growth and recommended periodic water drawdowns. The fi rst two phases 

of construction were completed in 1999, and the project received the Minnesota Society 

of Professional Engineers’ Seven Wonders of Engineering award in 2002. According to 

St. Paul District hydraulics engineer Jon Hendrickson, “River currents and sediment 

deposits were returned to a more natural condition, wind-driven wave action was 
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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56

reduced and fl oodplain habitat was restored,” leading to a large increase in the number 

of canvasback ducks in the area.29

By 2003, the district had fi nished twenty habitat restoration projects, many led by 

Palesh and Don Powell, with two more under construction and seven in the planning 

and design stage.30 Although Congress originally authorized the EMP for only fi fteen 

years, its life-span was extended indefi nitely in the 1999 Water Resources Development 

Act, providing the district reported on its EMP activities every six years.31 In 1999, 

Powell and Palesh estimated the program had “brought environmental benefi ts to more 

than 10,000 acres of habitat on the Upper Mississippi River.”32 Indeed, the EMP had 

two major impacts on the St. Paul District: fi rst, it provided steady work, and, second, 

it showed the district not only cared about the environment but could successfully 

implement projects to alleviate environmental damage. As District Engineer Colonel 

Richard W. Craig related in 1993, “We do [EMP] business very well ... We’re always 

going to do those types of environment-related activities very well because we have 

people here that are more interested in those types of projects than people in other 

regions of the country.”33 Colonel Roger L. Baldwin, district engineer from 1988 to 1991, 

concurred, recognizing that both environmental and navigation interests had praised 

EMP projects. The EMP, he continued, “has demonstrated that we are capable of pulling 

off a major program that consists of many separable elements and have done so with a 

variety of constituencies and stakeholders in these individual projects.”34

Locks and Dams 1-10 Rehabilitation

Despite the success of the EMP, some organizations 

still believed the Corps promoted navigation on the 

Upper Mississippi above environmental concerns. 

Whether or not this was an accurate criticism, the 

Corps continued to maintain the nine-foot channel 

and its locks and dams. Indeed, beginning in the 

late 1970s, the St. Paul District undertook a major 

rehabilitation effort at Locks and Dams 1-10 on 

the Upper Mississippi. Because the Corps had fi rst 

built these structures, which had fi fty-year design 

lives, in the 1930s, they were all nearly fi fty years 

old and in need of extensive maintenance in order 

to operate effectively for another fi fty years. The fi rst 

efforts began on Lock and Dam 1 in 1979 with fi ve 

major objectives: improving hydraulic operation, 

improving structure stability, extending the lock’s 

service life, providing more protection to the lock’s 

foundation and improving recreational and aesthetic 

aspects.35 One of the main problems, however, 

included completing the rehabilitation without 

disrupting barge traffi c on the river. In order to fulfi ll 

this goal, the Corps mainly worked on the locks and 

Facelift: Lock and Dam 5A 

after its rehabilitation. (Photo 

courtesy of Carl Gray, St. Paul 

District, Corps of Engineers)
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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dams in the winter, usually reopening the structures in May. According to Craig Hinton 

of the district’s Dredging and Structures Section, this meant that the rehabilitation was 

“intensive work in a short time, under the worst conditions.”36

In 1983, the district completed the renovations on Lock and Dam 1, rededicating the 

structure in June. That same year, it began rehabilitating the other locks and dams as 

part of a $225 million effort. Throughout the 1990s, work was completed on various 

locks and dams; but by 2003, some were still undergoing maintenance to be completed 

by the end of 2004. According to John Bailen, chief of the Engineering Division, the 

rehabilitation would allow Locks and Dams 1-10 to continue to operate effi ciently for 

another fi fty years.37

The Midwest Flood of 1993

But not all were convinced that locks, dams and levees 

were appropriate for the Mississippi River. The Corps 

faced serious debates about its entire fl ood control 

function when a fl ood of historic proportions hit regions 

around the Upper Mississippi in the summer of 1993. 

Problems began when a low-pressure system stalled over 

the Midwest for two months, dumping large amounts 

of rain on the area. This started a chain reaction of 

fl ooding on the Upper Mississippi. In portions of the 

river stretching from the Quad Cities of Illinois to St. 

Louis, Missouri, water levels were at times more than 

three feet higher than previous records. On this stretch, 

the river broke through numerous levees constructed 

by agriculturists to protect rich farmland near the 

Mississippi, and water poured into surrounding areas, 

causing signifi cant damage. Several roads, including 

major arteries such as Interstate 29 and U.S. 40 near St. 

Louis, closed due to fl ooding, while water inundated a 

treatment plant in Des Moines, Iowa, contaminating the 

drinking supply of 250 thousand people. The fl oods also 

submerged locks on the Upper Mississippi, forcing the 

Corps to close the waterway to barge traffi c and causing an 

estimated $300 million in losses to the shipping industry. 

When the waters fi nally receded, at least fi fty-two people 

were dead, 2,300 were injured, 56 thousand were homeless 

and property damage totaled more than $10 billion.38

Using complicated and technical comparisons of peak fl ood stage/discharge data 

and stage/discharge damage curves, the Corps claimed that its fl ood control projects 

and response efforts actually prevented more than $8 billion in damages, but others 

believed the levees worsened the fl ood. According to an article in the Engineering 

News Record, several environmental groups argued that the construction of levees 

Flooding: St. Peter, 

Minnesota, 1993. 

(Photo courtesy of St. Paul 

District, Corps of Engineers)
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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58

along the Mississippi River aggravated conditions “by restricting fl ow and raising 

water levels to unnatural heights.” They also created a false sense of security that 

encouraged communities to build in the fl oodplain.39 The devastation wreaked by the 

river was proof, many said, that levees could not work alone. Therefore, politicians 

and environmental organizations called for a reexamination of fl ood control on the 

Mississippi. “If we continue down the old path, we do so at our own peril,” said Jim 

Tripp of the Environmental Defense Fund.

Representative Jim Lightfoot (R-Iowa) echoed these sentiments. “The Corps is very 

good at what they do,” he admitted. “But quite frankly, I think their book needs to 

be rewritten.”40 Bill Bertrand, chairman of the Upper Mississippi River Conservation 

Committee, believed the Corps needed to implement “ecosystem planning,” whereby 

wetlands would be restored, levees would be removed and the river would be returned 

“to a more natural condition.”41

The Corps defended levees against these attacks, believing its fl ood control system 

on the Mississippi River truly did protect communities. In this system, reservoirs 

restrained tributary fl ows, while smaller levees protected agricultural land and urban 

levees and fl oodwalls shielded city centers. Reservoirs were designed with enough 

storage capacity to offset some of the fl ood stage increases caused by the channelization 

of the river, while agricultural levees were constructed to overtop during heavy 

fl ooding to relieve pressure on urban levees.42 According to the Corps, then, the real 

problem in 1993 was not its fl ood control system but a phenomenal natural event. 

“The paramount purpose of the levee system is to prevent loss of life,” Gene Gamble, a 

Corps’ spokesman, related. “That’s what they did well.”43 Gary L. Dyhouse, a St. Louis 

District hydrologist, agreed. “There are many reasons for changes in a fl ood elevation 

besides levees,” he claimed. “Contrary to the beliefs of some, the Great Flood of 1993 

... was not caused by levees.” Instead, Dyhouse continued, unprecedented rainfall 

triggered fl ooding and made water levels rise to extraordinary heights. “The Great 

Flood of 1993 was probably the largest fl ood seen at St. Louis since the fi rst European 

settlers entered the area in the 1700s,” he concluded.44 Yet the Corps also realized that 

levees alone could not adequately protect river communities and lands. Besides, they 

were not always aesthetically pleasing. “A wall all along the Mississippi River is not 

something a lot of people would support,” Colonel Richard Craig, district engineer 

of the St. Paul District, admitted.45 Therefore, the Corps reiterated that nonstructural 

solutions such as relocation, fl oodplain zoning and land-use planning were, in the 

words of Dyhouse, “good companion measures that should be included with traditional 

structural fl ood reduction measures like levees and reservoirs.”46 The Corps also 

declared it would not fi nance the repair of any levees destroyed by the fl ood that local 

sponsors had not properly maintained.47

Because of extensive fl ood damages, criticisms arose about federal fi nancial assistance 

to natural disaster victims. When the federal government intervened in emergencies, 

taxpayers ended up paying for cleanup and repairs to private residences, in part 

because the federally funded National Flood Insurance Program, fi rst established 

in 1968, covered areas at risk. This irritated Americans such as Richard Reeves, a 

syndicated columnist who wondered why citizens had to pay “higher taxes and 
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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59

insurance premiums to protect property that is uninsurable under any rational 

system.”48 Such complaints dovetailed with cries for better fl oodplain management and 

for a revised fl ood insurance program. In part because of these criticisms, Congress 

ordered the North Central Division to conduct a study on fl ood control on the Upper 

Mississippi. David Loss, a project manager in the St. Paul District, chaired this 

examination, and the resulting report reiterated that the federal government needed to 

use other fl ood prevention methods besides levees, including purchasing land in the 

fl oodplain and improving fl ood insurance.49

Additional studies reached the same conclusions. A post-fl ood examination conducted 

by the North Central Division explained that although fl oods could not be “100 percent 

controlled,” they could be “greatly reduced and better managed with structural and 

nonstructural improvements.”50 Likewise, the Interagency Floodplain Management 

Review Committee appointed in 1994 to investigate existing fl oodplain and watershed 

management programs on the Upper Mississippi, recommended the implementation 

of policies that focused fi rst on “inappropriate use of the fl oodplain;” second, on 

“minimizing vulnerability to damage through both structural and nonstructural 

means;” and, third, on “mitigating fl ood damages when they do occur.” It also 

recommended that the National Flood Insurance Program mandate fl oodplain 

management before allowing communities to participate in the program. In addition, 

the Interagency Floodplain Management Review Committee proposed that federal 

Navigation: Several barges being locked through Lock and Dam 10 in 

Guttenberg, Iowa. (Photo by Shannon Bauer, courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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60

agencies, including the Corps, increase fl oodplain management education and outreach, 

but hardly any of the committee’s recommendations were ever legislatively enacted.51

Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway System Navigation Study

No matter what solutions the Corps proposed, many environmentalists remained 

convinced the organization would continue to restrict rivers to the detriment of the 

environment. Accusations surrounding a Corps’ navigation study in the late 1990s 

only reinforced this perception. As part of its navigation planning function, the Corps 

began two separate reconnaissance studies in 1990 on the Illinois Waterway and the 

Upper Mississippi River in order to identify sites and structures needing navigation 

improvements. In 1993, the Corps combined these two reconnaissance studies into 

a system feasibility study, which examined what the Corps could do on the Upper 

Mississippi and the Illinois to relieve traffi c congestion and delays.52

Congestion on the Upper Mississippi had been 

a worrisome problem for years. As increasing 

numbers of barges traversed the river, delays 

became commonplace at many locks and dams. 

Part of the problem was that most of the locks 

on the Upper Mississippi were only 600 feet 

long, while most towboats pushed lines of fi fteen 

barges approximately 1,200 feet long. This meant 

that when a tow approached the lock, it would 

have to be dismantled into two separate tows in 

order to pass through, causing a delay of roughly 

an hour. Of special concern to the Corps were 

Locks 11 through 25. Because of regular delays 

on these sixteen locks, the navigation study 

specifi cally examined whether or not it was 

feasible to increase their length to 1,200 feet. The 

Corps also explored whether or not to expand 

seven locks close to St. Louis.53

The feasibility study, entitled the Upper 

Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway System 

Navigation Study, lasted into the twenty-fi rst 

century, costing about $50 million. The St. Paul 

District participated in the study, along with the 

Rock Island and St. Louis districts, under the 

supervision of fi rst the North Central Division 

and then the Mississippi Valley Division. By 1998, 

the economics work group, chaired by Donald 

Sweeney of St. Louis District, determined that 

the costs of lock expansion, which approached $1 

billion, far outweighed the benefi ts. The group, 

Repairs: Richard Princko and Joe 

Kupietz, tender boat operators 

at the maintenance and repair 

unit in Fountain City, Wisconsin, 

remove a clamp bar and 

bottom seal during dewatering 

of the lock at lower St. Anthony 

Falls, Minneapolis in 2003. (Photo 

by Shannon Bauer, courtesy of St. Paul 

District, Corps of Engineers)
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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61

therefore, recommended that enlargements not occur. Sweeney claimed that after his 

team issued this fi nding, he was relieved from his duties and replaced by another 

economist. Eventually, he argued, the Corps developed a draft report showing that 

large-scale expansion of the seven locks was economically viable. Sweeney charged 

senior Corps’ offi cials, including Major General Russell L. Fuhrman, deputy chief of 

engineers and deputy commanding general of the Corps; Major General Phillip R. 

Anderson, Commanding General of the Mississippi Valley Division; and Colonel James 

V. Mudd, district engineer of the Rock Island District, with deliberately altering data 

in order to produce this favorable benefi t-cost analysis. Sweeney offi cially fi led an 

affi davit with the U.S. Offi ce of Special Counsel detailing these charges, and the Offi ce 

of Special Counsel instructed the Department of Defense to investigate. In November 

2000, the Inspector General of the Army issued a report that substantiated some of 

Sweeney’s charges, specifi cally that Mudd improperly told Corps’ employees to use a 

lower N-value (a variable measuring how much consumers would be willing to pay for 

better barge transportation) than was warranted, and that Fuhrman and Anderson told 

subordinates that the Corps should act as an advocate for navigational interests. The 

report also found that an attitude of “Grow the Corps” existed, whereby divisions and 

districts were pressured to deliver projects.54

After the Inspector General released his fi ndings, environmental groups expressed 

anger, but not amazement, with the Corps’ conduct. Even before Sweeney delineated 

his suspicions, an article in Forbes magazine argued that “it is foreordained that the 

Corps will ask for new locks, and will say that without them the competitiveness of 

U.S. grain exports is at risk.”55 An editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune agreed. 

“The remarkable thing” about the Inspector General’s fi ndings, it concluded, “was how 

plainly the Corps’ conduct on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers locks project illustrates 

what so many have suspected but been unable to prove.”56 Likewise, Ted Williams, in 

an essay in Audubon, saw the controversy as just another chapter in an ongoing history: 

“The Corps’ military pooh-bahs have traditionally used trick arithmetic to justify 

environmentally hurtful, make-work projects.”57 Williams’ perception was that the 

Corps routinely manipulated its benefi t-cost analyses to validate projects it wanted. 

This opinion was nothing new. Since the 1970s critics had disparaged the Corps’ 

benefi t-cost system, which used various fi gures to produce a ratio comparing the 

benefi ts accruing from a project with the amount of money expended. According to 

the national economic development criterion employed by the Corps, if a project had a 

ratio of 1.0 or greater (meaning that for every dollar spent, benefi ts greater than a dollar 

resulted), it was economically justifi ed. But in the 1970s, economist Robert H. Haveman 

of the University of Wisconsin argued that two-thirds of the Corps’ projects could not 

“pass a rigorous and correct cost-benefi t test.”58 Others believed the benefi t-cost process 

was inherently fl awed because of the discount rates used in the calculations. Since water 

projects usually stretched over long periods of time, the Corps, like other government 

agencies, used discount rates, usually a fi gure lower than the current market interest 

rate, to equalize future dollar values with present rates. As Stephen A. Thompson of 

Millersville University in Pennsylvania explained, “Public spending uses a discount 

rate lower than that used by private markets. Low discount rates favor capital-intensive 

projects that produce benefi ts many years into the future; this is precisely the character 
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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62

of most water projects.”59 Thus, according to journalist Steve Slade, “The Corps’s 

outdated benefi t-cost type of analysis is consistently biased toward endorsing proposed 

construction projects.”60 Attorney Michael S. Baram extended this argument, stating that 

“by manipulating the discount rate, assigning arbitrary values to identifi ed costs and 

benefi ts, excluding costs that would tilt the outcome against the preferred option, and 

using self-serving assumptions about distributional fairness,” the Corps could easily 

justify any desired project.61

Another problem with benefi t-cost analysis was the diffi culty of making an economic 

estimate on environmental effects. As Ted Williams questioned about the Upper 

Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway System Navigation Study, “What, I wondered, 

is the dollar value of the two dozen bald eagles ... [or] the pileated woodpecker” that 

would be displaced by the lock expansion? Williams, quoting a study performed for the 

Fish and Wildlife Service in 1999, placed “the economic contribution of fi shing, hunting, 

wildlife viewing, and sightseeing along the Upper Mississippi at $6.6 billion per year,” 

but such fi gures were diffi cult to verify.62

In some ways, then, the controversy over the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois 

Waterway System Navigation Study was part of an ongoing disagreement over the 

benefi t-cost system itself. Even though the Inspector General’s report castigated the 

Corps, it recognized the subjectivity of the benefi t-cost process and supported some of 

the changes the Corps had made in its economic analysis of lock construction because 

of this.63 But the damage had been done, and the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois 

Waterway System Navigation Study came to a halt in 2000 while the National Academy 

of Sciences’ National Research Council conducted an independent review. On February 

28, 2001, the National Research Council issued its fi ndings and recommended the study 

broaden its scope to focus on both environmental and economic factors. Acting on these 

recommendations, the study acquired a new name, the Restructured Upper Mississippi 

River-Illinois Waterway Navigation Study, and began again in the summer of 2001, 

with a projected completion date in 2004.64

Even though no one from the St. Paul District was implicated in the scandal, the district, 

as well as the Corps as a whole, still learned some lessons from the process. Although 

the benefi t-cost manipulations were disturbing, the charges that the Corps was 

primarily interested in navigation and as an organization concentrated on getting work 

for itself regardless of the cost to taxpayers was perhaps more damaging. Some Corps’ 

personnel clearly needed to change their perspective, but in the St. Paul District, which 

had traditionally been more environmentally conscious than other Corps’ units, the 

issue, according to Colonel Kenneth Kasprisin, district engineer from 1998 to 2001, was 

more about projecting an accurate image than about revising its benefi t-cost analyses. 

“I think that the Corps has a very high integrity,” Kasprisin asserted. “I think that we 

take a lot of pride in what we do.” The problem, he continued, was conveying that 

impression to the public, and he called on the Corps in general to improve its efforts “to 

tell our story of what it is that we do to help the communities.”65

While the Corps continued to address criticism of its handling of the Upper Mississippi 

River, the 2002 publication of an interim report by the Restructured Upper Mississippi
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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63

River-Illinois Waterway Navigation Study began to rectify the challenging issues in the 

original study. “A collaborative process has been applied in restarting the restructured 

navigation study,” the report stated, and this process consisted of consulting with 

“other Federal agencies, state agencies, the public, and economic and environmental 

non-governmental organizations” about how “to give equal consideration of fi sh and 

wildlife resources and navigation improvement.”66 For the duration of the study, this 

collaboration was to continue. The question remained as to how the Corps would deal 

with the problems associated with benefi t-cost analyses, but, as the successes of GREAT 

I and the UMRBC master plan showed, consistent coordination with other agencies 

would help.

Endangered Species – Lampsilis higginsii

As the Corps dealt with the problems arising from the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois 

Waterway Navigation Study, the St. Paul District faced diffi culties from another 

source: mussels on the Upper Mississippi. The district became concerned with mussels 

because some varieties were endangered species and because an exotic species, the 

zebra mussel, threatened to destroy the native population. In 1973, Congress passed the 

Endangered Species Act, which required federal agencies to ensure their actions did not 

harm any endangered species or its habitat. This complicated matters for the St. Paul 

District because of the presence of Lampsilis higginsii, or the Higgins’ eye pearly mussel, 

in several waterways under its jurisdiction, including the Upper Mississippi and St. 

Croix rivers. Because of a decrease in abundance and range of the Higgins’ eye, the Fish 

and Wildlife Service listed it as an endangered species in 1976.67

That same year, various individuals and agencies expressed concern for the Higgins’ 

eye mussel. When the St. Paul District held public hearings on its nine-foot channel 

maintenance dredging, for example, the Fish and Wildlife Service conveyed its 

trepidation about the effects of this action on the Higgins’ eye, especially in the eastern 

channel at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. In response, the district held a meeting with 

commercial clammers, Prairie du Chien’s city council and representatives from the 

State of Wisconsin, as well as the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and 

GREAT, to determine exactly where in the east channel the mussel resided. The group 

discovered that, although mussel beds existed in the southern part of the channel, they 

were not known in the northern part. Based on this information, the district decided 

to dredge the east channel from the north, rather than the south. Marian Havlik, a 

Wisconsin resident who had educated herself about the Higgins’ eye, objected to 

this effort, believing it would still disrupt the mussel’s habitat. The Corps, however, 

believed that because of a slow river current, the dredged material could settle before 

reaching the mussel beds. Besides, the mussels had already survived heavy periods 

of natural siltation due to fl ooding, and the short duration of the dredging would not 

harm them. All interested agencies and commercial clammers accepted the district’s 

revised plan.68

But after the dredging, Havlik went through the spoil and found, in her own words, 

“hundreds of Higgins’ Eye shells.”69 Angry that the St. Paul District had not listened 

to her, Havlik wrote President Jimmy Carter and United States representatives and 
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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64

senators from Wisconsin and Minnesota, protesting that the Corps had knowingly 

violated the Endangered Species Act by not conducting a thorough survey of Higgins’ 

eye mussels before dredging.70 Perhaps exasperated at the outcry Havlik made, some 

Corps’ personnel began referring to her as “that clam lady,” but her actions helped the 

St. Paul District become more aware and knowledgeable about the Higgins’ eye mussel. 

Before this incident, Havlik related, “There was no one in the Corps who could identify 

a mussel species.” After her protests, she said, “The Army Corps realized that never 

again could it dredge a channel without fi rst doing a survey of mussel species in the 

path of the dredge boat.”71

As the district continued to discover Higgins’ eye mussels in its dredging areas, it 

developed a greater concern for them. In 1977, for example, the district discovered the 

half-shell of a dead clam in dredged spoils from the Minnesota River. Although the 

clam could not positively be identifi ed as a Higgins’ eye, the district stopped work for 

two days while a malacologist investigated. Such inconveniences led James Braatz, a 

St. Paul District spokesman, to declare in 1980, “The problem with the Higgins’ Eye is 

that it keeps cropping up where we want to work.” To solve the Higgins’ eye issue, the 

district advocated the establishment of specifi ed areas outside of dredging sites where 

the species could be placed and protected. The Fish and Wildlife Service investigated 

this possibility, but took no action in the 1980s.72

In the 1990s, anxiety about the mussel increased after the St. Paul District learned that 

an exotic mussel species, Dreissena polymorpha, or the zebra mussel, had invaded the 

Upper Mississippi River. The zebra mussel, usually around one inch long, is native to 

central Asia but migrated to Europe in years past. In 1985 or 1986, commercial barges 

with the mussel attached entered the Great Lakes, unintentionally leaving the creature 

behind. Thereafter, the mussel was carried to the Mississippi River by recreational and 

commercial crafts. Once in the Mississippi, the mussel created three problems: fi rst, 

it used strong threads to attach itself to any hard substrate, including water intakes, 
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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65

pipes, valves, buoys, screens and other underwater structures, causing clogging and 

sinkage; second, its large numbers could ruin fi sh spawning habitat; and third, it could 

potentially eliminate the Higgins’ eye and other native mussels by competing for food 

and attaching to their shells, thereby preventing them from migrating or burrowing.73

The St. Paul District initiated a monitoring process of the zebra mussel at its locks 

and dams in 1992; but by the end of the decade, the population of the organism had 

exploded on the Upper Mississippi.74

In 2000, the Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Final Biological Opinion for the operation 

and maintenance of the nine-foot channel navigation project which concluded that 

because of barge movement, the project would continue to facilitate the growth of zebra 

mussel populations, thereby diminishing the survival chances of the Higgins’ eye. 

The Service recommended the Corps conduct a study as to the feasibility of relocating 

populations of the Higgins’ eye mussels to stimulate their population growth, and 

a reconnaissance/feasibility study commenced. In April 2002, the St. Paul District 

released a draft relocation plan under the direction of biologist Dennis Anderson. 

This report proposed establishing ten sites throughout Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and 

Wisconsin, where the Corps could place Higgins’ eye mussels in order to ensure that 

at least fi ve new populations survived. The ten-year plan, estimated to cost $2.66 

million, also called for raising juvenile mussels on certain fi sh species at hatcheries 

and then transplanting these mussels to the relocation sites.75 The next decade would 

show whether or not this plan enhanced Higgins’ eye populations, but the Corps was 

optimistic. Meanwhile, the St. Paul District worked on a zebra mussel reconnaissance 

study, but what solutions this proposed remained to be seen. For the foreseeable future, 

the zebra mussel, in the words of one district offi cial, would continue to be a “multimillion-dollar pest” to the Corps.76

Mussels: Corps’ 

bilogists relocate 

immature Higgins 

eye mussels 

pursuant to 

the Biological 

Opinion. Left 

to right: Randy 

Urich, Dan Kelner 

and Dennis 

Anderson. (Photo 

by Shannon Bauer, 

courtesy of St. Paul 

District, Corps of 

Engineers)
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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66

Conclusion

By 2003, civil works projects on the Upper Mississippi River had produced numerous 

opportunities for the St. Paul District to show its concern for the environment and to 

demonstrate its cooperation with federal, state and local entities. Although the Upper 

Mississippi River Navigation Study and the Midwest Flood of 1993 produced new 

concerns about the Corps’ commitment to environmental values, the St. Paul District’s 

work on commissions, such as GREAT and the Upper Mississippi River Basin 

Commission, together with its implementation of the EMP and its efforts to preserve 

the Higgins’ eye mussel, evinced the district’s environmental awareness. Events on 

the Upper Mississippi showed that balancing the interests of different parties was 

diffi cult and controversial, and that most of the time the Corps could not satisfy all 

viewpoints. The key, according to District Engineer Colonel William Badger, was to 

“swim in the middle of the river” and hope that a moderate approach appeased some 

of the concerns.77

Chapter 3: Endnotes

 1 Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi (Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 

1883), p. 21.

 2 John O. Anfi nson interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 25 October 

2002, p. 21.

 3 Upper Mississippi River Basin Coordinating Committee, Upper Mississippi 

River Comprehensive Basin Study Main Report (Chicago: Upper Mississippi River Basin 

Coordinating Committee, 1972), pp. 1-3, 129-133.

 4 Raymond H. Merritt, The Corps, the Environment, and the Upper Mississippi River 

Basin (Washington, D.C.: Historical Division, Offi ce of Administrative Services, Offi ce of 

the Chief of Engineers, 1984), pp. 53-58, 93.

 5 “Study Calls for Swift Costly Safeguards for River Wildlife,” Crosscurrents 4 

(March 1981): p. 3. Crosscurrents is the St. Paul District’s newsletter.

 6 George W. Griebenow, “A Team Called GREAT,” Water Spectrum 9 (Winter 

1976- 77): pp. 21-23. See also U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, A Public 

Trust: An Executive Summary of GREAT I (St. Paul, MN: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

St. Paul District, n.d.), p. 3, copy in File 870 Great River Environmental Action, Box 3851, 

St. Paul District administrative records, St. Paul, Minnesota [SPDAR]. For an example 

of environmental complaints, see “The Mississippi River: The 20th Century’s Grand 

Canal?” Outdoor America 37 (September 1972): pp. 1, 3 and “Walton League Opposes 

Dredge and Fill Projects on Upper Mississippi River,” Outdoor America 37 (January 

1972): p. 9.

 7 Merritt, The Corps, the Environment, and the Upper Mississippi River Basin, pp. 

65-72.
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

3

67

 8 William R. Pearson and Dennis E. Cin, “The GREAT River Study – A New 

Perspective in River Management,” p. 2, File 870 Great River Environmental Action, 

Box 3851, SPDAR. 

 9 GREAT I Plan of Study, Upper Mississippi River (Head of Navigation to 

Guttenburg, Iowa) (n.p., n.d.), pp. 1-3; U.S., Congress, House, Committee on Public 

Works and Transportation, Water Resources Subcommittee, Water Resources 

Development – 1976: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Water Resources of the 

Committee on Public Works and Transportation, House of Representatives, 94th Cong., 

2d sess., 1976, p. 644; Griebenow, “A Team Called GREAT,” pp. 19-20; Pearson and Cin, 

“The GREAT River Study,” p. 3.

 10 Pearson and Cin, “The GREAT River Study,” pp. 3-5; Raymond Merritt, 

“New Directions: Transitions in the St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers, 1976-1982,” 

unpublished manuscript, St. Paul District, pp. 13-14.

 11 Pearson and Cin, “The GREAT River Study,” pp. 4-5.

 12 “The GREAT River Study – GREAT I,” pp. 4-7, manuscript in File 870 Great 

River Environmental Action, Box 3851, SPDAR; A Public Trust, p. 7; see also “Dredged 

Material Developed into Beaches,” Crosscurrents 4 (July 1981): p. 1.

 13 A Public Trust, pp. 11, 14; unidentifi ed newspaper clipping, File 870 General 

History – Environment (73-79), Box 3848, SPDAR.

 14 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Offi ce of the Chief of Engineers, Engineer 

Profi les: The District Engineer, Interviews with Colonel William W. Badger, by Frank N. 

Schubert (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1983), p. 25 [hereafter cited 

as Badger Interviews].

 15 Quotation in Ben A. Wopat interview by Matthew Pearcy, St. Paul, MN, 

25 April 2002, p. 19, Oral History File, St. Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota; see also 

Merritt, “New Directions,” p. 14.

 16 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Implementation for GREAT 

I Study (St. Paul, MN: St. Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1981), pp. 26-31. 

This report was actually written by Dennis Cin and William Spychalla. Merritt, “New 

Directions,” p. 129.

 17 “Corps Seeks $3 Million to Guard River Habitat,” Quad-City Times, 1 

September 1981; “Corps to Spend $3 Million on Mississippi Cleanup,” Post-Bulletin

(Rochester, MN), 18 April 1983.

 18 Badger Interviews, p. 48.

 19 Unidentifi ed newspaper clipping, File 870 General Historical Activities 

Correspondence, Mississippi River, 1981, Box 3854, SPDAR.

 20 Russel K. Snyder interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 23 October 

2002.

 21 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Great I Implementation Status 

Report and Future Program (St. Paul, MN: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, 

1992), pp. 7-11, 28-31.
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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68

 22 Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission Annual Report/Fiscal Year 1979 

(n.p., n.d.), p. 8, copy in Box 1674, SPDAR; “Mississippi Basin Commission’s New 

Master Plan Draws Fire,” Minneapolis Tribune, 6 January 1982.

 23 Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission Annual Report/Fiscal Year 1979, 

pp. 8- 9.

 24 “Memorandum of Agreement Between U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the 

Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission,” File 1517-08, Box 1637, SPDAR.

 25 Jerry E. Smith, Colonel, Corps of Engineers, Deputy Division Engineer, 

Memorandum, 24 January 1979, File 1517-08 Survey Report – Miss. Rv. Basin (79), Box 

1637, SPDAR.

 26 Quotations and information in “Mississippi Basin Commission’s New Master 

Plan Draws Fire,” Star Tribune, 6 January 1982.

 27 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, North Central Division, Upper Mississippi River 

System Environmental Management Program, Sixth Annual Addendum (Chicago: U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, North Central Division, 1991), pp. 2-4; U.S., Congress, House, 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Water Resources and Environment 

Subcommittee, Proposals for a Water Resources Development Act of 1998: Hearings 

Before the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment of the Committee on 

Transportation and Infrastructure, House of Representatives, 105th Cong., 2d sess., 

1998, pp. 255-256.

 28 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Great I Implementation Status 

Report and Future Program, p. 50; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, North Central Division, 

Water Resources Development in Minnesota 1995 (Chicago: North Central Division, 

1995), p. 18.

 29 Quotation in “Corps of Engineers Mississippi River Pool 8 Environmental 

Project Wins State Award,” St. Paul District News Release, 29 January 2002; see also 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Pool 8 Islands Phase II Habitat 

Project, Stoddard, Wisc.,” <http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/environment/default.

asp?pageid=136> (6 June 2003).

 30 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Mississippi River 

Environmental Management Program, Minn/Wis/Iowa,” <http://www.mvp.usace.

army.mil/environment/default.asp?pageid=74> (6 June 2003).

 31 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Mississippi River 

Environmental Management Program, Minn/Wis/Iowa,” <http://www.mvp.usace.

army.mil/environment/default.asp?pageid=74> (6 June 2003).

 32 Don Powell and Gary Palesh, “EMP Benefi ts More Than 10,000 Acres of 

Habitat,” Crosscurrents 22 (February 1999): p. 4.

 33 Colonel Richard W. Craig interview by John O. Anfi nson, St. Paul, MN, 20 

July 1993, p. 14, Oral History File, St. Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota.

 34 Colonel Roger L. Baldwin interview by John O. Anfi nson, St. Paul, MN, 1 July 

1991, p. 8, Oral History File, St. Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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69

 35 “The Rebirth of Lock and Dam 1,” Crosscurrents 4 (May 1981): pp. 1-2.

 36 Quotation in “Major Rehab Begins at Lock 3, Continues at Lock 2,” 

Crosscurrents 11 (January 1988): p. 11; see also Badger Interviews, pp. 71-72.

 37 “Lock and Dam No. 2 Rehab,” Crosscurrents 10 (February 1987): p. 4; see also 

Colonel Ed Rapp interview by Mickey Schubert, 7 July 1983, p. 1, Oral History File, 

St. Paul District, Minnesota; “Lock & Dam No. 3 Rehabilitation Project Dedicated,” 

Crosscurrents 14 (December 1991): p. 3. For the status of the lock and dam rehabilitation, 

see the various listings for each lock under U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul 

District, “Mississippi Locks and Dams,” <http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/

navigation/default.asp?pageid=145> (6 June 2003).

 38 Michael C. Robinson, “Nightmare in the Heartland: The Great Midwest Flood 

of 1993,” APWA (American Public Works Association) Reporter 60 (September 1993): 

pp. 6-7; “1993 Reviewed,” Crosscurrents 17 (January 1994): p. 4; Lt. Col. Gary M. Koenig, 

“The Great Flood of 1993,” File 1993 Flood, Cultural Resource Management Files, St. 

Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota; David Tenenbaum, “Rethinking the River,” Nature 

Conservancy 44 (July/August 1994): p. 11.

 39 “Corps Finds Itself in Middle of a Heated Policy Debate,” Engineering News 

Record 225 (26 July 1993): p. 14.

 40 Quotations in “Flood Control System Under a Microscope,” USA Today, 9 

August 1993.

 41 Quotations in Tenenbaum, “Rethinking the River,” p. 14.

 42 Charles Camillo, MVD Historian, Memorandum for Matt Pearcy, MVP 

Historian, 28 July 2004, copy provided by Matthew Pearcy. Camillo is the Mississippi 

Valley Division historian.

 43 Quoted in “Flood Control System Under a Microscope,” USA Today, 9 August 

1993.

 44 Gary R. Dyhouse, “Myths and Misconceptions of the 1993 Flood,” <http://

www.mvs.usace.army.mil/dinfo/pa/fl 93info.htm> (6 June 2003).

 45 Craig Interview, p. 17.

 46 Dyhouse, “Myths and Misconceptions of the 1993 Flood.”

 47 “Information Paper, Subject: Floodplain Management,” 22 October 1993, 

File Briefi ng Book: Hearing Before the House Committee on Public Work and 

Transportation Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment on Federal Flood 

Control and Floodplain Policy and Midwest Floods, Room 7112 Civil Works/Policy 

Division/Legislative Initiatives Branch, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

Washington, D.C.; “A Tougher Army Corps,” Kansas City Star, 17 October 1993.

 48 Richard Reeves, “Hurricane$, Earthquake$, and Flood$: If People Want to 

Build Their Houses in Dangerous Places, Why Should the Rest of Us Pay When Disaster 

Strikes?” Washington Monthly 26 (April 1994): p. 12.
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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70

 49 “Costly Flood Control,” Washington Post, 10 July 1995; “Agencies Told to 

Explore Alternatives to Levees,” Star Tribune, 26 August 1993; “In the Flood’s Wake,” 

Star Tribune, 29 August 1993.

 50 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, “The Great Flood of 

1993 Post-Flood Report,” <http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/PublicAffairsOffi ce/

HistoricArchives/Floodof1993/pafr.htm> (6 June 2003).

 51 Interagency Floodplain Management Review Committee, Sharing the 

Challenge: Floodplain Management into the 21st Century (Washington, D.C.: Government 

Printing Offi ce, 1994), pp. v, 98.

 52 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, St. Louis District, St. 

Paul District, Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway System Navigation Study: 

Responses to Issues Raised at the Public and NEPA Scoping Meetings of November 

1994, Interim Product (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1995), pp. 1-2.

 53 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway 

System Navigation Study, pp. 3, 8.

 54 Elaine Kaplan, U.S. Offi ce of Special Counsel, to The President, 6 December 

2000, <http://www.osc.gov/reading.htm> (1 November 2002); U.S. Army Inspector 

General Agency Report of Investigation (Case 00-019), ibid.; see also “Corps Adjusted 

Data to Justify Project, Probe Finds,” Star Tribune, 7 December 2000

 55 Bruce Upbin, “A River of Subsidies,” Forbes 161 (23 March 1998): p. 86.

 56 “Corps of Engineers,” Star Tribune, 15 December 2000.

 57 Ted Williams, “Trouble on the Mississippi,” Audubon 102 (July/August 2000): 

p. 45.

 58 “Cost-Benefi t Trips Up the Corps,” Business Week (19 February 1979): p. 96.

 59 Stephen A. Thompson, Water Use, Management, and Planning in the United 

States (San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 1999), p. 164.

 60 Steve Slade, “Caught in Mid-Stream,” The Nation 221 (6 September 1975): 

p. 179.

 61 Michael S. Baram, “Cost-Benefi t Analysis: An Inadequate Basis for Health, 

Safety, and Environmental Regulatory Rulemaking,” Ecology Law Quarterly 8 (No. 3, 

1980): p. 489.

 62 Williams, “Trouble on the Mississippi,” pp. 40-41.

 63 U.S. Army Inspector General Agency Report of Investigation (Case 00-019), 

pp. 3- 4, <http://www.osc.gov/reading.htm> (1 November 2002).

 64 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, “Frequently Asked 

Questions,” Restructured Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway Navigation Study, 

<http://www2.mvr.usace.army.mil/umr-iwwsns/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.faq> (6 

June 2003).

 65 Colonel Kenneth Kasprisin interview by Virginia Gnabasik, St. Paul, MN, 13 

July 2001, p. 12.
Civil Works Program I: The Upper Mississippi

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71

 66 Restructured Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway Navigation Study, 

“Interim Report – Executive Summary,” p. 1, <http://www2.mvr.usace.army.mil/umriwwsns/documents/IR072502ES.pdf> (6 June 2003).

 67 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Draft April 2002, Defi nite 

Project Report and Environmental Assessment for Relocation Plan for the Endangered 

Higgins’ Eye Pearlymussel (Lampsilis higginsii),” copy provided by Dennis Anderson, 

biologist, St. Paul District.

 68 Norman C. Hintz, Acting District Engineer, to Honorable Hubert H. 

Humphrey, 27 October 1976, File 1520-01 Mississippi River – Dredging (1976), Box 1660, 

SPDAR.

 69 Quoted in Pat Middleton, “The Clam Lady of America’s Rivers: Marian 

Havlik,” <http://www.greatriver.com/clam.htm> (6 June 2003).

 70 Marian E. Havlik to Brigadier General Robert L. Moore, 15 August 1976, 

(copies to Thomas Kleppe, Patrick Lucey, Wendell Anderson, Robert Ray, Gaylord 

Nelson, William Proxmire, Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, and Richard Clark), 

File 1520-01 Mississippi River – Dredging (1976), Box 1660, SPDAR; Middleton, “The 

Clam Lady of America’s Rivers.”

 71 Quoted in Middleton, “The Clam Lady of America’s Rivers.”

 72 Quoted in “Small Creature Might Mussel in on River Dredging Work Again,” 

Tribune, 31 December 1980; see also Bruce Bigelow, “Clams in Need Has Biologist 

Friends Indeed,” Crosscurrents 4 (February 1981): p. 4.

 73 Robert Whiting Memorandum, 15 November 1990, File 1105 Environmental 

Resource Branch General Correspondence (1990), Box 1560, SPDAR; “Draft April 2002, 

Defi nite Project Report and Environmental Assessment for Relocation Plan for the 

Endangered Higgins’ Eye Pearlymussel (Lampsilis higginsii).”

 74 Robert J. Whiting Memorandum, 23 November 1992, File 10-1-7a Exotic 

SpeciesStudy (1992), Box 4338, SPDAR; Dennis Anderson, personal communication 

with the authors, 11 July 2002.

 75 “Draft April 2002, Defi nite Project Report and Environmental Assessment for 

Relocation Plan for the Endangered Higgins’ Eye Pearlymussel (Lampsilis higginsii)”; 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Corps Reveals Draft Plan to Revive 

Endangered Mussel Species,” Press Release, 18 April 2002, <http://www.mvp.usace.

army.mil/news_media/news/PA-2002-0046.htm> (1 November 2002).

 76 Robert J. Whiting Memorandum, 28 November 1994, File 1105 Mussel Activity 

(1994), Box 5601, SPDAR. 

 77 Badger Interviews, p. 48.
Zumbra River: Channel modifi cations 

on the South Fork Zumbro River in 

Rochester, Minnesota, showing 

the pedestrian bridge and riprap 

implemented by the St. Paul District, 

1995. (Photo courtesy of St. Paul District, 

Corps of Engineers)
Civil Works Program II: Flood Control Projects

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73

Throughout the last quarter of the twentieth century, much of the St. 

Paul District’s civil works efforts focused on the Mississippi River. 

However, that waterway was not the district’s only responsibility; it also 

performed fl ood control projects on rivers and lakes throughout North 

Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Just as district undertakings on the 

Mississippi showed the impact of environmentalism on the Corps’ civil 

works mission, so too did these other fl ood control projects demonstrate the evolution 

of the St. Paul District’s environmental awareness. In these other regions, the Corps 

faced different problems than in the Mississippi River Basin. For one thing, agriculture 

dominated the Northern Great Plains, where many of these projects were built, leading 

to confl icts between urban environmentalists intent on halting undertakings and rural 

agriculturists who, in their estimation, needed the projects to survive. For another, 

the fl at topography and cold climate of the Northern Great Plains ensured that Corps’ 

activities would consist primarily of fl ood control, with few navigational concerns. 

Indeed, the La Farge project in Wisconsin, the Devils Lake undertaking in North 

Dakota, the Grand Forks/East Grand Forks project in North Dakota and Minnesota 

and the South Fork Zumbro River undertaking in Minnesota, raised several interesting 

quandaries for the district and are especially good examples of the controversial issues 

and innovative solutions that developed between 1975 and 2003.

La Farge, Wisconsin

The La Farge Project in southwestern Wisconsin was an attempt to tame the Kickapoo 

River, a waterway that fl ows 95 miles through nine communities ranging in population 

from a hundred to more than seven hundred. The river mainly traverses hilly farmland 

before emptying into the Wisconsin River only 16 miles from the Wisconsin’s juncture

4Civil Works Program II:

Flood Control Projects
Civil Works Program II: Flood Control Projects

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74

with the Mississippi. Other than the development of the Corps’ Upper Mississippi 

River policies, perhaps no other project better highlights the impact of the National 

Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, and the environmental movement on the Corps’ 

civil works program. The beginnings of the project stretched back to the 1930s, when 

Kickapoo Valley residents, tired of fl oods that had inundated the region in 1907, 

1912, 1917 and 1935, asked the Corps for assistance. In 1938, the Corps performed a 

preliminary examination of the river but the outbreak of the Second World War stalled 

any decisive action. In January 1962, the St. Paul District issued a report recommending 

that a dam and reservoir be constructed at La Farge for fl ood control, fi sh and wildlife 

enhancement and recreation purposes, and Congress authorized the project that same 

year. In order to build the dam and reservoir, the district acquired 348 tracts of land, 

totaling 8,569 acres, from private residents in the Kickapoo Valley in 1969.1

When the Corps began constructing the dam, Congress had just passed NEPA, thereby 

requiring federal agencies to take into account environmental effects of their actions. 

Bolstered by this statute, environmentalists quickly objected to the La Farge Dam, 

believing that the resulting 1,800-acre lake would inundate a scenic portion of the 

Kickapoo River, would be environmentally unsound and would damage endangered 

plant species such as arctic primrose and northern monkshood. The Corps’ own 

Environmental Advisory Board, created on April 2, 1970, to provide recommendations 

and aid to Corps’ leadership on environmental issues, requested the La Farge project 

be used as a test case to implement Environmental Advisory Board suggestions as to 

how the Corps should interface with the public on controversial issues. However, in 

1971, Environmental Advisory Board chairman Charles H. Stoddard charged both the 

St. Paul District and the North Central Division with, in the words of historian Martin 

Reuss, “undermining the Board’s efforts in the case of the La Farge Dam.” Stoddard 

La Farge: An 

artist concept 

drawing of La 

Farge Lake and 

Dam produced 

in 1972. (Photo 

courtesy of St. Paul 

District, Corps of 

Engineers)
Civil Works Program II: Flood Control Projects

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75

La Farge: Project map, 1998. (Mapo courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Civil Works Program II: Flood Control Projects

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76

believed that district and division representatives had pressured state offi cials to review 

recommendations for fl ood control rather than forming an independent panel for that 

purpose, meaning that no signifi cant dialogue had been conducted about fl ood control 

alternatives. Instead, construction of the dam merely continued.2

In the early 1970s, the Sierra Club fi led two lawsuits against the Corps to stop Corps’ 

work at La Farge but both were dismissed. Late in 1974, the issues reached a head. 

Wisconsin Governor Patrick Lucey and U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin), 

both former proponents of the dam, called for a halt to construction after a University 

of Wisconsin report revealed the lake would probably be rich in nutrients and 

susceptible to weeds and algae due to farmland runoff. Lucey and Nelson asked the St. 

Paul District to consider alternatives to the dam and reservoir. Schooled in traditional 

Corps’ beliefs that dams and reservoirs were the best fl ood control devices regardless 

of environmental effects, District Engineer Col. Max Noah reluctantly agreed, but 

observed, “I think we do owe it to the [Kickapoo Valley] community as a whole to 

continue the project.”3 James Braatz, St. Paul District spokesman, also expressed 

skepticism about alternatives, stating the original proposal was “the only way to go.”4

Such comments prompted the Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin, to editorialize, 

Nothing better exemplifi es the ossifi ed, stratifi ed, obdurate bureaucratic mind 

 at work than the attitude of the Army Corps of Engineers toward any suggestion 

 that, maybe, the dam they are constructing across the Kickapoo River at La Farge 

 might be an environmental mistake.5

The differences between environmentalists and the Corps over the La Farge Dam 

refl ected the general tensions that abounded in the 1970s between the two groups. 

Whereas environmentalists perceived engineers as narrow-minded dam builders 

who were insensitive to environmental concerns, engineers saw environmentalists 

as unrealistic “tree-huggers.”6

 Part of the problem was different perceptions of fl ood 

control. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club endorsed nonstructural solutions 

to fl ooding, such as removing development from the fl oodplain and other management 

techniques, while the Corps still focused mainly on structural answers, such as dams 

and reservoirs. Although the Corps would eventually begin to implement nonstructural 

solutions, the La Farge Project saw it clinging to the structural method.

The St. Paul District agreed to study alternatives to the dam. It formed a partnership 

team for that purpose and even issued a report reviewing alternatives, but it still 

believed that the dam and reservoir were the only viable solutions. After the 

partnership team issued a report in March 1975, affi rming the eutrophic nature of the 

proposed lake and the expense of trying to improve its water quality, Noah defi antly 

declared, “It’s never been my intention to review alternatives,” adding that as long as 

Congress provided the necessary funds, the district would continue to construct the 

dam.7

 A Kickapoo Valley organization, Citizens for Kickapoo, agreed with Noah’s 

stance, presenting Governor Lucey with a 7,000-name petition in support of the dam. 

Faced with the obstinacy of Noah and Kickapoo Valley residents, Nelson, who wanted 

to relocate individuals from the fl oodplain and create a riverway park system, and 
Civil Works Program II: Flood Control Projects

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77

U.S. Senator William Proxmire (D-Wisconsin), who was concerned about the escalating 

costs of the dam, took the matter to the Senate Subcommittee on Public Works and 

eliminated construction funding in November 1975. In response, La Farge residents 

burned Proxmire in effi gy and buried him in a mock funeral, angered that he had 

helped place the project in a state of “bureaucratic limbo.”8

Proxmire’s vilifi cation highlighted another signifi cant theme – the battles between 

urban and rural residents over fl ood control. Most of the opposition to La Farge came 

from residents of Madison and Milwaukee; most of the proponents were centered in 

the Kickapoo Valley. “Kickapoogians” believed the recreation potentials of the dam 

and reservoir were needed in order to stimulate the area’s economy and claimed the 

reservoir was necessary to prevent farmland fl ooding. They resented the intrusion of 

“outsiders,” people who they believed had no economic interest in the project. Jane 

Johnson, a resident of La Farge, expressed her discontent with Nelson and others who 

were “playing on our emotions,” while Bernice Schroeder, also a La Farge citizen, stated 

that opposition to the dam “shows the insensitivity of the urban people to the needs 

and wants of the people here.”9 Ward Rose’s despair went even deeper, as he believed it 

did not matter what La Farge residents actually wanted because, “We are going to end 

up with what some rotten politicians want us to have.”10 Environmentalists disagreed, 

arguing that “the fate of the Kickapoo Valley is of great concern to all Wisconsin 

residents, as the Kickapoo River is an important natural treasure enjoyed by residents 

from all areas of Wisconsin.”11 The St. Paul District was caught in the middle, wanting 

to build the dam and reservoir but facing intense opposition from the other side. 

By the time Nelson and Proxmire successfully persuaded Congress to cut the dam’s 

funding, the Corps had spent approximately $18 million and completed nearly forty 

percent of the project. The dam itself lay across the valley, stopping just at the river. 

A concrete intake tower was fi nished, as was a conduit tunnel and a maintenance 

building.12 Because no taxes were levied on the lands the Corps had purchased from 

valley residents, the community suffered a decrease in tax revenue. Those who sold 

the property criticized the Corps for removing them from their homes for no purpose. 

With such problems, it became imperative either to de-authorize the project or to fi nd 

another solution. Several proposals were introduced, including Nelson’s idea to build a 

riverway park for the National Park Service to administer. But early in 1976, the Interior 

Department declared that the stretch of the Kickapoo River, including La Farge, did 

not meet the criteria for national park or scenic waterway status.13 In 1977, President 

Jimmy Carter recommended the abandonment of the La Farge Project as part of his 

fi ght against unnecessary fl ood control projects, advocating instead the need to focus on 

nonstructural alternatives in the Kickapoo Valley.14

The need to resolve the fl ooding became more urgent in 1978 when the region 

experienced severe summer inundations that caused an estimated $10 million in 

damages.15 After water at a depth of six feet fl owed down its main street, Soldiers 

Grove, a community of fi ve hundred on the Kickapoo, worked with the Department 

of Housing and Urban Development to relocate its homes and businesses a half-mile 

away, placing them out of the fl oodplain.16 Other towns, including La Farge, were not 
Civil Works Program II: Flood Control Projects

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78

so willing to uproot. Thus, 

when Steven Gunderson 

(R-Wisconsin) began 

serving in the House of 

Representatives in 1981, 

he decided to try to fi nd 

a less radical solution to 

the Kickapoo Valley’s 

problems. Gunderson 

asked the St. Paul District 

to consider completing the 

dam as a dry dam, with no 

resulting reservoir. District 

Engineer Colonel William 

Badger agreed to study the 

proposal, but admitted that 

ultimately, Congress had 

the responsibility of telling 

the district what to do with the project. “I’d be willing to do 

whatever Congress, in its wisdom, decides,” Badger stated.17

But Congress took no steps toward deauthorization, leaving 

Badger somewhat frustrated: “It really creates problems for 

me because it is not being funded and yet I have to maintain 

it. I have to keep it clean and keep security on it.”18

Despite Badger’s concerns, the dam remained in limbo. In 

1983, Congress appropriated funds for the dry dam study, 

which was completed in 1984. This report concluded that 

neither a dry dam nor a wet dam was feasible for several 

reasons, including poor benefi t-cost ratios and inadequate 

fl ood protection.19 With no relief forthcoming, some Kickapoo 

Valley residents decided to take matters into their own 

hands and instituted lawsuits against the Corps to force the 

completion of the dam. In October 1985, Martha Rose Driscoll, 

who had sold 200 acres to the Corps in 1970; Ronald Driscoll; 

and Pat Driscoll fi led a suit seeking $110,000 in damages 

and requiring the St. Paul District to fi nish the dam. Two 

months later, Leita Slayton, Darold and Loretta Hanson and 

Schwert Farms fi led a similar suit, claiming that stoppage of 

the project had led to “loss of jobs, tax revenues, and profi ts,” 

and that the lack of fl ood protection “hurt property values 

and left crops unprotected.”20 U.S. District Judge Barbara 

Crabb dismissed the suits in December 1988, but stated that 

if residents “were to show that the Corps acted improperly, 

they might be entitled to have the Corps redetermine whether 

the project should be completed.” Pat Driscoll thus redirected

La Farge Project: 

The La Farge Project 

soon after work was 

suspended, 1979. The 

concrete intake tower 

is in the foreground.

(Photo courtesy of St. 

Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
Civil Works Program II: Flood Control Projects

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79

his efforts and fi led another suit in December 1989, asking the Corps sell acquired 

land back to the landholders if it could not fi nish the dam.21 In September 1990, U.S. 

District Judge John C. Shabaz dismissed the suit, stating that because Congress had 

not provided funds to the Corps for the dam, the Corps could not be obligated to 

complete it.22

With no solution forthcoming, La Farge residents and the St. Paul District continued to 

wait. Some of the land itself, however, was still in use. The St. Paul District leased the 

maintenance building to the town of Stark, Wisconsin, and more than a thousand acres 

of land to nearby farmers. In addition, the Corps allowed some events to occur in the 

vicinity, including annual dog training clinics by the Blackhawk Retrievers Club and a 

couple of gatherings by the Rainbow Family, a group promoting alternative lifestyles.23

A fi nal resolution of the project was still necessary.

In 1991, Governor Tommy G. Thompson of Wisconsin asked the people in the Kickapoo 

River Valley to study the problem and devise a solution. Assisted by Alan Anderson, 

an economic development specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Extension, the 

residents developed a proposal for the government to transfer the disputed 8,500 acres 

of land to the state which would then have a local board administer it as public land. 

In addition, the locals asked the St. Paul District to complete improvements to State 

Highway 131, a road the Corps was supposed to have relocated after the dam was 

constructed. Thompson, stating that the plan went “far towards putting this twentyfi ve year source of pain and confl ict behind us all,” asked Gunderson to usher it 

through Congress.24

In June 1994, Gunderson and U.S. Representative Thomas Petri (R-Wisconsin), 

together with U.S. Senators Russell D. Feingold (D-Wisconsin) and Herbert H. Kohl 

(D-Wisconsin) introduced legislation implementing the proposal. It stated the land 

would be transferred to the state of Wisconsin and designated as the Kickapoo Valley 

State Reserve. It also set up a local citizen’s board to manage the land and provided 

$17 million to complete the road construction and to develop recreational features. 

The law also provided for a part of the 8,500 acres to be given to the Ho-Chunk Indian 

Nation, which resided in the area. Since the early 1970s, numerous surveys in the 

Kickapoo River Valley had uncovered hundreds of archeological sites in the area. When 

Alan Anderson discovered this in the process of developing the transfer proposal, he 

contacted the Ho-Chunk to determine the tribe’s view of these historic and cultural 

resources. Two Ho-Chunk leaders, Joann Jones and Chloris Lowe, subsequently asked 

the federal government give all 8,500 acres to the Ho-Chunk. The Water Resources 

Development Act of 1996 stipulated that no more than 1,200 acres be given to the tribe 

and stated that negotiations over the fi nal amount had to be concluded with the HoChunk before the State of Wisconsin could receive its land.25

For several months, the Corps and state representatives negotiated with the tribe. 

In October 1997, the two sides agreed the tribe would take 1,200 acres – 840 acres 

south of Wildcat Mountain State Park and 360 acres near Black Hawk Rock in the 

southern section of the reserve.26 After this land reverted to the Ho-Chunk, the 

remaining acreage would go to the State of Wisconsin to be governed by the Kickapoo 

Reserve Management Board. The board promised not only to preserve the unique 
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environmental characteristics of the valley but also to promote its use “in a manner that 

encourages an appreciation and advocacy of a natural area.” Kickapoogians hoped that 

increased tourism would arise from this settlement and that the natural reserve would 

mitigate future fl ooding.27

Meanwhile, the St. Paul District used the $17 million provided in the law to improve 

State Highway 131 and to clean up some environmental hazards. The district fi lled in 

the concrete intake tower, capped numerous wells, extricated contaminated soil from 

old dumping sites and conducted real estate surveys. When these necessary functions 

were completed, the district transferred the deeds to the land to the state and the 

Department of the Interior. Except for the ongoing construction on State Highway 131, 

the Corps no longer had a presence at La Farge.28

The unfi nished dam remained at the site, a symbol, according to former district 

historian John Anfi nson, of the impact of NEPA. Anfi nson and others did not see the 

incomplete dam as a Corps’ failure; instead, it merely represented how NEPA had 

affected the Corps’ civil works program. Had the project been constructed before the 

passage of the act, nothing could have been done to stop the destruction of endangered 

plants, scenic beauty and archeological remains. After NEPA became law, it was no 

longer appropriate for the Corps to build without any regard for environmental effects 

and the project was stopped. As Anfi nson related, “The Corps did an excellent job of 

building that project and working on that project and doing what it was supposed 

to do. It couldn’t do anything about NEPA being passed and implemented,” except 

adapt itself to the new regulations.29 Because of controversies like La Farge, it became 

increasingly clear to the Corps that such adaptation was both necessary and desirable.

Devils Lake, North Dakota

Although the La Farge project 

ultimately reached a reasonable and 

acceptable solution for all sides, such 

an answer remained elusive for the 

St. Paul District and the residents of 

Devils Lake, North Dakota. Perhaps 

no other project illustrated the 

diffi culties that could result when 

congressional delegations from 

different states pursued opposing 

solutions to the same problem, and 

perhaps no other project presented 

as many interested parties – federal, 

state, local and international – all 

clamoring for what they thought was 

best for Devils Lake. Whereas most 

fl ood control situations occurred 

on rivers, Devils Lake was a closedDevils Lake: Map of Devils Lake, North 

Dakota, and the vicinity. (Map courtesy of St. 

Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
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basin lake with unpredictable water levels. 

As the lake continued to rise and inundate 

property in the 1990s, Devils Lake residents 

pushed for the St. Paul District to build 

an outlet into the Red River of the North. 

This proposal met neither legal nor Corps’ 

standards and caused an outcry from various 

other “publics,” including the Canadian 

government whose offi cials claimed that it 

would dump damaging levels of saline into 

the Red River, which ultimately fl owed into 

Canada; the Spirit Lake Tribe, which believed 

that the water was sacred and should not be 

manipulated; and environmentalists, who 

believed that the adverse environmental 

effects of an outlet exceeded its benefi ts. 

Caught in the middle of these various 

perceptions, the Corps struggled to fi nd 

a solution that would meet the different 

concerns and still be within its own rigid 

justifi cation guidelines.

Devils Lake, described by North Dakota journalist Peter Salter as “a wooded jewel in 

[the] middle of the prairie,”30 lies at the extremity of a closed subbasin of the Red River 

of the North Basin in north central North Dakota. Unlike most lakes, the waterway has 

no natural outlet unless its water level reaches approximately 1,457 feet above mean sea 

level, whereupon it spills into the Sheyenne River.31 Surrounded by the communities 

of Devils Lake, Minnewaukan, Fort Totten and the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation, the 

lake has been an important economic resource in the area for many years, bringing 

in approximately $50 million annually from recreation.32 Because of climatic swings, 

water levels have traditionally fl uctuated between rising and falling cycles. Around 

1860, the lake entered a falling phase that dropped the water level from 1,438 feet to 

1,402 feet.33 The lake then shifted into a rising cycle that eventually resulted in fl ooding. 

In 1979, lake levels reached 1,426 feet, wiping out railroad bridges and culverts.34 The 

lake continued to rise, leading Congress to authorize the Corps in 1983 to conduct 

studies to determine the best way to protect communities from the rising water. Many 

residents believed the only solution was to provide a man-made outlet for the water. “It 

is impossible to manage the water level in the lake without an outlet,” an editorial in a 

local newspaper suggested.35 Jack Zaleski, managing editor of the Devils Lake Journal, 

agreed. “The cost of no outlet. . .will, in the long run, be very expensive,” he stated.36

St. Paul District leaders did not necessarily oppose construction of an outlet but 

explained it would not be feasible until the lake rose an additional seven feet.37 Colonel 

Edward Rapp, district engineer from 1982 to 1985, cautioned community members 

to consider rising lake levels in their long-term context: “In a very real sense, mother 

nature owns all that property below the natural outlet at 1,457 feet.” Rapp declared that 

fl oodplain management was necessary no matter what other fl ood control solutions 

Devils Lake: A fl ood control 

diversion channel constructed 

by the North Dakota State Water 

Commission in the northeastern part 

of the Devils Lake watershed. (Photo 

by Lyle Nickly, courtesy of St. Paul District, 

Corps of Engineers)
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were implemented and committed the district to a thorough investigation of the 

problem, no matter how long it took. “You should not be panicked into a quick fi x 

which could be bad in the future,” he counseled the community.38 In the meantime, the 

Corps installed levees to protect the City of Devils Lake to a level of 1,440 feet, a project 

that was completed in 1987.39

Part of the reason for the district’s reluctance to place an outlet in the lake was the 

complicated nature of a conduit. William Spychalla, Devils Lake project manager, 

explained there were several obstacles the district needed to overcome before an outlet 

could be constructed. For one thing, the outlet was embroiled in a larger debate over the 

Garrison Diversion reclamation project.40 Authorized in legislation passed by Congress 

on August 5, 1965, the Garrison Diversion Unit would have provided water to eastern 

North Dakota from the eastern end of Lake Sakakawea, a reservoir fi rst formed by 

the construction of Garrison Dam in the late 1940s. The original authorization of the 

unit called for the diversion of Missouri River water to Devils Lake to reduce its high 

salinity, while also recommending the discharge of Devils Lake water into the Sheyenne 

River, which drains into the Red River, thereby tying an inlet and an outlet together. 

In 1974, the Bureau of Reclamation abandoned this plan because of adverse effects it 

would have on the water quality of the Sheyenne and Red rivers, but the idea continued 

to be debated. Some entities, including Canada and the state of Minnesota, objected 

to the strategy because diversions would allegedly transfer water and biota from the 

Missouri River Basin to the Red River, which ran into Canada, in violation of the 1909 

Boundary Waters Treaty between Canada and the United States.41

Because of public clamor for an outlet, the St. Paul District studied the possibilities and 

concluded in a 1988 draft feasibility report that an outlet could be constructed at the 

western end of Devils Lake. The report also proposed studies on regulating upper basin 

drainage areas, evacuating low-lying structures and regulating lakeshore development. 

That summer, however, North Dakota and other Midwestern states entered a period of 

severe drought which dropped the lake from its 1987 high of 1,428 feet to 1,422 feet by 

1993, prompting fears of fi sh kills and other recreational and environmental harm from 

the high salinity of the remaining water. The Corps thus examined how to solve both 

high- and low-water problems in the lake. In 1990, Congress appropriated funds for a 

reconnaissance study for a complete lake management plan conducted by the Corps 

and the Bureau of Reclamation, and, in February 1992, a draft report tentatively found 

that both an outlet and an inlet were economically feasible.42 Some offi cials within the 

St. Paul District were not comfortable with this recommendation. Colonel Richard W. 

Craig, district engineer from 1991 to 1993, believed the district acted too quickly in 

recommending feasibility. “I’m not sure it’s in the best interests of the Corps for there 

to be a Devils Lake project,” he stated in 1993. The ultimate solutions, he believed, were 

more policy-oriented than technology-oriented.43

Conditions again changed in the summer of 1993, when wet conditions drastically 

elevated water levels. Between June and November, the lake rose fi ve feet to 1,427 

feet, and its expansion continued. In 1991, the edge of the lake was approximately 

six miles away from the City of Minnewaukan; but by 1995, water was lapping at 

the community’s sewage lagoon. Hence, the Corps implemented emergency fl ood 
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Devils Lake

Two maps of Devils Lake, North Dakota, show the dramatic expansion of the 

water in the 1990s. (Maps courtesy of North Dakota Department of Natural Resources)
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measures in coordination with other federal, state and local agencies to protect 

lakeside communities from the water’s rapid expansion, including the construction 

of a protective berm around Minnewaukan’s lagoon.44 When the lake continued to 

rise in 1994 and 1995, the St. Paul District completed a contingency plan that outlined 

measures the district could take, including an emergency outlet, upper basin water 

management, relocation of residents and businesses and infrastructure protection.45

In June 1996, the City of Devils Lake requested emergency assistance from the Corps 

to raise its levees an additional fi ve feet (later extended to ten feet), and the Corps 

complied.46 The district also participated in the Devils Lake Basin Interagency Task 

Force formed in 1995. This organization, according to chairman Michael J. Armstrong, 

used “the coordinated activity and commitment of numerous federal, state and local 

government entities along with elected offi cials, private citizens, environmental groups 

and representation from the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe” to “fi nd and propose intermediate 

solutions to reduce the impacts of high lake levels in the Devils Lake Basin.” By 1997, 

the task force had helped to develop fl oodplain maps for the entire basin, to relocate 

twenty-one homes on the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation, to move the sewage lagoon in 

Minnewaukan, to create with the North Dakota State Water Commission 30 thousand 

acre-feet of upper basin storage under the Available Storage Acreage Program and to 

implement agricultural programs to assist farmers who had lost money from fl ooding 

or from the Available Storage Acreage Program.47

Despite the best efforts of the district and the task force, the lake continued to rise, 

causing alarm for those living around it. In 1996, the lake sat at 1,438 feet and engulfed 

approximately 77 thousand acres. This was a signifi cant increase from 1993, when the 

lake rested at 1,428 feet and covered only 45 thousand acres. As the water continued 

to spread, seventy-eight homes in the area qualifi ed for the Federal Emergency 

Management Administration’s fl ood insurance buyout, while the Spirit Lake Nation 

moved more than fi fty homes on the reservation. Some estimates placed fl ood damages 

at $70 million.48 Just as important were the psychological effects. Bobby Michels, a 

lifetime Devils Lake resident, farmed the same land as his father. In 1993, his property 

was a good distance from the lake; but in 1996, the water rested only a mile from his 

house after swallowing 150 acres of his pasture land. The situation convinced him to 

sell his farm and leave the area, notwithstanding his ties to the land. “I don’t have any 

qualms about leaving,” he stated. “We’ve been under so much stress here.” John Grann, 

a farmer who had lost 7,000 of his 8,000 acres to the rising water, agreed. “It’s pretty 

hard to have any optimism,” he related.49

Faced with this situation, many Devils Lake residents clamored again for a manmade outlet, believing this solution would alleviate the situation. As Tim Heisler, 

Ramsey County emergency management director, argued, “There’s only one solution, 

getting rid of some of the water. We need to stabilize the lake.”50 Acting on this public 

sentiment, North Dakota’s congressional delegation, consisting of Senators Kent Conrad 

and Byron Dorgan and Representative Earl Pomeroy, requested in May 1996 that the St. 

Paul District prepare an Emergency Outlet Plan, and the district complied, issuing the 

report in August 1996. This plan, prepared under the direction of Thomas Raster, a civil 

engineer for the district, delineated the best place for an outlet as the West Bay of Devils 

Lake, where water would be pumped through Twin Lakes and the Fort Totten Indian 
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Reservation until it reached a natural divide and fl owed downhill to the Sheyenne 

River. The report also indicated that had an outlet been in place since 1985, it would 

have only lowered the lake’s level by one foot because of pumping capacities, high 

salinity concerns and Sheyenne River water levels. In addition, the same outlet concerns 

raised in the 1980s still existed: Canada, Minnesota, environmental organizations 

and citizens living along the Sheyenne River did not want Devils Lake water in their 

river, whether because of water transfer issues or because of fears that an outlet would 

exacerbate Sheyenne River fl ooding. Likewise, the Corps needed permission from the 

Spirit Lake Nation before outlet construction could begin since the unit would run 

across its reservation.51

Aware of these concerns, the federal government 

still decided to take action. In March 1997, President 

Bill Clinton sent a supplemental disaster aid bill to 

Congress that included $32.5 million to complete the 

design of an emergency outlet.52 Canada immediately 

registered its objections. Lloyd Axworthy, Canadian 

minister of foreign affairs, told the Winnipeg 

Free Press that Canada continued to oppose “any 

interbasin transfers of water as these may cause 

serious biota problems and degrade water quality 

in other basins.” Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon 

explained that Canada could not “support actions 

that will have adverse and possibly disastrous 

consequences for Manitoba and Canada.” Filmon 

urged Axworthy “to push every diplomatic button 

necessary to block the U.S. congressional proposal for 

the emergency outlet.”53

This was not the fi rst time the Corps clashed with 

Canada over a fl ood control project. In the 1970s 

and 1980s, the Corps examined ways to protect the city of Minot, North Dakota, from 

Souris River fl oods. The Souris River begins in Saskatchewan, fl owing south for 217 

miles before entering the United States and North Dakota. The river continues in a 

southeasterly direction through Minot to Velva, North Dakota, where it turns to fl ow 

north back into Canada, eventually joining the Assiniboine River in Manitoba, draining 

a 24,800-square-mile basin. Severe fl ooding in 1969 and 1970 pushed the Corps to 

develop a fl ood control plan for Minot; and in 1970, Congress authorized a two-pronged 

approach: modifying and straightening the channel and constructing a dam and 

reservoir at Burlington. Environmental groups and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

protested these proposals, especially since the resulting reservoir would periodically 

inundate the Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge. Regardless, the channel 

modifi cation plan proceeded on schedule and was completed in 1979. But the furor over 

the dam caused its deferment in 1982 in favor of a four-foot raise of Lake Darling Dam, 

a unit constructed in northern North Dakota by the Fish and Wildlife Service in the 

1930s for migratory waterfowl management.54

Devils Lake: A house 

surrounded by the 

rising water shows the 

predicament faced by many 

Devils Lake, North Dakota, 

residents. (Photo courtesy of 

the North Dakota State Water 

Commission)
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Some groups protested the Lake Darling decision, leading local interests to begin 

discussions with Canada about other solutions. At the time, Canadians were developing 

plans for two dams in Saskatchewan to provide increased power development in 

the area. In the late 1980s, the Corps and Canadian offi cials reached an agreement 

whereby the United States would purchase 400,000 acre-feet of fl ood storage in the 

Canadian reservoirs, thereby providing Minot and other North Dakota communities 

with protection against a hundred- year fl ood event. Under the leadership of Louis E. 

Kowalski, chief of the St. Paul District’s Planning Division from 1979 to 1996, the Corps 

successfully coordinated the agreement with Canada. Both dams, known as Rafferty 

and Alameda, were completed by the mid-1990s, giving North Dakota some measure 

of fl ood protection from the Souris River.55 In this case, interaction with the Canadians 

resulted in a favorable outcome.

But cooperation between Canada and the United States on the Devils Lake issue was 

not as forthcoming. In June 1997, Congress, ignoring Canadian opposition to a Devils 

Lake outlet, passed a bill authorizing the expenditure of $5 million by the Corps 

for preconstruction engineering and design on an emergency outlet, as well as the 

preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS.56 The driving forces behind 

the bill included Senators Conrad and Dorgan, both of whom believed the outlet was 

the best alternative. Because of their efforts, Congress also appropriated $5 million in 

October for the initial building stages, requiring, however, that before any construction 

began, the Corps show that an emergency truly existed, 

that the outlet was technically sound, that it had a favorable 

benefi t-cost ratio, that it would comply with NEPA and 

that it would not violate the Boundary Waters Treaty Act 

of 1909. Conrad and Dorgan also had to agree to shelve 

any plans for an inlet into Devils Lake, mainly because of 

the opposition of Senator Christopher Bond (R-Missouri), 

who publicly objected to the mixing of water between 

watersheds but privately worried that an inlet supplied 

with Missouri River water would reduce reservoir releases 

for commercial barge traffi c on the river, thereby adversely 

affecting an economic segment of the State of Missouri.57

Even with this funding, the Corps estimated it would take 

at least thirty months to construct the outlet, now designed 

to be a 14-mile-long pipeline running from the west end of 

Devils Lake along Peterson Coulee to the Sheyenne River.58

As the Corps began the studies mandated by Congress, it 

also continued to investigate other ways of controlling the 

fl ooding, especially since the lake had risen in July 1997 to 

1,443 feet. Not only were buildings threatened but essential 

roads and state parks faced damage as well. In the spring of 1997, Highways 20 and 57, 

which provide access to the south side of Devils Lake and the Spirit Lake Reservation, 

were fl ooded, necessitating road elevation measures, while four state parks, including 

Narrows and Grahams Island state parks, experienced fl ooding as well. Faced with 

these problems, the Corps worked with other agencies, including the North Dakota 

Devils Lake: Levee 

construction in 1998 on 

a southern section of 

the project adjacent to 

North Dakota Highway 

57. (Photo courtesy of 

St. Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
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State Water Commission and the Fish and Wildlife Service, to implement two other 

solutions to the problem: basin-wide water management and infrastructure protection. 

Together with the emergency outlet proposal, these constituted a “three-legged stool” 

approach to the problem, with each “leg” dependent to some degree on the others. The 

water management strategy built on the Available Storage Acreage Program started by 

the North Dakota State Water Commission and the Devils Lake Basin Interagency Task 

Force in 1995, expanding the number of acres used for upper-basin storage to 75,000 

acres. Meanwhile, the Fish and Wildlife Service identifi ed thirty-six projects in the 

Devils Lake area that had the potential to store 12,774 acre-feet of water permanently 

and completed eight of them in 1996. It also called for wetland restoration in the 

area. As part of the infrastructure protection “leg,” the Corps and the state elevated 

seventeen roadbeds around Devils Lake in 1997 and relocated some pipes and pumps in 

the Ramsey County sewer system. The St. Paul District’s Devils Lake levee raise project 

fi t into the infrastructure protection category as well.59 As Colonel John M. Wonsik, 

district engineer from 1995 to 1998, related in January 1998, balancing environmental 

concerns with the protection of the surrounding communities had made Devils Lake “a 

major challenge for the district.”60

The district received help from other Corps’ entities as mitigation measures continued. 

The Institute for Water Resources prepared a report to Congress explaining whether 

or not an emergency outlet met the required criteria, while staff at the Corps’ 

headquarters assisted the district on two other issues: exploring the possibility of 

waiving the normal NEPA process in order to expedite the outlet’s construction and 

consulting with Canada through the International Joint Commission, or IJC, established 

by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to deal with water quality matters affecting 

both the United States and Canada.61 A decision on whether or not to expedite the 

NEPA process became more critical in October 1997 after a hearing before the Senate 

Committee on Environment and Public Works. In that hearing, Senators Conrad and 

Dorgan, Representative Pomeroy and North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer all pleaded 

for an accelerated process; while Gary Pearson, vice president of the Dakota Prairie 

Audubon Society, strongly counseled against such a waiver.62 On December 19, the 

St. Paul District met with John H. Zirschky, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army of 

Civil Works; to discuss an expedited schedule, but after consultation with the Council 

on Environmental Quality, the overseer of NEPA compliance, Zirschky decided the 

district should “comply fully with the NEPA by completing the Environmental Impact 

Statement and Record of Decision using a normal NEPA process.” Zirschky counseled 

the district to try to complete the work by December 1999 to ensure a construction 

starting date in spring 2000.63

At the same time, consultations occurred among Corps’ headquarters, the IJC and the 

Department of State over Canada’s concerns with the emergency outlet. In October 

1997, Raymond Chrétien, Canadian ambassador to the United States, reiterated his 

country’s concern that “interbasin transfers have the potential to seriously damage 

Canadian waters and Manitoba’s multimillion dollar fi shery.”64 In March 1998, Zirschky 

asked the State Department to consult with the IJC about Devils Lake. Although initial 

reports indicated the outlet would have only a minimal effect on water quality once it 
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reached the Canadian border, the Corps still committed itself to additional hydrologic, 

hydraulic and water quality modeling of the border water.65

But as the studies and consultations extended into 1999, problems developed with 

the Peterson Coulee outlet route. For one thing, the Spirit Lake Nation withdrew its 

support of the course, stating that “the proposed Western Emergency Outlet would 

violate a majority of the sacred sites of the Spirit Lake Nation without regard to tribal 

and Federal laws to protect these culturally sensitive areas.”66 For another, EIS study 

numbers indicated that the Peterson Coulee route did not have a favorable benefi t-cost 

ratio. Finally, it seemed that Peterson Coulee could not meet water quality standards on 

both the Sheyenne and Red rivers unless fresher water could be brought into the outlet 

from the north. Although it was feasible to divert water from northwestern bodies such 

as Pelican Lake to Peterson Coulee, it would escalate project costs to between $75 and 

$110 million, making it even more diffi cult to justify the project economically. Because 

of these concerns, the St. Paul District examined other options, including diverting 

water from the eastern end of Devils Lake into the Stump Lakes. Since the Stump Lakes 

were within the Devils Lake basin, there would be no transfer of water and biota from 

one watershed to another. However, dumping water in the lakes would adversely 

affect a fi sh and wildlife refuge in the area. The need to examine these other alternatives 

delayed completion of the EIS.67

The lake rose to 1,447 feet in 1999. After discussions with Major General Russell L. 

Fuhrman, director of civil works for the Corps; Joseph Westphal, Assistant Secretary of 

the Army for Civil Works; and Conrad, Dorgan and Pomeroy, Major General Phillip R. 

Anderson, the Mississippi Valley Division commander appointed a team in May 1999 

composed of division and district employees to decide what conditions would warrant 

the construction of the emergency outlet.68 When the team issued its report in June, it 

concluded that none of the outlet plans had a favorable benefi t-cost ratio. However, it 

also determined that if an outlet operated when the lake reached 1,454 feet, it “would 

have substantially lower adverse effects than a natural overfl ow” and could “protect 

the population around the basin at a certain elevation.” It, therefore, recommended that 

construction of an outlet commence if the lake reached 1,453 feet, or six feet more than 

its current level.69 Based on this report, Anderson informed Conrad, Dorgan, Pomeroy 

and Governor Schafer that “while I understand your concern and frustration in fi nding 

a timely remedy for the rising lake, I have not reached a conclusion that an outlet is a 

necessary or appropriate solution to the recent rise of water in Devils Lake.”70

Upon hearing the report’s recommendations and Anderson’s conclusions, proponents 

of the outlet were infuriated. “My skin prickled when I read the report,” Schafer related 

before suggesting that state workers might start an outlet “and see if anybody stops 

us.” Schafer could not understand the Corps’ benefi t-cost analysis. “To me, this is like 

fourthgrade math,” he declared. “It costs $100 million to build an outlet. It costs us $25 

million in damages every time the lake rises a foot. So if they let it go up another six 

feet, that’s $150 million in damages.”71 Conrad agreed. “The cost/benefi t ratio is totally 

fl awed,” he stated. “The economic analysis of the Corps is completely detached from 

reality.”72 Residents living within striking distance of the lake’s lapping waters were 

even more livid. “I wish powerful lobbyists could experience the anguish we in Devils 
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Lake feel whenever heavy rains or another winter storm further raises the level,” one 

Devils Laker wrote. “Delaying actions of environmental organizations, downstream 

interests, and ... [the] Mississippi Valley Division have caused clinical depression 

among many of our citizens.”73 Others were not so refi ned in their expressions; some 

citizens began wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase “Six More Feet My Ass.”74

One cause of the outcry was that critics either did not understand or did not agree 

with the method the Corps used to calculate the benefi t-cost ratio. When deciding on a 

fl ood control project on a river, the Corps looked at the probabilities of occurrence of a 

hundred- or fi ve hundred-year fl ood event and then calculated the benefi ts and costs 

based on those risks. Applying this method to Devils Lake caused problems because 

Corps’ data indicated that the lake had not fl ooded – or exceeded 1,457 feet msl – for 

hundreds of years. Since the probability of the lake reaching this elevation was unlikely, 

the project had a low benefi t-cost ratio. A scenario-based approach recognizing that 

problems were occurring even though the lake was below 1,457 feet would produce a 

high benefi t-cost ratio, but the rigidity of Corps’ guidelines for fl ood control projects 

did not allow the application of such a scenario in its analyses.75 Understandably, 

Devils Lakers could not comprehend why the Corps refused to abandon its guidelines, 

especially since the waterbody was a lake and not a river. But the Corps believed it had 

to maintain its standards, especially since Congress had stipulated when making its 

Devils Lake appropriation that the Corps use its normal economic evaluation principles 

and guidelines when analyzing benefi ts and costs. In the words of Colonel James T. 

Scott, district engineer from 1993 to 1995, “When you analyze [the lake] with those river 

methods, you fi nd that there’s no project authorized ... , but we can’t cut through the 

politics, the red tape associated with our standard system.”76

The district, then, faced a major dilemma. As Colonel William J. Breyfogle, who served 

as district engineer in St. Paul for six months in 1998, explained, on the one hand, 

studies showed the inadequacy of an outlet and its lack of economic viability because 

of the diffi culty of predicting whether or not the lake would continue to rise. On the 

other hand, North Dakota’s congressional delegation and residents in the area kept 

pushing for an outlet, believing it was the region’s only hope. “I think that’s why you 

didn’t really see us doing anything besides just sitting back and studying it,” Breyfogle 

commented, “because the powers in USACE knew that it was a losing battle.”77

No matter what justifi cation the Corps used for shelving the outlet, Conrad, Dorgan 

and others continued to fi ght for it. The situation reached a head in July 1999, when 

Conrad, frustrated by Anderson’s outlet position, told the division leader that he was 

“done meeting with [the Corps] because they’re not serious about this and the people 

of Devils Lake deserve better.” After this stormy meeting, Conrad requested that all 

Senate business affecting the Corps, including promotions, be halted, and also, in the 

company of Dorgan and Pomeroy, met several times with White House Chief of Staff 

John Podesta, Joseph Westphal and other Clinton Administration offi cials to underscore 

the importance of an outlet. The pressure tactics worked, as Corps’ headquarters 

assumed responsibility for Devils Lake fl ood control in July 1999, and in October, 

overruled Anderson’s earlier decision by announcing the Corps would resume design 

and engineering work on the outlet.78 When environmental groups heard about the 
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resumption, it was their turn to criticize the Corps. “The politicians have the Corps 

buffaloed on this one,” remarked Gary Pearson of the Audubon Society. “At this 

point, the science has all been thrown out the window.”79 Many environmentalists 

believed the ultimate solution to the problem was better management of the fl oodplain, 

evacuation of those residing in the lake’s bed and a restoration of wetlands in the area. 

In fact, using North Dakota State Water Commission documents from the 1950s and 

1960s, environmentalists claimed that wetland drainage was the chief culprit of the 

rising lake. When they remarked that people should have known better than to settle 

in the lake bed, however, they were accused of being unsympathetic to the plight of 

Devils Lakers.80

Tensions between the different groups mounted as the lake steadily rose. Reaching 

an all-time high of 1,448 feet in August 2001, the lake persisted in creating problems. 

The St. Paul District, meanwhile, maintained its commitment to examining upper 

basin water storage and infrastructure protection. The district completed the levee 

raises around Devils Lake in 2001, receiving a 2001 Chief of Engineers Design and 

Environmental Merit Award for the project.81 The district also continued with the EIS 

and outlet studies, but, because of the environmental and economic diffi culties with the 

Peterson Coulee and Stump Lakes outlets, it began focusing on a Pelican Lake outlet, 

whereby fresh water coming into Devils Lake from the west would be diverted south 

into the Sheyenne (see map of Devils Lake and the vicinity). A draft EIS came out in 

February 2002; and, in February 2003, Chief of Engineers Lieutenant General Robert B. 

Flowers decided the outlet to Pelican Lake was the best course to pursue.82

Flooding at Devils Lake was one of the most complex and controversial problems the 

St. Paul District attempted to solve in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Along 

with the environmental issues that it raised about interbasin transfers, it also saw the 

Corps working and negotiating with several different entities, all of which had their 

Devils Lake: Biologist 

Randy Devendorf 

prepares distribution of 

175 copies of the twovolume Environmental 

Impact Statement on 

Devils Lake, 2002. (Photo 

by Peter Verstegen, courtesy 

of St. Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
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own beliefs about what was best for Devils Lake. In addition, the Devils Lake project 

raised several questions about the process of deciding how and when fl ood projects 

are justifi ed. Should a different economic standard exist for closed-basin lakes than for 

rivers? Is the benefi t-cost ratio the best way to determine a project’s economic viability? 

Should projects be allowed to continue because of political pressure when they do not 

meet environmental and economic standards? Who would stop them if the political 

pressure became too strong? The Corps would continue to wrestle with these questions. 

As David Loss, who assumed management of the project in 2000, related, Devils Lake 

showed the Corps that “we need to remain objective, look at the big picture, and 

understand that we are doing what is best for the federal interest” no matter what 

criticisms or pressures are levied.83 Even then, the chances of pleasing all sides are slim.

Grand Forks, North Dakota/East Grand Forks, Minnesota

At the same time, the St. Paul District dealt with Devils Lake, it was also deepening its 

involvement in a fl ood control project on the Red River at Grand Forks, North Dakota, 

and East Grand Forks, Minnesota. As with Devils Lake, this project contained elements 

of controversy, especially since the Corps had initial diffi culties in obtaining public 

support and cooperation. Unlike Devils Lake, however, a major catastrophe, the 1997 

fl ood, helped to convince residents of both Grand Forks and East Grand Forks that the 

Corps’ fl ood control plan was necessary. An examination of the project also shows some 

of the problems that arose from new cost-sharing measures that were delineated in the 

Water Resources Development Act of 1986.

The cities of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks rest in the heart of the Red River Valley, 

a predominantly agricultural region located approximately 

70 miles south of the Canadian border. Characterized by 

its severe winters, the basin, situated in a fl at glacial plain 

that allows water to spread in every direction, continually 

experienced spring fl ooding from the Red River, which 

forms near the cities of Wahpeton, North Dakota, and 

Breckenridge, Minnesota, and runs north for 400 miles 

before draining into Lake Winnipeg in Canada. Throughout 

the 1800s and 1900s, the Red fl ooded periodically, but 

severe fl oods became more frequent in the 1960s and 1970s. 

Flooding was exacerbated by the fact that spring snowmelt 

poured into the southern portions of the waterway and 

fl owed north into still-frozen reaches of the river, creating 

ice jams that pushed the river from its banks and into the 

surrounding communities and farmland.84

In the spring of 1978, the river crested only a foot-anda-half below the top of emergency levees in Grand 

Forks, intensifying an existing debate over the effects of 

agricultural diking on fl ooding. Beginning in 1975, farmers 

south of Oslo, Minnesota, had constructed dikes to protect 

Ice Jam on the Root 

River, 1982: Ice jams are 

one cause of frequent 

fl oods in the shallow 

river valleys of northwest 

Minnesota and northeast 

North Dakota. (Photo 

by Lyle Nicklay, courtesy 

of St. Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
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their crops from fl ooding. After the dikes successfully stopped the water, farmers 

constructed 38 more miles on the Minnesota side and 10 miles on the North Dakota 

side, providing them with protection against ten and fi fteen-year fl ood levels. Following 

the 1978 fl ood, however, residents of Grand Forks charged that the more numerous 

Minnesota dikes had pushed water to the North Dakota side and called for their 

removal. The St. Paul District investigated the situation, and, according to Peter Fischer, 

a district hydrologist, concluded there was a “potential [for] adverse impacts if [farm] 

levee construction were to continue uncontrolled.” The Corps instructed farmers to 

remove some of their dikes, but agriculturists refused to comply, stating the structures 

would remain until the state or the federal government provided suffi cient fl ood 

protection. In reply, the Corps threatened legal action.85

Before anything could happen, the worst fl ooding since 1897 hit Grand Forks and 

East Grand Forks in the spring of 1979 and easily overtopped the farm dikes. The Red 

River crested at nearly 49 feet, more than 20 feet above fl ood stage, sending 82,000 

cubic feet per second of water through its channel at Grand Forks. Almost before the 

water receded, politicians and citizens called for solutions to the fl ooding problems and 

looked to the Corps for answers.86 U.S. Representative Arlan Stangeland (R-Minnesota) 

convinced the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation to hold a hearing 

in East Grand Forks on the 1979 fl oods and told his constituents that he could “no 

longer tolerate the lackadaisical attitude of the bureaucrats in Washington” about 

Grand Forks/East Grand Forks fl ooding.87

Because of Stangeland’s infl uence, the St. Paul District examined more closely fl ood 

control in East Grand Forks. Actually, the district’s authorization to perform studies 

on the Red River at East Grand Forks issued from the Flood Control Acts of 1948 and 

1950. Following the passage of these laws, the district had prepared fl ood control 

plans but could not get the community to agree to local cooperation until 1975. After 

several years of analysis under the leadership of Martin McCleery, project manager, 

the district rejected any channel modifi cation and dam and reservoir solutions in the 

early 1980s and tentatively proposed building earthen levees and concrete fl oodwalls in 

East Grand Forks at a cost of between $10.7 and $21.6 million to the federal government 

and between $9.8 and $11.6 million to the city. In part because of the cost and in part 

because the main plan the Corps favored would mean the relocation of numerous 

homes and businesses, the reaction of East Grand Forks residents to the proposal was, 

in the words of one newspaper account, “colder than dike patrol duty at 2 a.m. on a late 

March morning.” In order to give itself time to explore its options, the city declared it 

would take a few years to make a fi nal decision as to whether or not to implement the 

Corps’ plan. In December 1986, the Corps completed a general design memorandum, 

which proposed placing a fl ood barrier around part of the city, constructing levees, 

fl oodwalls, closure structures and interior drainage facilities within the city, and 

evacuating residences and businesses that remained unprotected. But in July 1988, the 

city decided to withdraw its support for the project because of high economic and social 

costs. One month later, the project was classifi ed as inactive.88

East Grand Forks’ rejection of the fl ood control project highlighted some of the effects 

of new cost-sharing requirements implemented by the federal government in the Water 

Resources Development Act of 1986. These provisions stipulated that non-federal 
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interests would have to pay from twenty-fi ve to fi fty percent of a fl ood control project’s 

cost and fi fty percent of any feasibility study undertaken by the Corps. In addition, 

local sponsors were responsible for real estate acquisition and relocation of businesses 

and residences.89

Since many buildings in East Grand Forks required moving, this cost, coupled with the 

other required funds, made the project too expensive for East Grand Forks. Although 

other factors were involved, cost-sharing measures ultimately convinced the city that 

federal fl ood control was too expensive and not worth the trouble. According to Colonel 

Kenneth Kasprisin, East Grand Forks was not alone. The problem with cost-sharing, he 

explained was “that there are a lot of communities that cannot pay; they don’t have the 

money to pay.” More and more, Kasprisin argued, the Corps would have to deal with 

its responsibilities to those communities that did not have the necessary funds.90

Meanwhile, the City of Grand Forks faced problems because the Corps could not 

fi nd a project that met its economic feasibility guidelines. In the 1950s, the Corps had 

constructed a permanent levee project, but now no other projects had favorable benefi tcost ratios. “That doesn’t mean the city can’t protect itself physically,” Tom Raster, an 

engineer for the St. Paul District, explained, “but we had to get a dollar or more back 

with every dollar we spent there. On Corps’ standards, we couldn’t do it.” Because the 

district’s hands were tied, the city dealt with the problem itself, improving emergency 

levees along the river and working on an upward channel diversion of the English 

Coulee. According to Raster, such improvements would protect the city against fi ftyyear fl ood levels. “The city, I think, is doing just a fantastic job of self-help, in light of 

federal limitations,” he concluded.91

In 1985, however, city engineers and 

leaders in Grand Forks requested 

assistance from the St. Paul District 

to develop a more extensive fl ood 

control system. In response, the district 

completed a draft reconnaissance report 

in April 1991 that concluded a couple 

of different plans might exist with 

favorable benefi t-cost ratios. Based on 

this determination, the Corps began 

feasibility studies of the different 

proposals in January 1994. But despite 

city offi cials’ requests for help, the 

district had to try to heighten public 

support for fl ood control in Grand 

Forks. According to Edward McNally, 

who served as study manager for the 

feasibility report, city engineers realized Grand Forks did not have adequate fl ood 

protection, but the citizens themselves believed no problem existed. “They had fl ood 

fi ghts that they had successfully been able to weather,” McNally related, “and they had 

a spirit that said, ‘We can do it again, and we don’t need anybody’s help.’” In addition, 

the fl ood of 1979 was a distant memory. Although fl ooding occurred in 1989, it did 

Red River Flooding: North Main Stem, 

1997, at U.S. Highway 2 (Kennedy) 

Bridge. (Photo courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps 

of Engineers)
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not approach the levels experienced in 1979. The challenge for the district, McNally 

explained, “was convincing them that the water could get” as high or higher than 1979, 

“and, in fact, at some point would get that high.” Moreover, he continued, “ it was in 

their interest to be proactive,” especially if economically viable solutions were available.

As the feasibility study neared completion early in 1997, the public began to accept 

the Corps’ position.92 But before the study could be issued, nature proved the need for 

additional fl ood protection. During the winter of 1996-1997, a record amount of snow 

fell in the Red River Valley, including Grand Forks, which had an accumulation of 97.7 

inches. In February and March, the National Weather Service predicted severe fl ooding 

in the Red River Valley. When a blizzard hit the region on April 6, it only added to 

the problems. Then, warmer temperatures arrived, causing a rapid snowmelt. With 

meltwater pouring in, the Red River rose to 53 feet at Grand Forks, far above fl ood level 

stage and four feet above the 1979 crest. Despite the best efforts of the Corps and the 

citizens of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks to prepare for the fl ooding, the water 

breached dikes and levees, sending torrents of water through the two cities, knocking 

out power and contaminating water supplies. Nearly everyone in East Grand Forks was 

forced to evacuate and ninety percent of Grand Forks’ 52 thousand citizens had to leave 

as well, especially after fi res broke out in the downtown area, burning eleven buildings. 

By the time the river crested at 54.3 feet, more than 26 feet above fl ood stage, water and 

fi re had nearly wiped out both communities.93

In the wake of the devastation, citizens in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks clamored 

for the Corps to provide fl ood protection. As McNally related, “The issue at that 

point of [citizens] trying to say that there was not a potential for fl ooding and that 

they weren’t really at risk ... was pretty much gone.”94 Before the fl ood hit, the Corps’ 

feasibility study was calling for hundred-year fl ood protection plan consisting of 

construction of a ring levee around Grand Forks at a cost of $39 million, with local costs 

slightly less than $10 million.95 In order to expedite the construction process, however, 

the Grand Forks feasibility study was never fi nalized; instead, planning, engineering 

and design authority for the East Grand Forks project was reactivated in May 1997, 

and the authority was expanded to include Grand Forks. As part of the planning, 

engineering and design process, the St. Paul District prepared a General Reevaluation 

Report to ascertain the best plans for fl ood protection in the two communities.96

In preparing the draft General Reevaluation Report, completed in August 1998, the 

Corps examined and rejected several primary strategies for fl ood protection, including 

upstream reservoir storage (because of the fl at drainage area upstream) and evacuation 

(because of its social unacceptability). The district also determined that the alternative 

preferred by the two cities, a split-fl ow diversion channel, was not cost effective, having 

a benefi t-cost ratio of 0.4. Instead, the Corps decided that a large setback levee and 

fl oodwall system along both sides of the river was the most feasible plan, whereby 

the Corps would build three “rings” of levees around the cities. But because the 

communities had already seen levees fail in the 1997 fl ood, they were reluctant to accept 

the Corps’ analysis, and some even believed the district was intentionally skewing the 

fi gures against a diversion. To forestall such criticisms, consultants were hired to study 

the diversion channel, and they reached the same conclusion as the Corps – a diversion 
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could not meet the economic standards and would be twice as expensive as the leveesonly plan. The communities accepted these conclusions and, on February 26, 1998, 

voted to approve the levees-only project, which was estimated to cost $342.7 million, 

$170.8 million of which was required as the non-federal cost.97

Throughout 1998, the Corps worked to fi nalize its General Reevaluation Report and 

the EIS under the leadership of Lisa Hedin, project manager, and Edward McNally, 

technical manager. In doing so, it encountered some opposition from residents of 

both communities over the placement of the levees. In order to provide the best fl ood 

protection, the levees would have to be set back on the riverbank, requiring the removal 

of residences and other structures. Just as in the 1980s in East Grand Forks, landowners 

were not pleased with this requirement, but district offi cials, through a series of public 

meetings and studies conducted by outside consultants, fi nally convinced citizens that 

most of the structures could not be protected and would have to be removed. At the 

same time, the public’s objections forced the Corps to examine other options, and in 

some cases, the district was able to use innovative alternatives, such as a mechanically 

stabilized earthwall and an invisible fl oodwall, to preserve some of the structures.98

With the levee placement resolved, the district completed its Final General Reevaluation 

Report and Environmental Impact Statement in 1999, issuing it less than eighteen 

months from its conception rather than the normal thirty-two to forty-eight months, in 

large part because of the diligent work of the project’s planning team. This effort was 

recognized in September 1999, when the district received an Outstanding Planning 

Achievement Award for Civil Works for the Grand Forks/East Grand Forks General 

Reevaluation Report and EIS from the deputy commander. The expedited schedule also 

allowed Congress to authorize the project in an omnibus spending bill in 1999, meaning 

that plans for construction could proceed.99

Only two years after the devastating fl ood, then, the Corps had the authorization and 

money for the Grand Forks/East Grand Forks project. This was not only important 

for the two communities but also for the St. Paul District, which was experiencing a 

decline in large fl ood control projects. In 1995, for example, Colonel James T. Scott, 

outgoing district engineer, noted that “St. Paul’s workload is falling off.” He lamented 

this drop, especially since the district “has had a great history of fl ood control and 

navigation within its area of responsibility.”100 The Grand Forks/East Grand Forks 

project reversed that decline and proved itself a boon to the district, both in terms of 

workload and employment. In the words of McNally, it was a “big step” for the district 

to receive authorization for the project.101 Colonel William Breyfogle echoed those 

sentiments, stating that Grand Forks was “something that we could do that would 

really make a difference.”102

With congressional funding, Phase I construction on the levees themselves began in 

the summer of 2001, with the completion date of the entire project estimated to be 

2004. Upon its completion, Grand Forks and East Grand Forks would have protection 

against a 210-year fl ood equivalent to the 1997 disaster.103 The St. Paul District involved 

both communities in meetings, making their leaders feel like part of a team.104 Grand 

Forks and East Grand Forks residents questioned the project before the 1997 fl ood, but 
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they later cooperated with the district, providing suggestions and accepting Corps’ 

decisions, albeit with some grumbling. The productive collaboration stemmed in part 

from the good relationships that district employees established with residents during 

the fl ood fi ght in 1997, in part from the communities’ desire to protect themselves 

against future fl oods and in part from the Corps’ willingness to use outside consultants 

to validate its conclusions.

South Fork Zumbro River at Rochester, Minnesota

Probably the best example of citizen cooperation on a civil works project was the South 

Fork Zumbro River Flood Control project at Rochester, Minnesota, completed in the 

1990s. As Colonel James T. Scott said in 1995, this undertaking was “one of those classic 

projects that I would recommend to other district engineers to look at and to study 

if they want to know how to run a project.”105 Few other developments enjoyed the 

amount of local fi nancial support as Rochester and few won as many awards. Although 

there were some environmental controversies, the project was one of the major civil 

works successes for the St. Paul District in the last quarter of the twentieth century.

The city of Rochester, located in southeastern Minnesota about 80 miles south of St. 

Paul, is located on the fl oor of the South Fork Zumbro River Valley. At Rochester, three 

other streams join the Zumbro, a 50-mile tributary of the Mississippi, including Cascade 

Creek from the west, Silver Creek from the east and Bear Creek from the south. Some 

describe Rochester as sitting in a bowl, as the southern and western parts of the city 

consist of high undulating land while the eastern and northern ends have high bluffs 

and steep ridges. Because of the topography of the area and the confl uence of the four 

waterways, Rochester, with approximately a third of the city located in the fl oodplain, 

is susceptible to fl ooding, especially after heavy rainstorms.106

Flash fl ooding had periodically inundated the city since its founding in 1854. In order to 

solve this problem, Congress authorized the Corps to complete a study on the Rochester 

area in 1936, but little action occurred until a major fl ood in 1962 caused more than $1.6 

million in damages. By 1972, the St. Paul District completed preliminary examinations 

of channel improvements, fl oodwalls and levees for Zumbro River, Bear Creek and 

Cascade Creek; and by the mid-1970s, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Soil 

Conservation Service (now known as the Natural Resources Conservation Service) had 

initiated plans to construct seven headwater reservoirs in the area. Congress endorsed 

these proposals in 1974; and for the next four years, the Corps worked with the Soil 

Conservation Service, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and local 

interests to develop the plans, completing a Phase I General Design study in 1977.107

Before the Corps could complete any further reports, however, a torrential rainstorm 

devastated Rochester. On the evening of July 5, 1978, approximately six inches of rain 

fell on the city, swelling Cascade Creek, Bear Creek and the Zumbro itself. By the next 

morning all three waterways had overfl owed, pouring water into downtown Rochester. 

When the Zumbro fi nally crested at 23 feet, it was 19 feet higher than it had been 

twenty-four hours earlier. The deluge of water killed fi ve people, forced fi ve thousand 

more from their homes and caused $60 million worth of damage.108 In response to the 
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fl ood, Representative Albert H. Quie (R-Minnesota) asked Congress to authorize the 

construction of the planned fl ood control project, stating that had it been in place in 

time for the rainstorm, “damage to personal property and public buildings would have 

been minimal.”109

Unfortunately, declarations of the necessity of the Rochester project occurred when 

congressional and executive support for federal water projects was ebbing. Because 

of environmental concerns, budget defi cits and the policies of both Jimmy Carter 

and Ronald Reagan, no omnibus water resource authorization bills passed between 

1976 and 1986, and the Rochester project itself received no funding. Although the 

undertaking seemed worthwhile, construction funds were unavailable until 1986.110

In the mid-1980s, Congress and the Reagan Administration agreed that local and state 

governments should make signifi cant contributions towards fl ood control projects. 

Based on that idea, Congress passed the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 

which implemented new cost-sharing requirements and authorized a hundred 

and fi fteen fl ood control projects for construction or study, including the project at 

Rochester.111 Under the new stipulations, Rochester had to contribute more than 

$17 million to the estimated $68 million necessary for the project, rather than the $7 

million under the old plan, but the city was prepared. Although the project had hung 

in limbo for several years, city leaders believed it would eventually gain approval. In 

1982, Rochester had added a one percent increase to the state sales tax and devoted 

the proceeds to fl ood control, collecting $10 million by 1987. These accumulated funds, 

together with the money that continued to accrue, largely handled the city’s costZumbra River 

Flooding: 

Rochester, 

Minnesota, 

1978. (Photo 

by Russ Snyder, 

courtesy of St. 

Paul District, 

Corps of 

Engineers)
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Before & After

The South Fork Zumbro River, before and after: The fi rst photograph (top) 

shows the construction of walls along the river near the Civic Center. Note the 

house in the background that the project would protect. The second (below) 

shows the completed project, with the area of the fi rst image in the lower right 

quadrant. (Photos by Russ Snyder, courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
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sharing requirements. As Jim Gagnon, a St. Paul District project manager, explained, the 

city “had great foresight in setting up the sales tax.”112

By assuming a portion of the project’s costs, Rochester not only fulfi lled its legal 

requirements, but also made itself a partner with the Corps, enabling city leaders 

to offer suggestions and work with the district to ensure its desires were met.113 St. 

Paul District employees, who were not used to such involvement, soon realized 

local sponsors could provide meaningful dialogue and useful ideas in a project’s 

construction. Although confl icts inevitably developed, both the district and the city 

learned to work well together, providing the Corps with an example of what could 

happen with good partnerships.114

With cost-sharing funds and congressional authorization in place by 1987, the city 

signed a Local Cooperation Agreement and construction began. Following its 1970s 

proposal, the district, under the leadership of project manager Deborah Foley, began 

deepening and widening the channels of Zumbro River and Cascade and Bear creeks. 

Most of the undertakings occurred in downtown commercial areas, residential 

neighborhoods, parks and a municipal golf course. In order to provide slope protection, 

the district lined banks of the waterways with riprap, concrete and steel-sheet piling. 

Coupled with the storage reservoirs built by the Soil Conservation Service in the 1980s 

and 1990s, these changes provided Rochester with protection from a two hundred-year 

fl ood event.115

Despite the district’s best efforts, controversies arose. By 1990, the estimated cost of the 

project had escalated from $86 million to $120 million, and the district had to spend 

much time justifying these increases 

to the city. Because of the higher costs, 

Congress also had to reauthorize the 

project. Refl ecting these delays, the 

Corps calculated the project could 

not be completed in 1994, as it had 

originally estimated, but would now 

stretch into 1997. The city objected 

to this revised timeline, forcing the 

district to reconsider its reckonings. 

Upon a reexamination, the district 

determined that if all went well, it 

could complete the project in late 

1995. “There will be no slack in the 

schedule,” Foley admitted, “but it’s a 

doable schedule.”116

At the same time, environmental 

criticisms began to emerge. Although 

the Corps tried to mitigate the 

riprapping effects, many residents 

complained about the aesthetic 

degradation of the river, as well 

Zumbra River: Channel modifi cations on 

the South Fork Zumbro River in Rochester, 

Minnesota, showing the pedestrian bridge 

and riprap implemented by the St. Paul 

District, 1995. (Photo courtesy of St. Paul District, 

Corps of Engineers)
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as the destruction of numerous trees lining the Zumbro’s banks. One letter to the 

Rochester Post-Bulletin objected to the Corps’ “rape of nature,” stating the project 

destroyed “dozens of beautiful oak trees and a pristine area of wildfl owers, fl owering 

shrubs and trees, a sanctuary for birds, squirrels and other wildlife.”117 Others called 

the project “outdated, expensive, impractical, and destructive,” believing it would 

only create “riprapped mud fl ats” at the expense of numerous trees.118 As one critic 

bluntly declared, “If this is [the Corps’] idea of ‘aesthetic design,’ please refrain from 

showing me any more of it.”119 In response to the complaints, the district intensifi ed its 

efforts to provide aesthetically pleasing features, laying topsoil and sod over riprap, 

commissioning artist Anne Plummer to create a mural for a downtown section of 

fl oodwall, placing decorative handrails throughout the project, using native plants for 

landscaping and emphasizing sustainable development wherever possible.120

Other problems arose from the destruction of wildlife habitat, especially fi sheries, 

because of channel deepening. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources 

requested the Corps purchase lands adjacent to the Keller Wildlife Management Area to 

mitigate these impacts. Although it initially rejected that proposal, the Corps eventually 

acquired 140 acres near the Keller area and deeded them to the State of Minnesota. The 

Corps also placed rock structures in the river to serve as current defl ectors and fi sh 

cover, concentrated water depths in low-fl ow channels during dry seasons and used 

rock clusters, groins and weirs to create fi sh-spawning pools. In addition, the city’s Park 

and Recreation Department stocked the Willow Creek Golf Course and Chester Woods 

reservoirs with fi sh.121 These measures helped to dissipate some of the criticism, as did 

a prevailing belief that the project was necessary despite the environmental costs. “Any 

destruction of trees and natural habitat is a cause for regret,” an editorial in the PostBulletin explained. “We would prefer a natural, meandering stream, but not at the cost 

of a never-ending risk of a disastrous fl ood.”122

As construction continued in the early 1990s, the Corps and the city were happily 

surprised when costs began dropping. In October 1991, construction bids for one 

portion of the project came in at less than sixty percent of the original estimate, 

providing a considerable savings.123 Innovations led to lower costs as well. For example, 

moving residences rather than building a half mile of proposed levee at the upstream 

end of Cascade Creek saved $800,000 and decreasing the scope of channel modifi cations 

on that creek from 9,000 to 4,000 feet recovered an additional $5 million, while also 

preserving existing parks and neighborhoods. According to Foley, value engineering 

accounted for a discount of $4 million. These reductions meant that instead of the $123 

million projected in the early 1990s, the total cost of the Corps’ portion of the project 

decreased to $97 million.124

When the Corps fi nished its construction in August 1995, one month ahead of schedule, 

all parties seemed pleased. Rochester Mayor Chuck Canfi eld declared it “the best 

project in the country” and many citizens agreed.125 Even before fi nal completion, 

people were using the 6.5 miles of recreational trails developed along the river, as well 

as the pedestrian plazas and picnic shelters. Frank Star, a planner for the district who 

helped design the recreational aspects, said he “felt good” when he saw how much 

people enjoyed the trails.126 Others in the district also recognized the “enthusiastic 
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local response” to the project, proudly claiming that “rather than mere satisfaction, the 

project has elicited delight from ... the citizens of Rochester, for its fl ood protection and 

social and economic benefi ts.”127

People outside of the St. Paul District also acknowledged the superiority of the project. 

In 1996, when the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers proclaimed it one of 

the “Seven Wonders of Engineering” for that year, the judges emphasized the effective 

coordination between the Corps and the city.128 That same year, the project won the 

prestigious Award of Excellence from the Chief of Engineers Design and Environmental 

Awards Program. Although a Corps’ award, a non-Corps’ jury, which had to be 

unanimous, selected the winner. By 2004, the St. Paul District received four other 

Awards of Excellence – for the Lock and Dam 1 rehabilitation in 1983; for the Weaver 

Bottoms Rehabilitation Project in 1989; for the St. Paul, Minnesota, Flood Control 

Project in 1998; and for the Pool 8 Islands Project in 2004. In addition, Foley received 

the Corps’ Project Manager of the Year Award in 1996, and George V. Fortune, a design 

engineer on the Rochester project, received the 1996 Corps’ Design Engineer of the Year 

Award.129

For those associated with the project, it was not diffi cult to understand why it received 

so many accolades. Foley attributed it to numerous factors, including her capable 

district staff, the coordination between the district and the city and the recreational and 

aesthetic elements.130 Russel K. Snyder, a project manager and landscape architect in 

the district, believed the Rochester project was an ideal example of how cost-sharing 

created a working partnership between the Corps and a local sponsor.131 A Corps’ 

summary of the project explained that its success stemmed from cooperation between 

federal, state and local government agencies which generated “innovative solutions to 

benefi t the public.” No better example existed, the summary continued, “of recreational 

planning, attractive design, and environmental sensitivity integrated with high quality, 

cost effective urban fl ood control.” In fact, it concluded, the major reason for the 

project’s success “was the spirit of partnering and teamwork that prevailed throughout 

its design and construction,” whereby the local sponsors “became active members of 

the project team.”132

This project, then, was a showcase for the St. Paul District’s competence in civil works. 

Although environmental concerns were raised about the project, the Corps’ own 

mitigating efforts, coupled with aid from the city, mollifi ed these criticisms to a large 

degree. Perhaps no other project developed better cooperation between the district 

and the local sponsor, and this cooperation, as with the Grand Forks/East Grand Forks 

project, ensured the success of the undertaking. Relationships were not always perfect 

between district representatives and city leaders, but the creation of a team mentality 

facilitated good relations and enabled the Corps to implement effi ciently a project that 

provided security, recreation and economic benefi ts. As Colonel James Scott declared, 

“It was just a win/win situation.”133

Conclusion

The civil works projects discussed above were by no means the only important 

undertakings for the St. Paul District between 1975 and 2000. As with Rochester, 
Civil Works Program II: Flood Control Projects

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other projects received prestigious awards, such as the St. Paul Flood Control Project. 

Undertakings other than Devils Lake also had international implications. As with 

Grand Forks/East Grand Forks, other Corps’ work received more attention after 

disastrous fl oods, such as the Red River Project at Wahpeton, North Dakota, and 

Breckenridge, Minnesota. Finally, other undertakings besides the La Farge Project, 

including the Prairie du Chien Project of the 1970s and 1980s, were drastically affected 

by environmental concerns. But the La Farge, Devils Lake, Grand Forks/East Grand 

Forks and South Fork Zumbro undertakings clearly highlighted the major themes that 

the St. Paul District faced in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Environmentalism, 

cost-sharing, benefi t-cost analyses and cooperation with international, federal, state 

and local agencies all infl uenced the district and the Corps throughout this period. 

Because of these issues and because of important legislation such as NEPA and 

the Water Resources Development Act of 1986, the Corps’ civil works program 

changed dramatically. The successes of the St. Paul District resulted in large part 

from its willingness to accept that change – diffi culties with environmentalists, local 

communities and politicians arose, at least to some degree, from infl exible attitudes. As 

Colonel Kenneth Kasprisin explained, if district employees “see [the] opportunities with 

... change then we’ll continue to do extremely well. If they hide from it ... then there will 

be problems.”134 Nowhere was this more apparent than in the St. Paul District’s civil 

works program.

Chapter 4: Endnotes

 1 “La Farge Lake and Channel Improvement, Kickapoo River, Wisconsin,” Water 

Resources Fact Sheet, 3 September 1975, pp. 1-2, Box 6407, SPDAR; Merritt, Creativity, 

Confl ict and Controversy, pp. 413-414.

 2 Martin Reuss, Shaping Environmental Awareness: The United States Army Corps of 

Engineers Environmental Advisory Board, 1970-1980 (Washington, D.C.: Historical Division, 

Offi ce of Administrative Services, Offi ce of the Chief of Engineers, 1983), 1, 14, 20.

 3 Quotation in “Corps to Look at Alternatives to La Farge Dam Construction,” 

Winona Daily News, 12 January 1975. See also Merritt, Creativity, Confl ict and Controversy, 

p. 415.

 4 Quoted in “Corps Coached Pro-Dam Group on Pressure Tactics,” Capital Times

(Madison, WI), 10 January 1975.

 5 “Kickapoo Alternatives,” Capital Times, 9 January 1975.

 6 Quotation in John Anfi nson interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 25 

October 2002, p. 21; see also Jamie W. Moore and Dorothy P. Moore, The Army Corps of 

Engineers and the Evolution of Federal Flood Plain Management Policy (Boulder: Institute of 

Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, 1989), p. 91.

 7 Quotation in “Corps Builds, No Matter What,” Capital Times, 18 March 1975; 

see also “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, La Farge Reservoir and 

Lake Dam,” Section 8, p. 33, File La Farge Management, Box 6410, SPDAR.
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 8 Quotation in “Congressmen Still Fret Over La Farge Dam,” La Crosse Tribune, 

25 January 1976; see also Merritt, Creativity, Confl ict and Controversy, p. 416; “National 

Register of Historic Places Registration Form,” Section 8, pp. 34-37.

 9 “Army Halts LaFarge Dam Work,” Wisconsin State Journal, 10 April 1975.

 10 “Study Proposals Inundate La Farge,” La Crosse Tribune, 27 April 1976.

 11 “June 19 LaFarge Dam Hearing Hit by Audubon Society,” Courier Press

(Prairie du Chien, WI) 22 June 1981.

 12 Richard J. Otto interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 23 October 2002, 

p. 3. Otto, a recreation and natural resources planner in the La Crescent, Minnesota, 

fi eld offi ce of the St. Paul District, had charge over the La Farge project for many years 

after its deauthorization.

 13 “National Register of Historic Places Registration Form,” Section 8, p. 37; 

“Kickapoo Denied Designation as Park, Waterway,” La Crosse Tribune, 27 June 1976.

 14 Merritt, The Corps, the Environment, and the Upper Mississippi River Basin, 78.

 15 “Draft, Position Paper, La Farge Lake and Channel Improvement, Wisconsin,” 

3 December 1981, p. 2, File 1501-07 Reference Paper Files – La Farge, Wisconsin, Box 

7932, SPDAR.

 16 Merritt, The Corps, the Environment, and the Upper Mississippi River Basin, 79.

 17 Unidentifi ed newspaper clipping, 20 February 1981, File 870 La Farge, 

Wisconsin (1980-1981), Box 3864, SPDAR.

 18 Badger Interviews, p. 22.

 19 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Special Report: Reevaluation of 

La Farge Dam, Kickapoo River Valley, Wisconsin, Dry Dam and Wet Dam Alternatives (St. 

Paul, MN: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, 1984), p. 43.

 20 Quotes in “Lawsuits Push Dam Project,” La Crosse Tribune, 19 December 1985; 

see also “LaFarge Dam Project Subject of Suit Filed Against Fed. Govt,” Courier Press, 

30 October 1985.

 21 “La Farge Dam Fight Not Over Yet,” La Crosse Tribune, 7 January 1990.

 22 “Dam Project Dead in Water,” La Crosse Tribune, 6 September 1990.

 23 “LaFarge Project Waits for Deauthorization,” Crosscurrents 10 (May 1987): 

pp. 8-9; “St. Paul District Successfully Manages Rainbow Event,” Crosscurrents 15 (July 

1992): pp. 1- 4; Otto Interview, pp. 3-4.

 24 Tommy G. Thompson, Governor, to The Honorable Steven Gunderson, 14 

April 1994, File La Farge Correspondence, Box 6407, SPDAR.

 25 “Master Plan for the Kickapoo Valley Reserve,” p. 2-3, File 1110-2-1150a La 

Farge Flood Control Record of Decision, Box 6417, SPDAR; Marcy West to Dawn Make 
Civil Works Program II: Flood Control Projects

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Strong Move, 13 February 1997, File LaFarge Ho Chunk, Box 6410, SPDAR; Ron Wilber 

to Larry Garvin, HoChunk Researcher, 10 February 1997, File LaFarge Ho Chunk, Box 

6410, SPDAR; U.S., Congress, House, Committee on Public Works and Transportation, 

Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee, The Water Resources Development 

Act of 1994 and Issues Related to Reauthorization of the Civil Works Program of the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Water Resources 

and Environment of the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, House of 

Representatives, 103d Cong., 2d sess., 1994, p. 113; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. 

Paul District, “Information Paper, Subject: Proposed De-authorization of the La Farge 

Dam Project,” 24 July 1995, copy provided by Richard J. Otto, St. Paul District; “Focus: 

Kickapoo Valley – Ho-Chunk Add to Trust Holdings,” Wisconsin State Journal, 29 

October 1997; John Anfi nson Interview, pp. 12-14.

 26 “Focus: Kickapoo Valley – Ho-Chunk Add to Trust Holdings,” Wisconsin State 

Journal, 29 October 1997; John Anfi nson Interview, p. 13.

 27 “Master Plan for the Kickapoo Valley Reserve,” pp. 1-2.

 28 Otto Interview, pp. 6-8.

 29 John Anfi nson Interview, p. 15. Anfi nson tried to get the incomplete dam 

listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, even though it was not yet 

eligible under the fi fty-year requirement. Although he insisted that the dam deserved 

listing because of its signifi cance as a symbol of the effects of NEPA, the Wisconsin 

State Historic Preservation Offi ce did not agree with his arguments and rejected the 

nomination.

 30 “City, State Under Dangerous Siege,” The Bismarck Sunday Tribune, 15 

September 1996.

 31 The North Dakota State Water Commission estimated the natural outlet at 

1,459 feet. See Notes from Thomas Raster, Civil Engineer, St. Paul District, 19 November 

2003, copy in possession of the author.

 32 “History and Effects of Devils Lake Flooding,” Devils Lake Outlet EIS 

Newsletter 1 (March 1998): p. 2.

 33 “Devils Lake Flood Fact Sheet, February 1998,” File Devils Lake 

Miscellaneous, Box 6447, SPDAR.

 34 “Devils Lake Floodwaters Flow,” Grand Forks Herald, 17 May 1979.

 35 Unidentifi ed newspaper clipping, File 228-10 IHP Devils (‘83), Box 3846, 

SPDAR. 36 “Corps Dike is Needed, But is Step Backwards in Managing Lake Level,” 

Devils Lake Journal, 29 August 1984.

 37 “Lake Outlet Apparently is On Hold,” Devils Lake Journal, 16 August 1984.

 38 Unidentifi ed newspaper clipping, File 229-10 IHP Devils (‘83), Box 3846, SPDAR.
Civil Works Program II: Flood Control Projects

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 39 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Operation and Maintenance 

Manual: Section 205 Flood Control Project, Devils Lake, North Dakota (St. Paul, MN: U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, 1992), pp. 1-2.

 40 “Lake Outlet Apparently is On Hold,” Devils Lake Journal, 16 August 1984.

 41 Garrison Diversion Conservancy District, “Abbreviated History, 1944-

2001,” <http://www.garrisondiv.org/pages/publicinfo/history/index.epl> (5 

February 2004); “Garrison Diversion and the Devils Lake Outlet: The Canadian 

Position,” <http://www.canadianembassy.org/ environment/garrison-e.asp> (6 

June 2003); “Statement of Gary L. Pearson on Behalf of the Dakota Prairie Audubon 

Society Submitted at the Hearing of the Committee on Environment and Public 

Works, United States Senate, Regarding the Proposal to Construct An Emergency 

Outlet from Devils Lake to the Sheyenne River in North Dakota,” 23 October 1997, 

<http://80-web.lexisnexis. com.weblib.lib.umt.edu:2048/congcomp/document?_

m=7701530145029adf8c74d315 780642db&_docnum=7&wchp=dGLbVtb-lSlAA&_md5=

259852c2189ade895507a0b950f5775d> (6 June 2003).

 42 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Devils Lake Feasibility Study: 

Concept-Level Plan of Study (St. Paul, MN: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul 

District, 1995), pp. 2-3; North Dakota State Water Commission [NDSWC], “Assessment 

of Potential Devils Lake Flood Damages, October 1994,” p. 2, copy in File Devils Lake – 

Roads, Box 6452, SPDAR.

 43 Colonel Richard W. Craig interview by John O. Anfi nson, St. Paul, MN, 20 

July 1993, p. 11, Oral History File, St. Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota.

 44 NDSWC, “Assessment of Potential Devils Lake Flood Damages,” p. 4; Notes 

from Thomas Raster, Civil Engineer, St. Paul District, 19 November 2003.

 45 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Devils Lake, North Dakota, 

Contingency Plan (St. Paul, MN: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, 1996).

 46 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Devils Lake Levee, 

North Dakota,” <http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/fl _damage_reduct/default.

asp?pageid=31> (6 June 2003); “Three Major Initiatives Underway for Devils Lake,” 

Crosscurrents 19 (September 1996): p. 1.

 47 “Testimony of Michael J. Armstrong, Associate Director for Mitigation, 

Federal Emergency Management Agency, Before the Senate Committee on the 

Environment and Public Works Regarding the Devils Lake Basin Interagency 

Task Force,” 23 October 1997, <http://80-web.lexisnexis. com.weblib.lib.umt.

edu:2048/congcomp/document?_m=7701530145029adf8c74d315 780642db&_

docnum=6&wchp=dGLbVtblSlAA&_ md5=5fc5961bbd2a9b8660cc98d187ad88aa> (6 

June 2003).

 48 “City, State Under Dangerous Siege,” The Bismarck Sunday Tribune, 15 

September 1996.
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 49 “Farmers, Bedeviled by Rising Lake, Look for a Lifeline,” Los Angeles Times, 10 

November 1996.

 50 “Solution Slower Than Rising Waters,” Bismarck Tribune, 17 September 1996.

 51 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Emergency Outlet Plan: Devils 

Lake, North Dakota (St. Paul, MN: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, 

1996), pp. 1-3; “Three Major Initiatives Underway for Devils Lake,” Crosscurrents 19 

(September 1996): pp. 1-2; Thomas E. Raster email to John M. Wonsik, Charles E. Crist, 

William W. Spychalla, David R. Raasch, and Robert F. Post, 16 August 1996, File Devils 

Lake Stage 2A, Box 6451, SPDAR. The District’s Devils Lake Basin Planning Team’s 

work on the Emergency Outlet Plan earned it the Chief of Engineer’s Oustanding 

Planning Team Award in 1996.

 52 “Clinton Asks $32.5 Million for Devils Lake,” Grand Forks Herald, 20 March 1997.

 53 Quotations in “Canadian Offi cials Oppose Devils Lake Outlet,” Grand Forks 

Herald, 22 March 1997 and “Canada Takes Tough Stand,” Bismarck Tribune, 25 March 

1997.

 54 Marvin Zeldin, “Souris: Mouse That Roars,” Audubon 78 (November 1976): 

pp. 135-138; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Missouri River Division, Water Resources 

Development in North Dakota 1991 (Omaha, NE: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Missouri 

River Division, 1991), p. 30.

 55 “Canadian Dams Play Important Part in Souris Basin Project,” Crosscurrents

10 (June 1987): p. 6; “Kowalski Refl ects on 39 Years of Federal Service,” Crosscurrents 19 

(May 1996): pp. 6, 8; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Souris River Basin 

Flood Control Project: N.D.,” <http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/fl _damage_reduct/

default.asp?pageid=43> (6 June 2003).

 56 Public Law 105-18, 12 June 1997, <http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/

getdoc. cgi?dbname=105_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ18.105> (6 June 2003).

 57 “Devils Lake Levee Becomes Critical Priority,” Crosscurrents 21 (March 1998): 

p. 5; Notes from Thomas Raster, Civil Engineer, St. Paul District, 19 November 2003; 

see also “Panel Approves $5 Million for Devils Lake Outlet,” The Forum (Fargo, ND), 26 

September 1997.

 58 “Questions/Answers/Discussion concerning the Emergency Outlet from 

Devils Lake to the Sheyenne River, ND,” 18 February 1998, Attachment A to “Scoping 

Meeting for the proposed Peterson Coulee Outlet Project for preparation of the Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement,” File Devils Lake Outlet – Correspondence, Box 6453, 

SPDAR. One of the reasons why the Peterson Coulee route was adopted was because of 

concerns raised by members of the Spirit Lake Nation about the Twin Lakes proposal. 

In the summer of 1997, the tribe approved the Peterson Coulee route because it only 

crossed a few miles of the reservation. The Twin Lakes route, on the other hand, would 

have run through several hundred acres of reservation land, including tribal trust land. 

“Route and Plan Selection, Emergency Outlet, Devils Lake to the Sheyenne River, ND: 

Executive Summary,” File Devils Lake Outlet Design and Alternative Reports, Box 6453, 
Civil Works Program II: Flood Control Projects

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107

SPDAR; “Spirit Lake Tribe Endorses One of Devils Lake Outlet Proposals,” The Forum, 

26 June 1997.

 59 “History and Effects of Devils Lake Flooding,” p. 2; “Strategies and Actions: 

The Three-Legged Stool,” Devils Lake Outlet EIS Newsletter 1 (March 1998): p. 3.

 60 Colonel J. M. Wonsik interview by John O. Anfi nson, St. Paul, MN, 20 January 

1998, p. 8, Oral History File, St. Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota.

 61 Col. J. M. Wonsik Memorandum for Commander, U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, 21 November 1997, File Devils Lake Outlet – Correspondence, Box 6454, 

SPDAR. The Boundary Waters Treaty was not ratifi ed by the U.S. Senate until 1910, 

meaning that the IJC did not meet for the fi rst time until 1911.

 62 See “Capitol Hill Hearing Testimony Before the Senate Committee on 

Environment and Public Works,” 23 October 1997, <http://80-web.lexisnexis.com.

weblib.lib.umt.edu:2048/congcomp/doclist?_m=93b5adbc8842f4b5195e90c4089 

832a6&wchp=dGLbVtb-lSlAA&_md5=1b43b30249f4dc0c255868433d87b1b6> (6 June 

2003).

 63 John H. Zirschky, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army, Memorandum for 

the Director of Civil Works, 28 January 1998, Miscellaneous Folder on Devils Lake, Box 

6447, SPDAR.

 64 Raymond Chrétien, Ambassador, to the Honourable John H. Chafee, 

Chairman, Committee on Environment and Public Works, United States Senate, 22 

October 1997, File Devils Lake Outlet – Correspondence, Box 6453, SPDAR.

 65 “Draft, Senator Dorgan Questions,” 23 March 1998, File Devils Lake Outlet – 

Correspondence – Congressional, Box 6454, SPDAR.

 66 Quotation in Richard Bad Moccasin, Executive Director, Mni Sose Intertribal 

Water Rights Coalition, Inc., to Robert Whiting, Chief, Environmental Resources 

Section, 30 September 1998, File Devils Lake Outlet – Correspondence, Box 6453, 

SPDAR; see also “Devils Lake Emergency Outlet Regulator Meeting Summary, January 

13, 1998,” pp. 2-3, File Devils Lake Outlet – Environmental Studies and Reports, Box 

6453, SPDAR.

 67 “Devils Lake, North Dakota, General Information, March 1999,” File Devils 

Lake Outlet – Correspondence – Congressional, Box 6454, SPDAR; “Lake Region 

Frustrated by Army Engineers’ Meanderings,” Devils Lake Journal, 25 March 1999.

 68 Maj. Gen. Phillip Anderson, “Devils Lake Emergency Tiger Team 

Memorandum of Instructions,” Miscellaneous File on Devils Lake, Box 6447, SPDAR.

 69 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi Valley Division, “Mississippi 

Valley Division Devils Lake Division/District (Tiger) Team Technical Report, June 1999, 

Executive Summary,” <http://www.swc.state.nd.us/projects/pdf/ExecSum.pdf> (6 

June 2003).
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 70 Phillip R. Anderson, Major General, U.S. Army, Division Engineer, to 

Honorable Edward T. Schafer, Governor of North Dakota, 17 June 1999, File Devils Lake 

Outlet – Correspondence – State Agencies, Box 6453, SPDAR.

 71 “Stalling Outlet for Devils Lake Invites ‘Disaster,’“ The Forum, 11 June 1999.

 72 “State, Local Leaders Find Corps Plan Unacceptable,” Devils Lake Journal, 11 

June 1999.

 73 Judith M. Ovre to Lt. General Joe Ballard, Chief of Engineers, US Army Corps 

of Engineers, 29 July 1999, File Devils Lake Outlet – Correspondence, Box 6454, SPDAR.

 74 “A Rising Lake Puts Corps in Hot Water,” The Washington Post, 11 September 2000.

 75 David Loss interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 21 October 2002, p. 5.

 76 Colonel James T. Scott interview by John O. Anfi nson, St. Paul, MN, 30 May 

1995, p. 11, Oral History File, St. Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota; see also Notes from 

Thomas Raster, Civil Engineer, St. Paul District, 19 November 2003.

 77 Colonel William J. Breyfogle interview by Matthew Pearcy, St. Paul, MN, 28 

November 2001, p. 14, Oral History File, St. Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota.

 78 Quotation in “Senator Wants to Put Corps on Hold,” Devils Lake Journal, 16 July 

1999; see also “A Rising Lake Puts Corps in Hot Water,” The Washington Post, 11 September 

2000; “Devils Lake: Corps Change Earns Praise,” Grand Forks Herald, 26 July 1999; “Corps 

Uses Emergency Powers to Speed Devils Lake Solution,” North Dakota’s Congressional 

Delegation Press Release, File Devils Lake News Clippings, Box 6100, SPDAR.

 79 “A Rising Lake Puts Corps in Hot Water,” The Washington Post, 11 September 2000. 

 80 For examples of criticism of environmental groups, see “Devils Lake Situation 

Getting Some Attention,” Devils Lake Journal, 14 May 1999. For examples of the 

environmentalists’ explanations of the fl ooding, see “Statement of Gary L. Pearson on 

Behalf of the Dakota Prairie Audubon Society Submitted at the Hearing of the Committee 

on Environment and Public Works, United States Senate, Regarding the Proposal to 

Construct An Emergency Outlet from Devils Lake to the Sheyenne River in North 

Dakota,” 23 October 1997 (see footnote 39); Kent Conrad, United States Senate, to Joseph 

Westphal, 16 August 1999, File Devils Lake Outlet – Correspondence, Box 6454, SPDAR.

 81 “Merit Award Goes to Devils Lake Levees Project,” Crosscurrents 25 (August 

2002): pp. 3, 8.

 82 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Devils Lake Basin, 

North Dakota,” <http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/fl _damage_reduct/default.

asp?pageid=14> (6 June 2003); U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Outlet 

Identifi ed as Preferred Alternative at Devils Lake,” Press Release, 26 February 2003, 

<http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/pressroom/default. asp?pageid=648> (6 June 

2003). 

 83 Loss Interview, p. 11.
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109

 84 U.S., Congress, House, Committee on Public Works and Transportation, 

Oversight and Review Subcommittee, Flooding of the Red River of the North and 

Its Tributaries: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Review of the 

Committee on Public Works and Transportation, House of Representatives,96th Cong., 

1st sess., 1979, p. 250; U.S. Army Engineer District St. Paul, Red River of the North Post 

Flood Report, 1978 (St. Paul, MN: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, 1978), 

p. 2. At the time, there was no clear reason why fl ooding became more frequent in the 

1960s and 1970s. The District informed the House Committee on Public Works in 1979 

that “perhaps all we can conclude [from the increased frequency of fl oods] is that a 

number of large fl oods tend to be grouped into rather short periods interspersed with 

longer periods without large fl oods.”

 85 Quotation in “Corps Outline Farm Dike Control,” Grand Forks Herald, 26 April 

1978; see also “1979 Red River Flood Set Records for Damage,” Minneapolis Tribune, 

10 May 1979; “Flood Danger Eases at Grand Forks,” The Forum, 14 April 1978; “Crest 

Moves North,” Minot Daily News, 14 April 1978.

 86 “1979 Red River Flood Set Records for Damage,” Minneapolis Tribune, 10 May 

1979.

 87 “Staying in Touch! Congressman Arlan Stangeland,” Benson Monitor (MN), 

n.d., clipping in File 870 Red River of the North Flood 1979, Box 3858, SPDAR.

 88 Quotation in “Levee Plans Not Popular At Meet,” Red Wing-Republican Eagle, 

29 October 1983; see also “EGF to Study Flood Plan Tuesday,” Grand Forks Herald, 

8 October 1983; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Water Resources Development in 

Minnesota 1995, pp. 69-70; “Fact Sheet: General Investigations,” File 1110-201150a East 

Grand Forks Flood Control (‘97), Box 8072, SPDAR.

 89 Bory Steinberg, “The Federal Perspective,” in Water Resources Administration 

in the United States: Policy, Practice, and Emerging Issues, edited by Martin Reuss (East 

Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1993), p. 264.

 90 Colonel Kenneth Kasprisin interview by Virginia Gnabasik, 13 July 2001, St. 

Paul, MN, p. 10.

 91 “GF Hasn’t Dropped Guard in Protecting from Flood,” Grand Forks Herald, 23 

October 1983.

 92 Edward McNally interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 22 October 

2002, p. 3.

 93 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Draft General Reevaluation 

Report and Environmental Impact Statement, East Grand Forks, Minnesota and Grand Forks, 

North Dakota (St. Paul, MN: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, 1998), p. 

1; “A Day That Began with Sirens Blaring in the Night Ends with Devastation,” Grand 

Forks Herald, 18 April 1997; “ ‘We’re Losing’: Downtown Grand Forks Hit by Fire as 

Well as Flood,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 20 April 1997; “Flames Beaten in Grand Forks, But 

Red’s Rising,” The Forum, 21 April 1997; “Flooded Grand Forks, N.D., Will Be Deserted 
Civil Works Program II: Flood Control Projects

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110

When Clinton Visits Tuesday,” Grand Forks Herald, 21 April 1997; “District Puts in 

Herculean Effort Against the Flood of ‘97,” Crosscurrents 20 (Summer 1997): pp. 1-6. 

 94 McNally Interview, p. 3.

 95 “Description of 100-Year City-Wide Plan (Preliminary),” File 10-1-7a Grand 

Forks Feasibility Study 1995, Box 4575, SPDAR.

 96 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Draft General Reevaluation 

Report and Environmental Impact Statement, p. 2.

 97 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Draft General Reevaluation 

Report and Environmental Impact Statement, pp. 2, 13-16; “ ‘Down to One Plan, One 

Project’ at Grand Forks,” Crosscurrents 21 (March 1998): p. 1; McNally Interview, p. 6. 

The two cities ultimately received fi nancial help from the states of Minnesota and North 

Dakota.

 98 McNally Interview, pp. 6-7. According to one source, East Grand Forks was 

the fi rst city to install the invisible fl oodwall, a structure developed in Germany to 

minimize scenic changes from fl ood protection structures. Using the invisible fl oodwall, 

the Corps constructed a permanent concrete base along the river. In times of fl ooding, 

the Corps would insert vertical columns into the concrete base and connect these 

columns with inter-locking horizontal planks. Therefore, the fl oodwall only exists 

when a fl ood threatens; at other times, the unobtrusive concrete base is the only visible 

structure. See “Flood Protection in East Grand Forks,” <http://www.draves.com/gf/

egf_dike.htm> (12 August 2004).

 99 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Flood Control, Red River of 

the North: Grand Forks, N.D./East Grand Forks, Minn.,” <http://www.mvp.usace.

army.mil/fl _damage_reduct/default. asp?pageid=18> (6 June 2003); “District Earns 3rd 

Planning Award,” Crosscurrents 22 (September 1999): p. 3.

 100 Scott Interview, p. 11.

 101 McNally Interview, p. 2.

 102 Breyfogle Interview, p. 13.

 103 “Flood Control, Red River of the North: Grand Forks, N.D./East Grand 

Forks, Minn.”

 104 McNally Interview, p. 9.

 105 Scott Interview, p. 8.

 106 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Draft Revised Environmental 

Impact Statement, Flood Control and Related Purposes, South Fork Zumbro River Watershed, 

Rochester, Olmsted County, Minnesota (St. Paul, MN: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. 

Paul District, 1976), p. 8; “Zumbro Ditch is Cost of Ending Flood Risk,” Post-Bulletin

(Rochester, MN) 17 July 1990.
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111

 107 U.S., Congress, House, Committee on Public Works and Transportation, 

Water Resources Subcommittee, Water Resources Development Act of 1978: Hearings 

Before the Subcommittee on Water Resources of the Committee on Public Works and 

Transportation, House of Representatives, 95th Cong., 2d sess., 1978, p. 468; “Engineers 

OK City Flood Control Plans,” Post-Bulletin, 10 July 1972; “Cooperative Planning . . . 

Zumbro River at Rochester,” Crosscurrents 1 (January 1978): p. 3.

 108 “Flood Project All Because City Built in Wrong Place,” Post-Bulletin, 23 

February 1993; “Flood Control Provides Recreation Opportunities,” Post-Bulletin, 4 

April 1995.

 109 “Statement of Hon. Albert H. Quie, a Representative in Congress from the 

State of Minnesota,” in House Subcommittee on Water Resources, Water Resources 

Development Act of 1978, p. 508.

 110 Moore and Moore, The Army Corps of Engineers and the Evolution of Federal 

Flood Plain Management Policy, p. 132. For a discussion of this time period and the events 

leading up to the passage of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986, see Martin 

Reuss, Reshaping National Water Politics: The Emergence of the Water Resources Development 

Act of 1986 (Fort Belvoir, Va.: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Institute for Water 

Resources, 1991).

 111 Moore and Moore, The Army Corps of Engineers and the Evolution of Federal 

Flood Plain Management Policy, pp. 133-134.

 112 Quotation in “Rochester Gets Go-Ahead in Water Bill,” Crosscurrents 10 

(January 1987): p. 1; see also U.S., Congress, House, Committee on Public Works 

and Transportation, Water Resources Subcommittee, Water Resources Development 

– Cost-Sharing Aspects of President’s Water Policy Initiatives: Hearings Before 

the Subcommittee on Water Resources of the Committee on Public Works and 

Transportation, House of Representatives, 96th Cong., 1st sess., 1979, p. 231.

 113 Russel K. Snyder interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 23 October 2002. 

 114 Wonsik Interview, p. 7; “Rochester, Minnesota Flood Control Project,” 

summary provided by Russel K. Snyder, Project Manager, St. Paul District.

 115 “Rochester Gets Go-Ahead in Water Bill,” p. 1; “Information Paper, 

Rochester, Minnesota, Flood Control Project, June 1991,” Loose Papers, Box 7842, 

SPDAR.

 116 Quotation in “$12.4 Million Requested for Flood Control,” Post-Bulletin, 4 

February 1991; see also “Flood Project May Go Into 1997,” Post-Bulletin, 30 October 

1990; Colonel Roger L. Baldwin interview by John O. Anfi nson, St. Paul, MN, 1 July 

1991, p. 8, Oral History File, St. Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota. Neither Baldwin nor 

Foley explained what caused the signifi cant increase in cost; Baldwin merely said that 

“the job is a more expensive job than we had anticipated.” “$12.4 Million Requested for 

Flood Control,” Post-Bulletin, 4 February 1991.
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112

 117 Quoted in “Some Not Happy with Flood Control Project,” Post-Bulletin, 10 

July 1990.

 118 Quoted in “Zumbro Ditch is Cost of Ending Flood Risk,” Post-Bulletin, 17 

July 1990.

 119 David F. Hansen Letter to the Editor, Post-Bulletin, n.d., clipping in File 22840 

IHF Rochester, MN 1990, Box 4144, SPDAR.

 120 “Minnesota Engineers Honor Rochester Project,” Crosscurrents 19 (February 

1996): pp. 1, 3; “Project’s End Gets Flood of Praise,” Post-Bulletin, 29 September 1994.

 121 Mark Heywood, Regional Fisheries Manager, Minnesota Department of 

Natural Resources, to Randy Devendorf, Corps of Engineers, 21 October 1994, File 11-

2-240a Zumbro River at Rochester, Box 2964, SPDAR; Louis Kowalski, Deputy District 

Engineer for Project Management, to Mr. Mark Heywood, 5 December 1994, ibid.; 

“Rochester Flood Control Project: Summary”; “Flood Control Provides Recreation 

Opportunities,” Post-Bulletin, 4 April 1995.

 122 “Zumbro Ditch is Cost of Ending Flood Risk,” Post-Bulletin, 17 July 1990.

 123 “City Surprised by Low Bids for Flood Project,” Post-Bulletin, 2 October 1991.

 124 “Minnesota Engineers Honor Rochester Project,” p. 3; “Rochester Flood 

Control Project: Summary,” p. 3.

 125 Chuck Canfi eld, Mayor, City of Rochester, to Colonel J. M. Wonsik, Army 

Corps of Engineers, 19 March 1996, File 672 Awards, Box 7823, SPDAR.

 126 Frank Star interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 21 October 2002, p. 4.

 127 “Rochester Flood Control Project,” p. 3.

 128 Quotation in “Minnesota Engineers Honor Rochester Project,” p. 1.

 129 “District Project Earns Top Honors,” Crosscurrents 19 (April 1996): p. 4; “St. Paul 

District Achieves Top Recognitions in ‘96,” Crosscurrents 19 (December 1996): p. 1; Terry 

Birkenstock email to Matthew T. Pearcy, March 1, 2004, copy supplied to the authors.

 130 “Deb Foley: Corps Project Manager of the Year,” Crosscurrents 19 (June 1996): 

p. 5; “Minnesota Engineers Honor Rochester Project,” pp. 1, 3.

 131 Snyder Interview.

 132 “Rochester Flood Control Project: Summary,” p. 1.

 133 Scott Interview, p. 9.

 134 Kasprisin Interview, p. 14.
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Wetlands: St. Paul District encompasses a 

variety of wetland types. (Photo by Steve D. 

Eggers, courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
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The Corps has a responsibility to protect the nation’s wetlands. By 

authority of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 

1972, the Corps regulates activities that involve the discharge of dredge 

or fi ll material in waters of the United States – including wetlands. The 

St. Paul District, encompassing an area that contains more wetlands than 

any other Corps’ district outside of Alaska, has played a signifi cant role 

in the development of the Corps of Engineers regulatory program.

The protection of wetlands is an exceedingly political process, often pitting developers 

against environmentalists. In Minnesota and Wisconsin, the main threat to wetlands 

stemmed from agricultural activities. Farmers encountered new restrictions on 

what they were able to do with their own property. When environmental regulation 

impinged on private property rights, tension ran high. During one controversy in 

1989, upset farmers posted a handbill on grain elevators and farm supply stores across 

western Minnesota lambasting the Corps. “Farmers Take Notice Now,” this handbill 

read. “The U.S. Corps of Engineers is trying to tighten its stranglehold on all farm 

drainage with even stronger wording in Section 404 of the Clean Water Act ... Don’t lose 

your right to improve your property. The Corps of Engineers has too much authority 

already. Don’t give them anymore!”1 A political cartoon in the Mankato, Minnesota, 

newspaper at this time showed a farm with a patch of cattails in the foreground. 

Sticking out of the cattails was a sign: “Property of the U.S. Government.”2

 In order 

to implement an effective wetlands protection program in this political climate, the 

St. Paul District had to work assiduously to win the trust and cooperation of farmers 

and rural county governments. Owing in part to the farmers’ outcry, Minnesota and 

Wisconsin both developed strong wetland protection programs at the state level. 

One way in which the St. Paul District distinguished itself nationally was through its 

innovative coordination with these two progressive state programs. 

5The Regulatory Mission
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Minnesota and Wisconsin Wetlands

Much of the controversy surrounding wetlands protection stems from the complicated 

nature of this resource. Wetlands provide a variety of public values: for their role as 

fi lters in preserving water quality, for their function in absorbing water in time of 

fl ood and storing water in time of drought, for their importance to biota and for their 

recreational value to hunters, fi shers and wildlife watchers. Yet wetlands can be diffi cult 

to recognize, classify and delineate. Even within a two-state area such as Minnesota and 

Wisconsin, wetlands are extremely varied. Types of wetlands include prairie potholes, 

shallow lakes, inland fresh meadows, marshes and swamps.

The prairie pothole region, a legacy of the Ice Ages, includes parts of Minnesota, 

Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States and parts of Manitoba, 

Saskatchewan and Alberta in Canada. When the continental glaciers retreated more 

than 12,000 years ago, they left behind millions of depressions in the glacial drift. 

Today, these potholes trap rainwater and snowmelt to form isolated ponds of varying 

depths and sizes, each one an oasis of aquatic plants and animals. The region’s climate 

is characterized by mid-continent extremes of temperature and precipitation. The 

potholes are replenished in spring when snowmelt runs off the frozen soil. Most 

precipitation falls in summer in the form of short, violent cloudbursts. Variations in 

spring temperatures and the amount of summer rainfall may result in a pothole drying 

up one year and remaining wet throughout the next.3

Prairie potholes provide breeding habitat for immense numbers of waterfowl. These 

wetlands are estimated to support more than fi fty percent of all waterfowl in North 

America. In wet years, the percentage is even higher. Agricultural usage has made 

enormous inroads on this type of wetland in Minnesota, reducing the total area from 

approximately 12 to 3 million acres.4 A national wetlands inventory produced by the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1984 described the prairie pothole region as one of nine 

“National Problem Areas.”5

Another group of wetlands in Minnesota and Wisconsin that are of unusual importance 

are the patterned peatlands. These areas exhibit many distinct landforms, including 

string bogs, ovoid islands, teardrop islands, bogs and fens.6

 Like the prairie potholes, 

the peatlands are also a product of the Ice Ages. As the continental glaciers receded 

in northeastern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin, glacial meltwater periodically 

inundated the land. Drowned vegetation, instead of decomposing, accumulated in 

layers of organic sludge that turned to waterlogged peat. Today, these water-saturated, 

acid-peat soils form bogs. The bogs of northeastern Minnesota constitute the largest 

peatland complex in North America, while smaller bogs dot northern Wisconsin. Poor 

in nutrients, these bogs are colonized by sphagnum mosses, which in turn provide a 

mat for tenuous invasions by evergreen shrubs, tamarack and black spruce.7

In 1987, the St. Paul District published a pictorial fi eld guide, Wetland Plants and 

Plant Communities of Minnesota & Wisconsin. Patterned after popular fi eld guides to 

wildfl owers and other plant communities, the book sought to make wetland ecosystems 

recognizable to general readers. The authors, Steve D. Eggers, ecologist with the St. Paul 
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District, and Donald M. Reed, principal biologist for the Southeastern Wisconsin 

Regional Planning Commission, divided wetland plant communities in the two states 

into fi fteen vegetation types. While the authors’ focus on vegetation highlighted just 

one of three factors used in defi ning wetlands (it downplayed soil and hydrology), it 

emphasized the most visible feature. The book was offered as a companion to the more 

technical publication, Wetlands and Water Quality: A Citizen’s Handbook on How to Review 

Section 404 Permits.

8

Eggers and Reed followed the wetland classifi cation system developed by John Curtis 

in The Vegetation of Wisconsin (1971). They divided the wetland vegetation types 

between two major fl oristic provinces, the fi rst characterized by “prairie-forest” and the 

second by “northern forest.” The transition or “vegetation tension zone” between the 

two provinces divided both states approximately in half on a meandering northwestsoutheast diagonal running from Roseau County, Minnesota, to Milwaukee County, 

Wisconsin. The prairieforest fl oristic province, included the eastern edge of the prairie 

pothole region. The authors classifi ed wetland plant communities into eight types: 

shallow, open water communities, marshes, inland fresh meadows, bogs, shrub 

swamps, wooded swamps, fl oodplain forests and seasonally-fl ooded basins (prairie 

potholes). Most of these classifi cations included at least two subclassifi cations. One 

noteworthy subclass comprised calcareous fens – distinguished by wet, seepage sites 

where calcium and magnesium bicarbonates and sulfates in the soil surface restricted 

Wetlands: St. Paul District encompasses a variety of wetland types. (Photo by 

Steve D. Eggers, courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
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vegetation to a select group of calcium-tolerant plants. Calcareous fens exhibited the 

rarest plant community in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and probably one of the rarest in 

North America. The fens usually had a disproportionate number of rare, threatened or 

endangered plant species.9

It has been estimated that Minnesota contained more than 18 million acres of wetlands 

– an area amounting to one-third of the state – prior to non-Indian settlement.10 In 

Minnesota, as in other regions, agricultural interests spearheaded the assault on 

wetlands. In the mid-nineteenth-century, settlers moved into the region and began 

at once to drain wetlands in order to bring more land under cultivation. These early 

settlers, many of whom were immigrants from Germany, Ireland, Scandinavia and 

other European countries, soon obtained active support of the state government, which 

saw the large-scale conversion of wetlands as a public good. The state government 

was abetted by the Federal Swamp Lands Acts of 1849-50, which granted inundated 

lands to states. In 1861, Governor Alexander Ramsey of Minnesota addressed the 

state legislature on wetlands: “From their nature and situation they are capable of 

easy reclamation. In a climate so dry as ours, we may naturally expect that lands of 

this class will eventually be the most valuable in the state.”11 Minnesota state laws 

promoted the formation of corporations for the purpose of draining lands. A state 

drainage commission oversaw all drainage ditch construction. Although the drought 

and economic depression of the 1930s temporarily halted wide-scale drainage efforts, 

the destruction of wetlands resumed in the 1940s and 1950s. While the state legislature 

of Minnesota began to enact laws for the conservation of wetlands – notably in response 

to the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937, which offered federal funds to participating states 

for wildlife restoration projects – these measures were largely confi ned to public or 

navigable waters. It was not until 1973 that the Minnesota state legislature enacted a 

law that expanded the defi nition of public waters to include “all waters which serve a 

benefi cial public purpose, thereby including wetlands.”12 By this time, the total extent of 

Minnesota’s wetlands had been reduced by about half. In the prairie pothole region the 

loss of wetlands was much higher.

Conservation of wetlands in Minnesota and Wisconsin, as elsewhere, initially focused 

on their value as wildlife habitat. While wetlands generally drew public disdain because 

they inhibited most kinds of development, people appreciated the value of these 

forbidding landscapes as breeding grounds for ducks and other game birds. Beginning 

in the early twentieth century, the federal government began to set aside wetlands as 

bird refuges or wildlife refuges. The Fish and Wildlife Service sought to raise public 

awareness of the plight of duck populations whose breeding areas were drying up. At 

that time, both the prairie pothole region and the many sloughs along the Mississippi 

River gained national attention for their signifi cance to waterfowl. During the 1930s and 

after, Congress enacted numerous laws aimed at coordinating protection of wetlands 

and other wildlife habitat with other land uses. Yet as long as wetlands protection 

remained narrowly focused on the conservation of wildlife, it could not withstand other 

social forces working toward the destruction of wetlands. In particular, the American 

belief in the sanctity of private property contributed to the demise of this resource, 

because wetlands almost invariably became more economically productive when they 

were drained. With the rise of environmental awareness in the 1960s, public policy 
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toward wetlands began to change. Perhaps no other type of environment in the United 

States underwent such dramatic change in land use and public policy as wetlands.

Origins of the Section 404 Program

The Corps’ authority to regulate use of the navigable waters of the United States 

dates from the early years of the Republic and derives from the federal government’s 

constitutional power to regulate interstate and foreign commerce. The Corps’ 

regulatory program took more specifi c form in the River and Harbor Act of 1899, which 

prohibited obstructions to navigability of waters of the United States. Section 10 of 

the act required the Department of the Army to issue a permit for any work involving 

navigable waters, including dredge and fi ll operations. Section 13 required a federal 

permit for any discharge of refuse matter except liquid sewage into navigable waters or 

their tributaries. Although the law extended the Corps’ regulatory jurisdiction to areas 

upstream from navigable waters, in practice the regulatory function was limited to 

protection of navigation. Consequently, the Secretary of War and the Chief of Engineers 

used their authority judiciously on activities affecting navigation, rarely addressing 

matters concerning the environment.13

Decades later, in response to growing public concern for the environment, the Corps 

enlarged the scope of its regulatory function in 1968 to include not just the effect of a 

proposed action on navigation but also its effects on fi sh and wildlife, water quality, 

ecology and the general public interest. The following year, Congress passed the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, or NEPA, which required all federal 

agencies with regulatory functions to prepare a detailed Environmental Impact 

Statement for permit actions that would signifi cantly affect the quality of the human 

environment. NEPA specifi cally mandated that the review process involve public input 

and that it take an interdisciplinary approach by considering ecological, social and 

economic impacts. In response to NEPA, the Corps expanded its regulatory program to 

include interdisciplinary teams engaged in a general public interest review process, but 

its main focus remained on navigable waterways. This changed with the Federal Water 

Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, Federal Water Pollution Control Act, or 

Clean Water Act.14

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act established a national goal of eliminating 

discharge of pollution into waters by 1985. The law placed the Environmental 

Protection Agency in charge of a permitting program aimed at stopping pollution at 

its source.15 While the Environmental Protection Agency had primary responsibility 

for the program, Section 404 of the act required the Corps assist the Environmental 

Protection Agency in its mission, stating in part: “The Secretary of the Army, acting 

through the Chief of Engineers, may issue permits, after notice and opportunity for 

public hearings[,] for the discharge of dredged or fi ll material into the navigable waters 

at specifi ed disposal sites.” The Federal Water Pollution Control Act defi ned navigable 

waters as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.” Given the 

law’s ambitious goal to eliminate water pollution by 1985, Environmental Protection 

Agency interpreted the law liberally to include tributaries of navigable waters. The 
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Corps initially insisted upon a narrow interpretation of “waters of the United States” 

based on navigation, but environmentalists pressed the Corps through court action to 

take a more expansive view of its Section 404 authority.

In 1975, environmentalists won a landmark decision in Natural Resources Defense 

Council v. Callaway. District Judge Aubrey Robinson held that the Corps’ defi nition of 

“waters of the United States” was too narrow and must be revised in accordance with 

Congress’s intent in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. In the court’s opinion, 

Congress had intended that the Federal Water Pollution Control Act provide for 

the exercise of “federal jurisdiction over the nation’s waters to the maximum extent 

permissible under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.” As a result of this 

decision, the Corps, in cooperation with the Environmental Protection Agency and 

with input from environmental organizations, prepared four alternative regulations for 

publication in the Federal Register.

16

While this effort was underway, however, Corps’ leadership continued to argue that 

a broad construal of its Section 404 authority to include wetlands would create a 

public outcry and a political backlash against the federal program. Although Corps’ 

leaders obtained support for their position from the Department of Agriculture and 

the Department of Commerce, they failed to convince either the Department of the 

Interior or the Department of Justice, which refused to appeal the Callaway decision. 

Nor could Corps’ offi cials get any policy guidance on Section 404 from the White 

House. As a result, senior offi cials in the Offi ce of the Chief of Engineers determined 

to state their case directly to the American people through a press release. In so 

doing, they hoped to prompt congressional review of the Section 404 program and 

clarify congressional intent. To elicit a public response, offi cials directed the Public 

Affairs Offi ce to craft a press release that would grab media attention and provoke 

widespread public opposition to the permit program. Released on the same day that the 

alternative regulations were published in the Federal Register, the press release warned 

that “millions of people may be presently violating the law” and stated that convicted 

offenders could be “subject to fi nes up to $25,000 a day and one year imprisonment.” 

The St. Paul District, together with other districts, helped disseminate the information.17

The press release succeeded in provoking a public outcry. Thousands of protests 

poured into congressional offi ces. The New York Times accused the Corps of attempting 

a power grab. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz condemned the proposed regulation 

as a “dangerous extension of the long hand of the federal government into the affairs of 

private citizens.” One offi cial was quoted as stating that the Corps, lacking other means, 

would rely on farmers to snitch on one another in order to ensure compliance with 

its Section 404 permits. Environmental groups, meanwhile, lambasted the Corps for 

misrepresenting the facts and for attempting to sabotage the court ruling in Callaway.18

While the press release earned notoriety, it drew thousands of comments on the 

proposed regulations in the Federal Register. The Washington, D.C., offi ce received more 

than 4,500 written comments from governors, congressmen, federal, state and local 

agencies, as well as organizations and individuals in the private sector. Working with 

the Environmental Protection Agency, the Corps issued an interim draft of revised 
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regulations on July 25, 1975. The Corps then developed a public relations plan to sell 

its wetlands protection program, which it launched on September 4, 1975. District 

engineers were to inform the public that the “Corps of Engineers will be reasonable, 

moderate, objective and practical in administering the program.” Brigadier General 

Kenneth McIntyre, Acting Director of Civil Works, explained the Section 404 program 

to state administrators. “The farming, ranching, and lumbering industries can rest 

assured that plowing, cultivating, seeding and harvesting will continue to be permitted 

without regulation,” he said.19

During the next two years, Congress held hearings on the controversial Section 404. 

Various bills were introduced to modify or clarify the Corps’ regulatory authority. 

Early in 1977, Congressman John Breaux (D-Louisiana) introduced a bill that would 

dramatically curtail the Corps’ Section 404 jurisdiction, eliminating federal safeguards 

for about seventy- fi ve percent of the nation’s wetlands. Breaux had strong ties to 

development interests on the Lower Mississippi. With backing from House Majority 

Leader Jim Wright of Texas, the measure passed in the House by a wide margin. The 

Senate voted down the bill, but in joint conference later that year, the measure was used 

as a bargaining chip to extract concessions in a further set of amendments to the law. 

Congress passed the amendments on December 15, 1977, and President Carter signed 

them into law thirteen days later. The amended law was called the Clean Water Act of 

1977. Environmentalists claimed victory insofar as the law affi rmed the Corps’ Section 

404 jurisdiction as established by Callaway. But opponents won key exemptions from 

the permit process for normal farming, ranching, and silviculture activities, including 

minor ditch and road construction. In another key concession, states were allowed to 

administer portions of the permit program as soon as they would adopt regulatory 

standards deemed acceptable by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Corps – 

a prerogative that Minnesota and Wisconsin would both exercise about a decade later.20

The Clean Water Act of 1977 was a turning point in wetlands protection. From 

1972 to 1977, the main issue surrounding Section 404 was whether Congress would 

repeal Section 404 (or amend it so drastically as to make it ineffective). After 1977, 

congressional support for Section 404 was no longer in doubt and the program acquired 

legitimacy. In the years ahead, the program would continue to be controversial, but 

environmentalists and developers would debate how to make it function better rather 

than argue over whether to implement or scrap the program.21 During these formative 

years from 1972 to 1977, the Corps improved its relationship with environmental 

organizations – at least with regard to its regulatory mission. Historian Jeffrey K. 

Stine investigated the origins of the Section 404 program and concluded that the 

Corps’ performance after 1975 won the respect of the environmental community. 

“Throughout the controversy over the extent of the Corps’ jurisdiction under Section 

404, environmental groups rarely tried to reduce the power of the Corps or to slow it 

down, as they had done repeatedly in the area of civil works,” Stine wrote. “Despite 

occasional disagreements over individual permit decisions, a new basis for cooperation 

was clearly established.”22
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Establishing a Section 404 Program in the St. Paul District

The St. Paul District faced an overwhelming task in assuming its Section 404 

responsibilities in the 1970s. With some ten million acres of wetlands in Minnesota and 

fi ve million acres in Wisconsin, no other Corps’ district outside of Alaska contained 

so many wetlands, and few Corps’ districts would process as many Section 404 

permit applications. Moreover, the political landscape within the St. Paul District was 

challenging. Farmers in Minnesota and Wisconsin (and North Dakota, which remained 

within the district’s regulatory purview in the 1970s) were highly suspicious of the 

program. Many county governments refl ected the farmers’ concerns. On the other hand, 

the large urban populaces of Minnesota and Wisconsin generally supported strong 

environmental regulations for protecting water quality. Refl ecting these urban-based 

values, the Minnesota and Wisconsin state governments demanded higher standards 

for wetlands protection than most other states in the nation, while the North Dakota 

state government gave priority to protecting the state’s farm-based economy.23

The St. Paul District phased in the Section 404 program over a two-year period, 

gradually applying the permitting requirements to wider geographic areas. In the fi rst 

phase, from July 1975 to September 1976, the Corps required permits for discharges 

into the tributaries of navigable waters and wetlands adjacent to navigable waters. In 

the second phase, from September 1976 to July 1977, it required permits for discharges 

into tributaries of navigable waters and wetlands adjacent to those tributaries. Finally, 

beginning in July 1977, the program was extended to all water bodies in the district 

including mud holes, ponds, backwaters, lakes, rivers and streams.24

Initially, the Regulatory Branch had two sections. The permit evaluation section did 

all the preliminary work on each permit application. After establishing a permit fi le, 

making the public notice and receiving comments from other agencies and interested 

parties, the permit evaluation section turned over each permit application to the 

research and analysis section for an environmental assessment. The latter section 

was composed of biologists. After the biologists completed their work, the permit 

evaluation section could issue the permit – usually under certain conditions to protect 

the environment. By 1977, it had become clear that the Corps needed to track whether 

the permit holder complied with the terms of the permit, so it formed a third section, 

the surveillance and enforcement section. In time, the St. Paul District had about eight 

or nine investigators working in the surveillance and enforcement section.25

Ben Wopat, a long-time senior offi cial in the St. Paul District offi ce, joined the Corps 

in April 1976 when the district’s Regulatory Branch was beginning to increase staff. 

Initially, Wopat was one of just four personnel in the unit. As the program expanded, 

the surveillance and enforcement section quickly outgrew its offi ce space on the 

eleventh fl oor of the old Post Offi ce building and had to relocate two fl oors below. 

There was no formal change in the organizational structure, but the staff group was 

physically set apart and was informally perceived within the organization as “the 

investigators down on the 9th fl oor.” The staff came from a variety of academic 

disciplines other than engineering. Wopat, for example, had a law degree, as well as 

a master’s degree in history. While the rest of the organization was providing public 
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services and building fl ood control projects, the Regulatory Branch was busy controlling 

development. “We were the guys with the black hats,” Wopat wryly recalled in a recent 

interview. “Here we were down here telling people what they could not do with their 

own property. It was heathen and communistic.”26

The demands on the Regulatory Branch were enormous. By the time the Section 404 

program was fully operational in 1977, the St. Paul District covered an estimated 9 

million acres of wetlands in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. After two-anda-half years, the staff processed some six hundred twenty permits involving 10,040 

acres of wetlands. Approximately two-thirds of the applications resulted in permits, 

while the Corps and the applicants resolved most of the remainder by modifying the 

proposed action so that it did not require a permit. Only a handful of applications were 

rejected without some kind of alternative resolution for the applicant. During the same 

period, the Regulatory Branch authorized another 300 projects under general permits 

and issued nearly three hundred permits under Section 10 of the River and Harbor 

Act of 1899. The latter, so-called Section 10 permits, allowed placement of structures in 

navigable waters.

Despite this effort, the St. Paul District’s regulatory staff cautioned that a huge amount 

of activity was occurring without regulation. Using information obtained from state 

programs, the Corps estimated that unauthorized actions during the same two-anda-half-year period covered a whopping 1.8 million acres. Most of the noncompliance 

Wetlands

Original Minnesota wetlands (left). Existing Minnesota wetlands (right). 

(Map courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
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resulted from public ignorance of the law. To tackle this problem, Corps’ personnel 

joined state offi cials on various speaking tours. As public awareness of the Clean 

Water Act requirements spread, the ratio of unauthorized versus authorized projects 

diminished. St. Paul District offi cials believed that as of December 1977, the Section 404 

program covered most major projects that posed signifi cant threats to wetlands.27

Public ignorance of the law was not the only problem, however. Sometimes developers 

purposely skirted the Corps’ regulatory authority or opposed it in court. In 1978, Ron 

McDaniels applied for a permit to build a Toyota car dealership in Maplewood, a 

suburb of St. Paul. The Ramsey County Soil and Water Conservation District found the 

proposed development site, which bordered a county drainage ditch, to be “critical” for 

fi ltering pollutants and sediments that would otherwise run into nearby Kohlman Lake. 

Moreover, if the site were blacktopped to accommodate the car lot, area homes would 

be prone to fl ood damage. Both the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District 

Board and the Corps found the site to be a wetland, and the Corps fi nally denied 

McDaniels’ federal permit application in the summer of 1979. McDaniels then sued 

the Corps, arguing that the site was not a wetland. Soon, the Maplewood City Council 

aligned itself with McDaniels, while a homeowners association opposed the developer. 

In the spring of 1980, District Court Judge Miles Lord ruled in McDaniels’ favor: 

according to the judge, the site was not a wetland. But this did not end the matter. Four 

days after the court ruling, the Minnesota state legislature passed a law that placed 

the proposed development site under the jurisdiction of the Minnesota Department of 

Natural Resources. This extraordinary action by the state legislature forced McDaniels 

to work with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Corps after all.28

As the St. Paul District’s regulatory staff tried 

to raise public awareness of the Clean Water 

Act permitting requirements, they sometimes 

encountered frustration from members of the 

public who did not know who to contact for 

permit applications. In most cases, a developer 

such as Ron McDaniels had to satisfy three 

levels of government: federal, state and county. 

Sometimes, the situation demanded a permit 

from a municipality as well. The St. Paul District 

regulatory staff developed a single application 

form that could be fi lled out by the applicant and 

supplied to all four offi ces – federal, state, county 

and municipal. As a result, instead of going 

through a series of permit application processes, 

the applicant could initiate one process and all 

four offi ces would proceed simultaneously. Some 

state offi cials resisted the uniform application 

form but eventually became convinced that a 

joint federal-state application form best served 

the public.29

Ben Wopat, December 1981. 

(Photo by Lyle Nicklay, courtesy of St. 

Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
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Just as Wopat had to work with multiple state offi ces on this issue, so too did state 

offi cials have to work with more than one district of the Corps of Engineers. Because 

of the need for public outreach and coordination with multiple levels of government, 

Wopat argued that the Section 404 program would be strengthened if the St. Paul 

District’s jurisdiction followed political rather than watershed boundaries. With the 

support of his district engineer, and eventually under orders from Corps’ headquarters, 

Wopat negotiated with his counterparts in neighboring districts to achieve a 

realignment of St. Paul District boundaries for purposes of the Section 404 regulatory 

program. First, by mutual agreement, the St. Paul District relinquished its small portion 

of Iowa in exchange for the Rock Island District’s little piece of Minnesota and the Rock 

River watershed in Wisconsin. Next, the St. Paul District gave up its portion of North 

Dakota to the Omaha District. Then it exchanged the Upper Peninsula of Michigan 

for the Detroit District’s Fox River watershed and its Lake Michigan watershed in 

Wisconsin. Finally, it obtained from the Chicago District the southeastern corner of 

Wisconsin. By this series of mutual agreements, the St. Paul District’s Section 404 

program came to serve all of Minnesota and Wisconsin and no parts of other states. In 

some other parts of the nation, districts followed this lead so that Section 404 permitting 

conformed to state lines rather than watershed boundaries.30

Nationwide Permit 26 and the Rise of State Programs

In order to process tens of thousands of Section 404 permit applications annually, 

the Corps developed a two-tiered approach using individual and general permits. 

Individual permits involved large or unusual actions that required a full public 

interest review. General permits involved small, routine actions that were believed 

to have minimal environmental impact. Once the Corps determined an action could 

be handled under a general permit, the action was essentially pre-approved and did 

not need to undergo the same level of public notice and review. For example, Corps’ 

headquarters developed a general permit for bank stabilization projects. If a proposed 

bank stabilization project could be designed to meet the environmental conditions 

specifi ed by the general permit, the permitting process was considerably expedited. 

Although the general permits dealt with relatively benign actions, they were signifi cant 

because of the cumulative environmental impact of so many similar but separate 

actions going forward under one set of standards. At best, the two tiered approach 

facilitated an appropriate scaling of effort that discouraged excessive regulation. At 

worst, it was no more than a form of triage for dealing with loss of wetlands on many 

fronts. Environmentalists viewed the Corps’ approach in this negative light and focused 

on general permits as the weak link in the Section 404 program. In time, state agencies 

responsible for wetlands protection began to share environmentalists’ concerns. 

The two-tiered approach to Section 404 permitting won congressional approval in the 

Clean Water Act amendments of 1977. Immediately, the Corps began to develop a 

number of “nationwide” (general) permits to address various activities. One of these 

permits, Nationwide Permit 26 (NWP 26), covered actions that involved discharges of 

dredged material above headwaters and in isolated waters (such as prairie potholes). 
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NWP 26 provided a vehicle for the Corps to handle the vast geographic scope of 

Section 404. As such, it was the only nationwide permit to deal with a type of wetland 

environment rather than a type of construction activity.31 For thousands of farmers in 

Minnesota and Wisconsin whose property included wetland, NWP 26 offered a fast 

track through the Section 404 process.

With the advent of the Reagan Administration in 1981, Corps’ leadership anticipated 

a rollback in the Section 404 program. Ronald Reagan had campaigned for president 

on a platform of smaller government. He fervently believed in reducing government 

red tape. In particular, he wanted to ease the burden of environmental protection for 

agriculture and industry. His primary tactic in bringing about regulatory reform, it soon 

became clear, was to starve selected regulatory programs of funds. As Secretary of the 

Interior James Watt explained, “We will use the budget system [as] the excuse to make 

major policy decisions.”32 Reagan’s appointee to oversee the Army Corps, Assistant 

Secretary of the Army for Civil Works William R. Gianelli, immediately began to study 

alternatives for shrinking the Section 404 program. Broader use of nationwide permits – 

with the reduction in federal oversight that that shift entailed – was central to his plan.

In July 1982, the Corps published a revision of Section 404 regulations. The new 

rules included a broadening of NWP 26 authority.33 A coalition of environmental 

organizations fi led suit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., charging that the 

new rules would exempt millions of acres of wetlands from the requirement to obtain 

individual permits to dispose of dredged material, violating the intent of the Clean 

Water Act. While administration offi cials defended the new rules as necessary in the 

face of limited funding, environmentalists accused the administration of “abandoning 

the nation’s wetlands under the guise of regulatory reform.”34

State agencies in Minnesota and Wisconsin also criticized the new rules. The Minnesota 

Pollution Control Agency citizens’ board voted unanimously to sue the Corps on the 

basis that the NWP-26 permit would not require state review of the proposed action. 

According to one Minnesota Pollution Control Agency offi cial, the new rules would 

lift state authority over vast peat bogs in northern Minnesota, as well as several million 

acres of waterfowl-rich marshes in the prairie pothole region.35

St. Paul District Engineer Colonel William W. Badger supported the rollback of Section 

404 regulations in principle. He responded favorably to the Reagan Administration’s 

emphasis on cutting red tape and pushing economic development. He was impatient 

with those whom he called “termites” in the agency, the low-level technocrats who 

eschewed action in favor of further study and deliberation. However, he was also 

mindful that the people of Minnesota and Wisconsin were more supportive of 

environmental regulations than the nation as a whole. “We in the St. Paul District are in 

a very environmentally sensitive region,” he told an interviewer in July 1981. “We have 

the potholes, the wetlands, and the 10,000 lakes and the people that we serve are locked 

in step to preserve these wetlands.” Consequently, Colonel Badger wanted to work with 

the Minnesota and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources and adapt Section 404 
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regulations to meet their requirements. The St. Paul District ought to “fi ne-tune” and 

“retain” the Section 404 program, Badger held, rather than “roll it back.”36

Badger encouraged Ben Wopat and others in the regulatory branch to negotiate with 

state offi cials in the Minnesota and Wisconsin DNRs over adjustments to NWP 26 

and other nationwide permits. The idea was to modify the rules to refl ect regional 

conditions – both environmental and political. As a result of these discussions, the 

Wisconsin DNR published state guidelines in November 1982. The Minnesota DNR 

completed its guidelines in April 1984. These efforts laid the groundwork for a more 

comprehensive effort to coordinate wetlands protection at the federal and state levels 

through the development of programmatic general permits with each state. The 

programmatic general permit defi ned various actions affecting wetlands that fell 

within both federal and state jurisdiction. Any action that required an application for 

a programmatic general permit would be reviewed by federal and state agencies. The 

arrangement satisfi ed state offi cials that they would not be bypassed in the federal 

permitting process, especially where NWP 26 was employed. Federal offi cials, for 

their part, received assurance that the review process would not become bogged 

down; both the Corps and the DNRs were committed to respond to programmatic 

general permits applications within ten days. In addition, the district engineer had 

discretionary authority to require an individual permit for any area outside the purview 

of the programmatic general permit that he considered to be sensitive. The district 

engineer invoked this authority to protect those rare and minuscule wetlands known 

as calcareous fens.37 By the mid-1980s, the St. Paul District was a leader in developing 

coordinated federal and state procedures to fulfi ll the purposes of Section 404 of the 

Clean Water Act.

In the meantime, the lawsuit brought by environmental groups over NWP 26 was 

settled out of court. According to the settlement terms, NWP 26 was rewritten so it 

was limited to projects that would impact up to ten acres of wetlands in headwaters or 

isolated waters. Any project that would impact more than ten acres would no longer be 

authorized under the nationwide permit. Moreover, the Corps would take a closer look 

at projects that would impact one to ten acres. Any project that would impact more than 

one acre would require public notice. The Corps issued the new regulations, including 

modifi cation of NWP 26, in October 1984.

Environmentalists still distrusted the intent of NWP 26. In the 1990s, they attacked the 

ten-acre limit as too lenient; however, for the time being it was allowed to stand.

Wetlands Delineation

One of the most controversial aspects of wetlands protection was how to defi ne a 

wetland. Even after Congress and the courts resolved the issue of whether the “waters 

of the United States” extended to wetlands, the problem remained of establishing 

guidelines so that people could agree on where wetlands ended and uplands began. In 

general, wetlands were defi ned as areas inundated or saturated by water at a frequency 

and duration suffi cient to support plants that were adapted to saturated soil conditions. 

Ecologists recognized wetlands by the vegetation that grew on them. Experts could 
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not agree on specifi c guidelines, however, and the public remained befuddled about 

what constituted a wetland. Gradually, it became apparent that the Corps needed a 

scientifi cally sound and workable defi nition – one that could be applied in the fi eld with 

consistency so that the jurisdictional boundaries of Section 404 were made clear.

The Corps’ generous use of NWP 26 in the early 1980s fueled the controversy 

over wetlands delineation. Environmentalists argued that many thousands of 

acres of wetlands were being destroyed each year under NWP 26 authorizations. 

Regulators noted that without uniform standards as to what constituted a wetland, 

environmentalists’ estimates concerning the total extent and rate of loss of wetlands 

had to be treated circumspectly. Farmers, for their part, were leery of any defi nition of 

wetlands that could bring previously converted wetlands – croplands that were lying 

fallow, for example – under the Clean Water Act’s purview. In short, environmentalists, 

regulators and farmers all had their own agendas for wetlands delineation. The 

question of what is a wetland, though posed to science, stemmed from politics.

Nowhere, perhaps, was wetland delineation more controversial than in Minnesota, 

where county drainage ditches crisscrossed the countryside, forming a peculiar network 

of man-made wetlands. The ditches had been constructed in the early decades of the 

twentieth century to drain wetlands and render adjoining areas suitable for agriculture. 

Often, they ran parallel to county roads. The ditches gradually fi lled with debris, 

which interrupted the fl ow of water, so that they had to be periodically cleaned to 

keep them functional. For decades, county ditch boards oversaw the maintenance of 

ditches on a public need basis, but many ditches had been abandoned and the county 

ditch boards had ceased to exist. As counties fell behind on maintenance, the process 

of land conversion was reversed. The ditches clogged, the water ceased to fl ow and the 

surrounding area returned to wetlands. As these clogged ditches became less effective 

in draining surrounding agricultural fi elds, the resulting wetlands performed a new 

function: they acted as fi lters to absorb farm chemicals and other pollutants that would 

otherwise fl ow into natural streams and rivers. Moreover, they provided habitat for 

wildlife. The Corps was bound by the Clean Water Act to protect these linear wetlands, 

but rural county governments saw the Corps’ responsibility as an intrusion into local 

affairs. Speaking on behalf of the public need for a particular ditch repair, Meeker 

Wetlands: This cartoon 

depicts farmers’ 

frustration with federal 

wetlands policy. 

Farmers saw wetlands 

(with accompanying 

federal regulations) 

encroaching upon their 

farms, especially where 

abandoned agricultural 

drainage ditches 

bordered farmsteads.
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County Commissioner Steve Dille expressed a concern common to many rural residents 

when he remarked, “The thing that bothers me is the loss of local control and the need 

to contact Washington for permission.”38

As public awareness of wetlands increased, ditch improvement proposals often 

proved divisive among area residents. Farmers might desire ditch maintenance to 

get waterlogged fi elds back into production, while nearby townspeople preferred to 

protect downstream water quality. When controversy arose, the St. Paul District held 

public hearings to gather information that would assist in its determination of whether 

a permit served the public interest. In a notable example, the Corps scheduled a public 

hearing in Stevens County to garner testimony on a proposed ditch project. Proponents 

wanted to improve County Ditch 6 for drainage and fl ood control. Opponents claimed 

the ditch improvement would pollute the waters of Page Lake, harming its recreational 

and economic value. Twice the meeting was postponed at the request of county 

offi cials. An editorial in the Hancock Record admonished readers to participate: “The 

upcoming public hearing concerning the proposed alteration of County Ditch 6 and 

Page Lake is perhaps the single most important hearing that the citizens of Hancock 

and surrounding area can ever attend.” When the hearing fi nally occurred in December 

1981 in the town of Morris, Minnesota, population fi ve thousand, some two hundred 

people packed the courthouse hearing room.39 Evidently the public response served to 

kill the project.

Rural county governments often bristled at involvement by the Corps, even when the 

Corps sought to facilitate public review of project proposals. In 1986, the Corps denied 

a permit application to improve Ditch 5 in McLeod County, which lies in Minnesota’s 

prairie pothole region. Later that year, the Board of Commissioners of McLeod 

County narrowly approved a resolution that effectively barred future expansion 

of Ditch 5. The resolution, drafted by attorneys in the St. Paul District offi ce for the 

county commissioners, sought to clear the way for Corps’ approval of a county permit 

application involving two other ditches. Two of the fi ve commissioners opposed the 

resolution on the grounds that it smacked of “arm twisting” by the Corps.40

The problematic relationship between agricultural drainage ditches and wetlands was 

not unique to the St. Paul District, but the connection was perhaps more complex there 

than in any other part of the nation. Beginning about 1984, a wet cycle in the region’s 

climate caused water tables to rise, spurring counties to initiate ditch repair projects for 

the fi rst time in many years. As with Ditch 5 in McLeod County, most of these projects 

went beyond maintenance, thereby threatening destruction not only of wetlands that 

had become reestablished along the ditch corridor itself, but wetlands in adjoining areas 

as well.41 Insofar as regulators sought to distinguish between existing versus previously 

converted wetlands, ditch projects were particularly confounding.

The problem of defi ning wetlands undoubtedly perplexed rural residents more than 

it did urban residents, but it could turn up anywhere. In 1986, district ecologist Steve 

Eggers discovered a calcareous fen in Savage, a Minneapolis suburb. This rare type of 

wetland, blooming with plants and grasses that the state had classifi ed as threatened 

species, was found at the end of a gravel road behind a concrete-panel casting 

factory. To the newspaper reporter who accompanied Eggers to the Savage fen site, 
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the small spring-fed wetland looked like nothing but a “patch of weeds.” According 

to Eggers, the Corps was aware of three other calcareous fens in the Twin Cities 

metropolitan area.42

Eggers, like other Corps’ ecologists, recognized a wetland by the composition of 

wetland plant species. In theory, only certain species of plants could grow in watersaturated soils, and these plant species were then indicators of a wetland. Eggers’ 

fi eld guide presented a classifi cation scheme for wetland types. However, Eggers and 

other ecologists in the Corps increasingly saw the need for a more precise and legally 

defensible method for delineating wetlands. In 1987, the Corps accordingly produced 

a manual. Based on seven years of research and testing, it offered numerical standards 

for the three basic attributes of wetlands – water, soil and vegetation. For example, the 

hydrology (water) standard included this requirement: to qualify as wetland, the soil 

must be inundated or saturated within major portions of the root zone (within twelve 

inches of the surface) during at least fi ve percent of the growing season.43

However, the manual did not satisfy critics. The Reagan Administration directed four 

agencies, the EPA, the Corps, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Soil Conservation 

Service, to develop standards that all four could agree upon; and in 1989, the agencies 

produced the “Joint Four-Agency Wetland Delineation Manual.” It was similar in most 

respects to the Corps’ 1987 manual. On the specifi c hydrology standard noted above, 

however, the 1989 manual stated soil must be inundated or saturated to a depth of 

six to eight inches for at least seven consecutive days during the growing season. This 

seemingly subtle difference marked the 1989 manual as more inclusive in its defi nition 

of a wetland.44

Pro-development critics blasted the 1989 manual primarily on the grounds that it would 

redefi ne millions of acres of farmland as wetland. Apparently by mistake, the 1989 

manual included an estimated 53 million acres of farmland that had been exempted 

from Section 404 regulations under provisions of the Food Security Act of 1985. Also, 

critics complained that the hydrological defi nition was too broad and that the 1989 

manual had not undergone a public review process.45

With wetland policy in the national limelight, newly elected President George H.W. 

Bush announced his administration’s goal of “no net loss of wetlands.” Bush called for 

a review and revision of the 1989 manual and appointed a panel of experts, the Federal 

Interagency Committee for Wetland Delineation, to accomplish this task. After a twoyear study, the committee announced its fi ndings. Taking a more restrictive view of 

wetlands than either the Corps’ 1987 manual or the four agencies’ 1989 manual, the 

committee’s draft revisions, if implemented, would have eliminated 50 million acres 

of widely recognized wetlands. Indeed, fi eld testing of the proposed criteria revealed 

that parts of the Everglades in Florida and the Great Dismal Swamp in North Carolina 

would be excluded from federal jurisdiction. Now it was the environmentalists’ turn to 

cry foul. Coming to the environmentalists’ support, both the EPA and the Corps found 

the committee’s revisions were unscientifi c and unusable in the fi eld.46

Congress responded to the uproar by requesting yet another study of wetlands 

delineation by the National Academy of Sciences. At the same time, Congress directed 
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the Corps to drop its use of the 1989 manual in favor of its earlier 1987 guidelines. 

Other agencies followed suit in adopting the Corps’ original criteria for wetlands 

delineation. By the time the National Academy of Sciences completed its study in 1995, 

the controversy had subsided. The National Academy of Sciences concluded that the 

existing federal wetlands regulatory program was scientifi cally sound and effective in 

most respects.47

Swampbuster

In the spring of 1985, the House Agriculture Committee introduced a provision in 

the farm bill that would deny agricultural subsidies to any farmer who planted crops 

on wetlands. Known as “Swampbuster,” the provision was modeled on a similar 

conservation measure, called “Sodbuster,” which aimed at discouraging farmers on the 

Great Plains from plowing up new sod. Like Sodbuster, the Swampbuster provision 

would reverse outmoded farm policy that actually gave farmers incentive to convert 

wetlands to agriculture even when this action undermined wetland policy. The 

concept of pushing a conservation measure by tying it to eligibility for farm subsidies 

appealed to a Congress searching for ways to cut federal subsidies. It also appealed 

to environmental groups, including conservation-oriented farm groups such as the 

National Association of Conservation Districts.48

President Ronald Reagan signed the Food Security Act into law on February 23, 1985. 

According to the Swampbuster provision, any farmer who planted crops on wetlands 

after the date of the act would lose eligibility for commodity price supports, disaster 

payments, Farm and Home Administration loans and crop insurance. The law used 

a defi nition of wetlands similar to that developed by the Corps in its Section 404 

regulations – based on soil, hydrology and vegetation. Drainage projects that were in 

progress could be completed if they had been initiated prior to February 23, 1985.49

Enforcement of Swampbuster fell primarily to the Soil Conservation Service in the 

U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Soil Conservation Service and the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service jointly developed guidelines and disseminated them through state and 

county offi ces in March 1986. Like the Corps a decade earlier, the Soil Conservation 

Service acquired the enormous task of identifying and monitoring wetlands throughout 

farm country. Although it had some seven thousand personnel in the fi eld, Soil 

Conservation Service agents were not trained to recognize wetlands nor were they 

anxious to do surveillance. Soil Conservation Service agents enjoyed the role of 

helping farmers negotiate the maze of federal programs, and they resisted assuming 

what amounted to a role reversal. “In small farm communities where everyone knew 

everyone and there was only one coffee shop to go to in the morning, the pressure not 

to enforce the provision was tremendous,” historian Ann Vileisis wrote.50 Reported 

violations were rare, and sanctions against violators were even rarer.

In theory, Swampbuster should have buttressed the Section 404 program because 

farmers who violated their Section 404 permits could face additional penalties from the 

Soil Conservation Service. Initially, the Corps received excellent cooperation from Soil 

Conservation Service offi cials in sharing information on their respective programs. As 
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Corps’ offi cials went from their Soil Conservation Service contacts in state offi ces to Soil 

Conservation Service agents in the fi eld, however, they found much less willingness on 

the part of the agents to assist with wetlands protection. Whereas the Soil Conservation 

Service agents had been “the guys in the white hats that were helping the farmers with 

programs,” Ben Wopat recalled, “all of a sudden here they were viewed as the bad guys 

who were now telling them what they couldn’t do rather than helping them do things 

that they wanted to do to improve or expand their agricultural production.”51

Farm groups objected to Swampbuster and vigorously lobbied for changes in the 

law when it came up for reauthorization in 1990. Congress made minor adjustments 

to Swampbuster in the Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act, which was 

signed into law on November 28, 1990. One key change was the introduction of 

graduated penalties for unintentional violations. Farmers were allowed one violation 

in ten years, and they stood to lose benefi ts of $750 to $10,000, depending on the 

severity of the violation. The law also redefi ned the Swampbuster prohibition itself. 

Rather than prohibiting the planting of crops in wetlands, it prohibited any act of 

draining, dredging, fi lling, leveling or otherwise altering wetlands to produce an 

agricultural commodity.52

While these amendments removed some of the teeth from Swampbuster, the program’s 

main shortcoming continued to be weak enforcement by the Soil Conservation Service 

and other federal agencies. Soil Conservation Service agents were supposed to report 

violations to the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, which oversaw 

local committees of farmers that were tasked to assess penalties. The Agricultural 

Stabilization and Conservation Service committees proved highly recalcitrant, granting 

“good faith” exemptions to hundreds of violators. In 1991, the National Wildlife 

Federation sued the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service for granting 

exemptions to farmers who drained eighteen prairie potholes in the Yellow Medicine 

River watershed in Minnesota. The circuit court of appeals ruled that the farmers 

must restore the potholes or forfeit their farm subsidies. Despite this rebuke from 

the court, the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service continued to issue 

exemptions. An audit of Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service actions in 

Nelson County, North Dakota, in 1993 revealed that the Agricultural Stabilization and 

Conservation Service granted exemptions in eleven of thirty randomly-selected cases. 

Other audits in 1993 disclosed $1.2 million in subsidies paid to six farmers who had 

violated Swampbuster. Total forfeiture of subsidies under Swampbuster amounted to 

just $12 million for the period 1986-1992. After the government subsequently restored 

a large portion of these subsidies, total penalties amounted to less than $3,000 per farm 

for some fi ve hundred forty-four violators.53

Critics also pointed out that the Soil Conservation Service was lax in mapping wetlands. 

In 1994, environmentalists compared Soil Conservation Service wetlands maps and Fish 

and Wildlife Service wetlands maps for twenty-one counties in Minnesota and found 

that the Soil Conservation Service identifi ed only fi fty-seven percent of the area that the 

Fish and Wildlife Service identifi ed as wetlands. Although offi cials in the two agencies 

refused to comment on the disparity, environmentalists charged that some 2,678 acres 

of wetland were “missing” from Soil Conservation Service maps in the twenty-one 

counties. Extrapolating from those counties to the rest of the state, environmentalists 
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observed that “approximately 875,000 acres of Minnesota wetlands could have been 

drained with Soil Conservation Service consent.”54

Swampbuster revealed how diffi cult it was to protect wetlands when responsibility for 

wetlands protection was divided between multiple federal agencies. As Corps’ offi cials 

continually reminded the public, Section 404 was extremely broad in its reference 

to “the nation’s waters,” but it was narrow in its concern only with dredged and fi ll 

material. While the Corps had shown some success in defi ning what a wetland is, it 

was not responsible for mapping or inventorying wetlands or monitoring losses, and 

most experts agreed that the total extent of wetlands continued to shrink despite federal 

policy to promote “no net loss.”

Defi ning the Section 404(f) Farming Exemption

As noted above, the Clean Water Act amendments of 1977 included a handful of 

exemptions, the most signifi cant one being for normal farming activity. The exemptions 

were part of a larger compromise to recognize property rights in the national Section 

404 program. When farmers faced the dual effects of Swampbuster and more restricted 

use of NWP 26, they countered by claiming exemption under Section 404(f) of the Clean 

Water Act. Like the Soil Conservation Service, the Corps did not want to engender 

widespread resistance to wetlands protection from the farm community, so it worked 

with farm groups to reach an understanding.

Agricultural drainage ditches once again forced the issue. In 1984 – an unusually wet 

year in Minnesota – a number of counties began taking steps to repair old drainage 

ditches. Since many of these ditches had been abandoned for several decades, it was 

questionable whether the ditch repairs should be defi ned as maintenance or new 

construction. The Corps initially chose to take all ditch repairs at their face value as 

maintenance, but environmental groups protested. After environmental groups sued 

the Corps in District Court in Washington, D.C., the Corps changed its position. The 

Corps published regulations on November 22, 1985, requiring permits for all drainage 

projects that would expand the original size of the ditch.55

One of the fi rst counties to respond to this change of policy was Stearns County, 

in central Minnesota, where several ditch improvement projects were underway. 

The county duly applied for Section 404 permits for each project, and then placed a 

moratorium on the work pending the Corps’ response. In the meantime, the Stearns 

County commissioners passed a resolution calling on the Association of Minnesota 

Counties and the U.S. Congress to prevail on the Corps to revise its policy to accord 

with the defi nition of ditch repairs used by the Minnesota DNR. According to the 

Minnesota DNR, all ditch repairs constituted maintenance. One such project in 

Becker County in northwest Minnesota called for restoring a ditch to its condition 

in 1920. The project was classifi ed as “repair” in the hope that the Corps would 

not require a permit. County commissioners recognized that defi ning the project 

as a “repair” was something of a charade, because in practical terms it did not 

make sense to restore ditches to their original shape. “Nobody wants to do that,” 

conceded Don Ogaard, president of the Wild Rice Watershed District, “because 
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that’s the reason they eroded in the fi rst place. They want to change the design and 

backslope and properly slope the sides.”56

During the next year, the St. Paul District denied numerous applications for ditch 

repairs on the grounds that they would drain surrounding wetlands. In particular, the 

Corps noted that most “repair” projects included construction of new lateral ditches 

and placement of new tile drain systems, not to mention enlargement of the original 

ditch.57 But with hundreds of thousands of dollars already invested in planning, county 

governments were stung by these permit denials. Moreover, farmers with standing 

water on their fi elds could not obtain relief. Resentment toward federal regulators 

grew.58 One newspaper headline announced with obvious irony: “Flooded county 

ditches create ‘wetlands’ in federal view.”59

In January 1987, the St. Paul District hosted a meeting of federal and state regulators to 

discuss differences of interpretation over ditch repairs. Ben Wopat headed the team of 

Corps’ staff, Doug Ehorn represented the Environmental Protection Agency and others 

attended from the Soil Conservation Service, the Minnesota DNR and the Minnesota 

Pollution Control Agency. Wopat explained that the Corps’ current interpretation of 

the exemption was that the project qualifi ed as “maintenance” if it returned the ditch 

to its original size and confi guration. There was a presumption that this would not 

bring a drained wetland into a new use but would restore earlier agricultural land use. 

Ehorn stated that the Environmental Protection Agency wondered whether “legitimate 

farming” had ever been done on lands that had long since returned to wetlands. They 

were also skeptical of ditches that dated back to the 1910s and 1920s that had never seen 

any maintenance. The meeting pointed to the need for interagency agreement on what 

constituted ditch maintenance.60
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At Wopat’s initiative, District Engineer Colonel Joseph Briggs detailed Wopat to work 

with Doug Ehorn of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 5 offi ce in Chicago. 

Their task was to develop an enforceable standard that would measure whether an area 

had been subjected to regular if not continuous farming use. Only then would their 

agencies certify that a project would not convert an area of wetland to a new use. The 

result of their deliberations was a joint policy for the St. Paul District known as the “51-

51 policy.” Colonel Briggs announced the policy on November 23, 1987.61

The policy called for a dual test that measured both the extent and duration of past 

farming in a given area. To qualify for the Section 404(f) exemption, it was necessary to 

show that 51 percent of the wetlands physically connected to a drainage ditch had been 

subject to the plowing, seeding and cultivating agricultural cycle for fi fty-one percent of 

the time for which credible agricultural records existed and were available. In addition 

to the “51-51 test,” the policy affi rmed the Corps’ requirement that the ditch must be 

returned to its original condition. It was the applicant’s responsibility to document the 

original size and confi guration of the ditch by providing such evidence as engineering 

plans, soil borings and contractor records. The record of past agricultural usage would 

be documented through aerial photos, crop histories, agricultural subsidy records and 

personal statements.62

As the 51-51 policy was implemented, the St. Paul District found the historical 

assessment to be a labor-intensive exercise, yet the results were illuminating. “We’d 

draw out the drainage basin, and take a look at the aerial maps – usually they went 

back to about 1936, ‘37, and we’d bring them up to the present,” Wopat recalled. “And 

we’d look at the span of fi fty or sixty years and we would look at how much wetland 

there was adjacent to that ditch and how much of it actually was refl ected as being 

cropped during those years.”63 In most cases, the project did not meet the 51-51 test. 

Indeed, during the next eighteen months, the St. Paul District evaluated twenty ditch 

maintenance permit applications, of which it granted three and denied seventeen.64

The 51-51 policy caused further dismay in the farm community and contributed to a 

sudden fl ap over another proposed rule change by the St. Paul District in the winter 

of 1988-1989. The controversial proposal pertained specifi cally to the prairie pothole 

region. It designated fi fty-one counties in western Minnesota – covering the prairie 

pothole region – as exempt from NWP 26. This nationwide permit applied to dredge 

and fi ll actions that would impact wetlands in headwaters or isolated waters. NWP 

26 required a predischarge notifi cation and evaluation process for proposed actions 

that would impact from one to ten acres. The purpose of the rule change, the Corps 

belatedly tried to explain to farmers, was simply to bypass the predischarge notifi cation 

and move applicants straight into the individual permit review process because 

experience had shown that most proposed actions in the fi fty-one western Minnesota 

counties did not meet the regional conditions attached to NWP 26 anyway. “The intent 

was to streamline the administrative burden posed by the predischarge notifi cation 

process,” one offi cial in the Corps later insisted. These subtleties were lost on the 

region’s farmers, however, who saw the suspension of NWP 26 as a ploy to tighten 

restrictions on use of lands bordering prairie potholes.65
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The reaction from the farm community surprised Corps’ offi cials. “Many of the 

comments received in response to the public notice for the proposed exercise of 

discretionary authority over the prairie pothole region refl ected widespread confusion 

and misunderstanding of the Corps’ regulatory program, especially as it applied to 

agricultural drainage projects,” one offi cial noted. “In addition, the public was virtually 

unaware of the regional conditions that apply to the nationwide permit for discharges 

of dredged or fi ll material into waters located above the headwaters of a stream or into 

isolated waters.” The regional conditions had been introduced several years earlier 

to comply with environmental standards developed by state agencies. In an effort to 

increase public understanding of Section 404 requirements, the Corps held fi ve public 

meetings in the prairie pothole region of Minnesota in February 1989. District Engineer 

Colonel Roger Baldwin also withdrew the proposed rulemaking that same month.66

Prairie Pothole Region: Map of 51 counties in western and southern Minnesota 

that the Corps ruled ineligible for Nationwide Permit 26 because of sensitive 

prairie pothole wetlands. (Map courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
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The controversies surrounding agricultural drainage ditches and NWP 26 prompted 

a congressional hearing in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in April 1989. In preparation for 

the hearing, Wopat prepared testimony for Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary 

of the Army (Civil Works) John S. Doyle, Jr. The Corps hoped to get clarifi cation 

from Congress on the Section 404(f) exemption for farming activity. Congressman 

Arlan Stangeland (R-Minnesota), whose district included St. Cloud in Stearns 

County, conducted the hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the congressional 

subcommittee went by helicopter to inspect Stearns County Ditch 29, a project the 

Corps determined could not be permitted. The congressional hearing in St. Cloud 

raised interest in the murky problems surrounding the Section 404(f) exemption for 

farming use, but Corps’ offi cials were disappointed that it did not result in amendatory 

legislation.67 Later, Stearns County went forward with Ditch 29, challenging the Corps’ 

Section 404 authority. The Corps sued Stearns County, hoping a court ruling would 

provide judicial guidance on whether ditch maintenance came under the Section 404(f) 

exemption. However, the Department of Justice settled the case out of court, so this, too, 

did not provide the desired clarifi cation.68

Having failed to obtain clarifi cation of the farming exemption from Congress or the 

courts, the Corps and the Environmental Protection Agency found they had no choice 

but to adopt a more accommodating position on the issue. The two agencies issued a 

joint memorandum on May 4, 1990. Signed by Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil 

Works Robert W. Page and Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator 

Walter LaJuana S. Wilcher, the statement read: “The exemptions ... recognize that 

American agriculture fulfi lls the vitally important public need for supplying abundant 

and affordable food and fi ber, and it is our intent to assure that the exemptions are 

appropriately implemented.” The memorandum launched a broad effort on the part 

of the Corps and the Environmental Protection Agency to rebuild trust with the farm 

community on issues involving wetlands.69 In September 1990, Major General Patrick 

J. Kelly, Director of Civil Works, issued a guidance letter to all Corps’ districts aimed 

at further placating farmers. Kelly’s statement held that “prior converted croplands” 

would not require Section 404 permits. In general, this applied to wetland that had 

been manipulated for agricultural production before December 23, 1985 – prior to 

Swampbuster. “This guidance,” the statement continued, “will allow the Corps to 

focus its limited regulatory resources on the nation’s truly important and signifi cant 

aquatic resources.”70

Cranberry Farms and Mitigation Banks

Cranberry farmers in Wisconsin raised another issue connected with wetland 

conversion. The Corps supported a conservation approach called “mitigation banking.” 

A mitigation bank was any private land area where wetlands were saved, restored 

or created and “sold” as credits to balance the loss of equivalent wetlands acreages 

elsewhere. When the cranberry industry began to expand sharply in Wisconsin in the 

1980s, the Corps took a permissive view of wetland conversion to cranberry farms. The 

reason for the Corps’ leniency was that cranberry farms arguably enhanced the value 

of existing wetlands, much like mitigation banks. The controversy over cranberry farms 

paralleled a wider debate over mitigation banks.
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Cranberry farmers situated their cranberry beds in acidic, sandy soils. During the 

growing season, cranberry farmers tried to keep the water table between nine and 

twelve inches below the surface elevation of the beds. Construction of reservoirs was 

typically integral to the operation, as large quantities of water had to be delivered to 

the beds to keep them saturated. The reservoirs created a more stable hydrology. “In 

many cases,” Tom Lochner, executive director of the Wisconsin Cranberry Growers 

Association remarked, “we end up with a higher quality wetlands system that 

attracts a tremendous diversity of wildlife.”71

Corps’ offi cials supported the industry position. “The cranberry growers are 

obviously attuned to a number of environmental concerns,” District Engineer 

Colonel Roger Baldwin stated during a tour of cranberry fi elds by members of 

Congress in 1989. Their growing practices, Baldwin said, demonstrated “tremendous 

environmental awareness.” Cranberry growers needed vast amounts of water in 

the surrounding area in order to maintain a high water table. For every acre that 

they put into cranberry beds, growers set aside about thirteen acres of woodland, 

fi elds and wetlands for the purpose of recharging groundwater and controlling 

storm water runoff. These surrounding lands also provided habitat for wildlife and 

plants.72

Environmentalists were not so sanguine. They noted cranberry operations involved 

stripping and leveling the land put into cultivation. Moreover, use of pesticides 

and fertilizers on cranberry beds impacted water quality in surrounding areas. 

Environmentalists wanted cranberry growers to expand into uplands, not wetlands – 

an alternative that growers claimed to be prohibitively expensive.73

In the early 1990s, the St. Paul District took steps to counter environmentalists’ 

concerns about the Wisconsin cranberry industry. First, it developed a general permit 

for expansion of existing cranberry operations where the total acreage of disturbance 

would not exceed ten acres of wetlands. The permit included construction of new 

cranberry beds adjacent to existing beds, as well as construction or extension of 

dikes for reservoir expansion. The ten-acre limit would be measured over a fi veyear period. The Corps noted that with approximately a hundred and fi fty cranberry 

farms in existence, the loss of wetlands over a fi ve-year period would be no greater 

than 1,500 acres – far less than what critics of the cranberry industry supposed. 

Moreover, mitigation measures (such as mitigation banking) would offset the losses. 

The Corps wanted the general permit so that growers would not have to obtain 

individual permits and the Corps would be able to divert resources away from 

these controversial actions to permitting actions that were, in the Corps’ view, more 

important.74

At the same time, the St. Paul District conducted a comprehensive study of cranberry 

operations in Wisconsin authorized under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The 

point of the study was to rebut a Wisconsin DNR study, which found that cranberry 

operations were responsible for more than half of wetland losses in the state 

between 1981 and 1989. Whereas the state’s study indicated a loss of 9,247 acres, 

the Corps’ study showed a loss of 2,737 acres. Whereas the state’s study considered 

cranberry beds as a loss, the Corps classifi ed cranberry beds as modifi ed wetlands 
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with diminished function and values. In Ben Wopat’s view, the state’s study was 

motivated by the DNR’s desire to obtain regulatory control of the industry, which 

it could only accomplish by the repeal of a troublesome state statute of 1867. That 

statute exempted cranberry growers from permit requirements for damming, 

ditching and other activities that were normally regulated under Wisconsin laws. 

The Corps, for its part, sought to justify its approach to Section 404 permitting, with 

its emphasis on mitigation over prevention. The Corps’ study began with a more 

inclusive defi nition of wetlands, and it took a much different view of the mitigation 

process and results.75

The Corps was strengthened in its position by the course of debate over mitigation 

banks. When the concept was fi rst developed in the 1980s, critics argued that natural 

and man-made wetlands did not necessarily contain equivalent biological richness; 

therefore, acre-for-acre compensation did not protect environmental quality. Michael 

Bowen, a doctoral student in ecology and Corps’ scientist himself, argued that 

mitigation banking was no panacea for wetlands protection when it merely reduced 

wetlands to equivalent acres. Even when the equivalent acres of wetland habitat 

were located nearby the project site, there was no certainty that animal populations 

would move from one place to the other, or that the newly created wetland would 

be occupied by wetland species. “All we will build,” Bowen wrote, “are large, wet, 

‘dead’ areas containing fewer species than the original ‘protected’ wetland.”76

The Minnesota and Wisconsin DNRs also doubted the effi cacy of mitigation banking 

in the 1980s. Without state support, the St. Paul District could make little use of 

mitigation banking, as mitigation credits were not at the disposal of developers 

in these two states. Unfortunately, the alternative – requiring the developer or 

landowner to mitigate wetland impacts on the site where the development activity 

was to occur – was generally more costly and less effective. As the Environmental 

Protection Agency’s Robert H. Wayland III testifi ed before a congressional 

subcommittee, mitigation banks were “an innovative, market-based way for 

landowners to effectively and effi ciently compensate for unavoidable wetland 

impacts ... Through mitigation banking, the responsibility for providing mitigation 

is transferred to an entity that has the fi nancial resources, scientifi c expertise, and 

incentives necessary to ensure that the mitigation will be ecologically successful.”77

In the 1990s, improved techniques in wetland development led to greater support 

for mitigation banking. Minnesota and Wisconsin both sanctioned the approach. The 

Clinton Administration made efforts to increase scientifi c and technical knowledge 

that would enhance mitigation capabilities. The new administration’s announced 

policy on wetlands, “Protecting America’s Wetlands,” released in August 1993, 

contained a strong endorsement of the approach: “Mitigation banking provides for 

the restoration or creation of wetland functions in advance of development impacts 

reducing thereby the uncertainty of mitigation success. As such, mitigation banking 

may expedite the permit review process for projects that qualify. By consolidating 

compensation requirements, there may be ecological advantages accrued, as well as 

economies of scale relating to planning, monitoring, and management.”78
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In November 1995, the Corps and other federal agencies provided guidance to 

promote the establishment and use of mitigation banks under Section 404. The new 

mitigation banking policy provided for proper location and design of mitigation 

banks. It required that bank sponsors meet certain standards of fi nancial security 

and long-term commitment to monitoring and management of the wetlands. By 

1997, some two hundred mitigation banks had been approved or were under 

development nationwide.79

Statewide General Permits

As noted above, one important and long-standing goal of the Corps’ Section 404 

program was to assist the states in assuming greater responsibility for wetlands 

protection. Coordination of Section 404 regulations with state programs was important 

for two reasons: fi rst, to facilitate state control; and second, to avoid duplication of effort 

by the government that resulted in overly burdensome requirements for the public. The 

Corps was under constant pressure by Congress to streamline its Section 404 permitting 

process, and coordination with state programs was one area in which the Corps 

could signifi cantly improve effi ciency without sacrifi cing the Section 404 program’s 

effectiveness. Since Minnesota and Wisconsin both had relatively strong environmental 

laws, the St. Paul District was often a leader among Corps’ districts in coordinating the 

Corps’ regulatory program with state programs.

In 1991, the Minnesota Legislature passed the Wetland Conservation Act, one of the 

most comprehensive wetland laws in the nation. The law expressed a goal of no-netloss of wetlands and described a “sequencing” process similar to the Corps’ Section 404 

program for mitigating impacts. According to the law, anyone proposing to drain or fi ll 

a wetland was required fi rst to try avoiding the wetland; second, to try to minimize the 

impact; and, as a fi nal resort, to replace any lost wetland acres, functions, and values. 

The law was to take effect in stages, becoming fully operational in 1994.80

In 1995, the St. Paul District issued a new programmatic general permit, GP-17, on a 

trial basis. This permit covered certain activities regulated and approved under the 

Minnesota law. The state law exempted some activities and types of wetland covered 

by Section 404, so the programmatic general permit was not a “perfect overlay,” but it 

avoided duplication in most cases. This permit was later incorporated into the Corps’ 

existing programmatic general permit for Minnesota, GP-01-MN.81

The St. Paul District made refi nements to a similar programmatic general permit for 

Wisconsin. Although Wisconsin had no state law comparable to Minnesota’s Wetland 

Conservation Act, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources vigorously exercised 

its role in the Section 404 process through the state’s Section 401 certifi cation authority. 

Consequently, the public was urged to apply for the programmatic general permit in 

Wisconsin, GP-01-WI, through a joint application form addressed to both the Corps and 

the Wisconsin DNR. As in Minnesota, applicants were advised to submit the application 

to the DNR, which then forwarded the application, along with its recommendation, to 

the Corps.82
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In 2000, the St. Paul District issued three packages of general permits for Minnesota, 

Wisconsin and Indian reservations. Each package covered a variety of actions 

previously addressed by the Corps’ nationwide permits. A signifi cant innovation in 

these permits was that each permit had to be accompanied by a “letter of permission” 

from the appropriate local governing authority. Governing authorities varied and might 

involve city or county governments, watershed management organizations, soil and 

water conservation districts, townships or Indian tribal governments. As such, the new 

permits were designated GP/LOP-MN (for Minnesota), GP/LOP-WI (for Wisconsin) 

and GP/LOP-IR (for Indian reservations).

The St. Paul District developed an extensive training program to implement the GP/

LOP process. The district provided training to tribal environmental staff, as well 

as various other local government bodies. The Minnesota Wetland Conservation 

Act empowered more than four hundred local government units to implement the 

permitting system, few of which commanded any expertise in wetland protection. Most 

of the people assigned to administer the state program at the local level, Ben Wopat 

remarked, “could see standing water and cattails and not call it a wetland.” The Corps’ 

training sessions were normally one week in length and included classroom training as 

well as fi eld training.83

With the implementation of the GP/LOPs, the St. Paul District no longer dealt 

with nationwide permits, including the controversial NWP 26. By the late 1990s, 

the nationwide permits engendered so much scrutiny and protest by state natural 

resource offi cials and environmental groups in Minnesota and Wisconsin that they 

had become more hindrance than help. By abandoning use of the nationwide permits, 

the St. Paul District tailored its program more closely to the strong state wetland 

protection programs fi nally in place in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Still, both states 

stopped short of assuming control of the Section 404 program itself (as provided for 

under the Clean Water Act amendments of 1977), preferring to have the continued 

partnership with the Corps.84

The Crandon Mine Controversy

No environmental controversy tested the St. Paul District’s ability to exercise its 

regulatory function more publicly than the complicated proposal to develop the 

Crandon Mine. Located a few miles south of the town of Crandon in Forest County, 

northern Wisconsin, the proposed mine would have accessed a rich deposit of zinc 

and copper ore that was claimed to be one of the ten largest ore bodies of its type in 

North America. Discovered in 1976, the ore body stirred enormous economic interest 

and political opposition. Because any major mining operation would have involved 

the discharge of fi ll material into jurisdictional wetlands, the Corps was involved 

through the Section 404 process. The controversy over the potential development of 

the Crandon Mine involved the Corps with the ore body owners, the Wisconsin DNR 

and three separate Wisconsin Indian tribes. Other parties in the controversy included 

the governor, the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

and local and national environmental groups. At the center of the controversy were the 
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evolving plans and environmental impact statements concerning how the mine would 

be developed. “Crandon Mine is the granddaddy of all EISs,” Ben Wopat remarked. 

“It’s a world-class EIS.”85

Exxon Coal and Minerals Company began mineral exploration in northern Wisconsin 

in 1969 and announced its discovery of the deposit south of Crandon in 1976. Exxon 

applied to the Wisconsin DNR and the Corps for the necessary permits to develop a 

mine in 1982, proposing a $540 million project that would involve daily production of 

about ten thousand tons of zinc and copper ore. While the DNR and the Corps reviewed 

the proposal, metal prices fell and Exxon withdrew its applications in 1986. Seven 

years later, Exxon formed a partnership with a Toronto-based company and created a 

subsidiary, Crandon Mining Company. The following year, in 1994, the new company 

again applied for permits to open the Crandon Mine, proposing to extract 55 million 

tons of ore at a rate of 5,500 tons per day. Although the scale of operations was reduced 

in the new proposal, environmental regulations had become more restrictive. No fewer 

than twenty permits were involved, including a Section 404 permit for discharge of fi ll 

material in wetlands.86

A further modifi cation of the Crandon Mining Company proposal in 1995 involved the 

Corps in another key issue. The proposed project was located in an area of extensive 

wetlands – the headwaters, in fact, of four separate watercourses: the Wolf, Brule, 

Peshtigo and Pine rivers. The waters of Forest County include some fi ve hundred miles 

of trout streams and a hundred and ninety named lakes. Mining engineers determined 

the mine operation would require discharge of an average of 42 thousand gallons an 

hour of treated wastewater, much of it from groundwater seepage into the mine. In the 

modifi ed proposal, the wastewater would fl ow through a thirty-eight-mile pipeline, 
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entering the Wisconsin River south of the town of Rhinelander in Oneida County. 

Previously, the proposal was to discharge the wastewater into the Wolf River. Since 

the surface waters in Forest County drain into Lake Michigan, while the Wisconsin 

River fl ows into the Mississippi River, the question arose whether this plan would have 

involved a diversion of water out of the Great Lakes Basin.87

The proposed decision had legal and political signifi cance because the Water Resources 

Development Act of 1986 prohibited any new diversion of Great Lakes water for use 

outside the Great Lakes Basin without approval by the governor of each of the Great 

Lakes states. The Wisconsin DNR held that the law only applied to surface waters 

and did not apply in the case of the Crandon Mine. Michigan’s Governor John Engler 

disagreed. In a letter to Wisconsin’s Governor Tommy Thompson in February 1998, 

Governor Engler argued that a draw down of the groundwater in Forest County could 

effectively tap Great Lakes water; therefore, a transfer of water from Forest County to 

the Wisconsin River was unacceptable to the state of Michigan.88

The issue was resolved when Exxon sold its interest in the mining venture to an 

Australian-based company, and the new subsidiary, Nicolet Minerals, once again 

modifi ed the proposal. In its revised proposal, Nicolet Minerals altered the milling 

process to remove purite from the tailings to be deposited on the surface and thereby 

reduce acid drainage. It also included a plan for the additional treatment of wastewater 

on site, discharging it into infi ltration fi elds from which it would seep back into the 

groundwater. Nicolet Minerals revised the proposal in response both to the Michigan 

governor’s challenge and to a new mining law passed by the state of Wisconsin. The 

Wisconsin state law, tagged the mining moratorium law, introduced stricter standards 

to protect the environment from acid mine drainage during the life of the mine and 

after its closure.89 The changes adopted by Nicolet Minerals ostensibly eliminated the 

need for pumping wastewater to the Wisconsin River.90

Each modifi cation of the mining proposal forced the Corps and the Wisconsin 

DNR to begin practically anew on environmental impact studies. Documentation 

submitted by the succession of mining concerns grew upwards of seventy 

thousand pages. The Corps was under strong pressure to fi nd effi ciencies in this 

lengthy and expensive process, such as combining efforts with the Wisconsin 

DNR, but it also faced demands from Indian tribes to give consideration to federal 

trust responsibilities that were outside the DNR’s scope. Legal counsel for the 

tribes argued that the Corps, representing the federal government, had fi duciary 

responsibilities to protect Indian trust resources both on and off the Indian 

reservations near the mine site. Moreover, legal counsel for the tribes contended 

that the Corps was not fulfi lling the Clinton Administration’s stated policy of 

implementing government-to-government relations with tribes. In response to 

these charges, the St. Paul District developed an issue paper about the Corps’ 

trust responsibilities toward Indian tribes in the regulatory permitting process. 

In 1999, the tribes responded with their own issue paper, insisting that the Corps’ 

commitment did not go far enough.91 The St. Paul District determined that the trust 

relationship between the federal government and the tribes required it prepare an 

independent EIS – although it would continue to share data with the DNRs and 
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other federal agencies. To assist in developing the EIS, the Corps contracted with an 

environmental engineering fi rm, Montgomery Watson Harza.92

As the mining proposal crept toward seeming fi nality, the Mole Lake Band moved to 

center stage among mine opponents. It established stringent water quality standards 

on the reservation two miles downstream from the mine site, requiring that the water 

entering the reservation be as pristine as though there were no mine. The Wisconsin 

Department of Natural Resources sued, contending the Environmental Protection 

Agency exceeded its authority in approving the water quality standards of the tribe. 

The court ruled in favor of the Environmental Protection Agency and the tribe. The 

DNR appealed the decision, and the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals again found 

in favor of the Environmental Protection Agency and the tribe. The DNR took the case 

to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court’s decision in June 2002. In 

response to the high court’s ruling, Nicolet Minerals president Dale Alberts stated that 

the company could comply with the tribe’s “nondegradation standard.”93 Later that 

summer, a delegation of the Mole Lake Band traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa, 

to talk with members of the board of Nicolet Minerals’ parent corporation in an effort 

to get the company to sell the property to the state.94 With the company claiming it 

would have all necessary permits in hand by the fi rst quarter of 2004, negotiations got 

underway to purchase the mine property and fi nally lay the controversy to rest. A 

coalition of environmental organizations and local and tribal governments advanced 

a proposal for state acquisition of the property. The proposal would turn the site 

into a “conservation area dedicated to sustainable land management practices, tribal 

cultural values, and tourism suitable to this environmentally sensitive area.”95 When 

this initiative fi zzled, the Forest County Potawatomi and Mole Lake Band negotiated 

their own buyout of the mining interests. On October 28, 2003, the two Indian tribes 

purchased the property for $16.5 million. The tribes withdrew all permit requests, 

ending more than two decades of controversy.96

Conclusion

Since 1975, the heart of the St. Paul District’s regulatory mission has been the protection 

of wetlands. This resource is exceptionally signifi cant in the St. Paul District – owing 

both to its extensiveness and its vulnerability to agriculture. The district pioneered a 

major innovation in the Section 404 program when it revised regulatory boundaries 

to conform to state lines and focused on cooperation with state wetlands protection 

programs in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Through astute political decision-making, the 

district obtained the respect and cooperation of urban dwellers, as well as farmers, 

environmentalists and developers. However, as the Crandon Mine controversy 

demonstrated, it continued to face challenges in preventing the degradation of this 

vulnerable resource.
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Chapter Five Endnotes

 1 “Farmers Take Notice Now,” paid advertisement in Tribune (Granite Falls, 

Minnesota), 5 January 1989.

 2 The Land (Mankato, Minnesota), 10 February 1989.

 3 Jay A. Leitch, “Politicoeconomic Overview of Prairie Potholes,” in Northern 

Prairie Wetlands, edited by Arnold Van Der Valk, (Ames: Iowa State University Press, 

1989), p. 3.

 4 Ralph W. Tiner, Jr., Wetlands of the United States: Current Status and Recent 

Trends, (Washington: Government Printing Offi ce, 1984), pp. 44-45.

 5 Tiner, Wetlands of the United States, pp. 35-36.

 6 Steve D. Eggers and Donald M. Reed, Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of 

Minnesota & Wisconsin, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report, (St. Paul, MN: U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, 1987), p. 10.

 7 Ann Vileisis, Discovering the Unknown Landscape: A History of America’s Wetlands, 

(Washington: Island Press, 1997), p. 19.

 8 Eggers and Reed, Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota & 

Wisconsin, pp. vii-ix.

 9 Eggers and Reed, Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota & 

Wisconsin, p. 100.

 10 Tiner, Wetlands of the United States, pp. 44-45.

 11 Governor Ramsey quoted in “Background on Wetland/Public Waters Issues,” 

<http://www.bwsr.state.mn.us/wetlands/wca/history.html, October 2002.>

 12 Chapter 315 cited in “Background on Wetland/Public Waters Issues,” 

<http://www.bwsr. state.mn.us/wetlands/wca/history.html, October 2002.>

 13 Charles D. Ablard and Brian Boru O’Neill, “Wetland Protection and Section 

404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972: A Corps of 

Engineers Renaissance,” Vermont Law Review, 1 (1976): pp. 54-57; Robert K. Tener, 

“Federal Regulation of the Nation’s Wetlands, An Analysis of Government Policy,” 

unpublished report, Environmental Protection Agency Region VIII Library, Denver.

 14 Ablard and O’Neill, “Wetland Protection and Section 404 of the Federal Water 

Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972: A Corps of Engineers Renaissance,” pp. 57- 58.

 15 <http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/fwpca/05.htm> (August 17, 2004).

 16 Jeffrey K. Stine, “Regulating Wetlands in the 1970s: U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers and the Environmental Organizations,” Journal of Forest History 27 (April 

1983): p. 66.
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 17 Stine, “Regulating Wetlands in the 1970s: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and 

the Environmental Organizations,” pp. 66-67. Stine’s is the most detailed study of this 

controversial episode and explains the roles of key individuals in the planning and 

preparation of the press release. 

 18 Peter J. Bernstein, “Here Come the Dredgers! Sneak Attack on the Wetlands,” 

The Nation, 225 (10 December 1977): p. 615; Stine, “Regulating Wetlands in the 1970s: 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Organizations,” p. 68.

 19 Stine, “Regulating Wetlands in the 1970s: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the 

Environmental Organizations,” p. 70.

 20 Bernstein, “Here Come the Dredgers! Sneak Attack on the Wetlands,” p. 616.

 21 Michael C. Blumm, “The Clean Water Act’s Section 404 Permit Program 

Enters Its Adolescence: An Institutional and Programmatic Perspective,” Ecology Law 

Quarterly, 8 (1980): p. 411.

 22 Stine, “Regulating Wetlands in the 1970s: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and 

the Environmental Organizations,” p. 71.

 23 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Offi ce of the Chief of Engineers, Engineer 

Profi les: The District Engineer, Interviews with Colonel William W. Badger, by 

Frank N. Schubert (Washington, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1983), p. 43; Leitch, 

“Politicoeconomic Overview of Prairie Potholes,” in Northern Prairie Wetlands, p. 4.

 24 Raymond Merritt, “Years of Transition: the St. Paul District Corps of 

Engineers 1976-1982,” unpublished manuscript, p. 53.

 25 Wopat Interview, 25 April 2002, pp. 4-6.

 26 Ben A. Wopat, interview by Matthew Pearcy, St. Paul, 25 April 2002, pp. 2, 5, 18.

 27 “Regulation Protects Wetlands,” Crosscurrents 1 (December 1977): p. 6. See 

also, Henrik Strandskov, “General Regulatory Branch Joins MN/DOT on Whirlwind 

Tour,” Crosscurrents 2 (April 1979): p. 5.

 28 Maplewood Review, 29 May 1980, Vadnais Heights – Little Canada Press, 15 

April 1980, Free Press (White Bear Lake Area), 15 April 1980.

 29 Wopat Interview, 25 April 2002, pp. 23-24.

 30 Wopat Interview, 25 April 2002, pp. 24-25.

 31 U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property and 

Nuclear Safety of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, Wetlands: Review 

of Regulatory Changes: Hearing before the Subcommittee, 105th Cong., 1st sess., 26 

June 1997, p. 60.

 32 Vileisis, Discovering the Unknown Landscape: A History of America’s Wetlands, pp. 275- 276.

 33 “Who Benefi ts in Reform of Wetlands Laws,” Science News, 122 (24 July 1982): p. 56.
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 34 Grand Forks Herald, 23 December 1982.

 35 Grand Forks Herald, 29 October 1982.

 36 Badger Interview, pp. 42-44.

 37 Jacqueline Peterson, “Regulations and the Changing Role of the Corps,” 

Crosscurrents, 7 (June 1984): p. 4.

 38 Litchfi eld Independent Review, 18 September 1986; Ben Wopat Interview, 24 October 2002.

 39 Hancock Record, 2 December 1981, 8 December 1981, Morris Tribune, 19 November 1981.

 40 Glencoe Enterprise, 29 May 1986; Brownton Bulletin, 5 November 1986.

 41 U.S. House Subcommittee on Water Resources of the Committee on Public Works and 

Transportation, Status of the Nation’s Wetlands and Laws Related Thereto, Hearing before the 

Subcommittee, 101st Cong., 1st and 2d sess., 14 April 1989, p. 214.

 42 Unidentifi ed news clipping, File 870 Gen. History Environmental Gen. (1986), Box 

3848, St. Paul District administrative records. 

 43 Carroll Pursell and William Willingham, “Protecting the Nation’s Waters: A History 

of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Regulatory Responsibilities 1899-1999,” Draft Report, 25 

February 1999, copy available at Offi ce of History, HQUSACE, Fort Belvoir, VA, pp. 108-109.

 44 Pursell and Willingham, “Protecting the Nation’s Waters,” pp. 108-109.

 45 “Master Briefi ng Manual, House of Representatives Hearing, Water Resources 

Development Act of 1996, H. Martin Lancaster Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) 

28 February 1996,” Civil Works/Policy Division/Legislative Initiatives Branch (Room 7112), 

Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, D.C.

 46 Pursell and Willingham, “Protecting the Nation’s Waters,” pp. 110-111; “Master Briefi ng Manual.”

 47 “Master Briefi ng Manual.”

 48 Vileisis, Discovering the Unknown Landscape, pp. 299-300.

 49 Vileisis, Discovering the Unknown Landscape, p. 300.

 50 Vileisis, Discovering the Unknown Landscape, p. 301.

 51 Ben A. Wopat, interview by Matthew Godfrey, 24 October 2002, pp. 9-10.

 52 “The 1990 Farm Bill,” Soil and Water Conservation News, 12, no. 1 (May-June 1991): pp. 4-5.

 53 Vileisis, Discovering the Unknown Landscape, pp. 304-305.

 54 Star Tribune (Minneapolis), 3 April 1994.

 55 Detroit Lakes Tribune, 30 January 1986.

 56 Detroit Lakes Tribune, 30 January 1986.
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 57 U.S. Congress, House, Subcommittee on Water Resources of the Committee on Public 

Works and Transportation, Status of the Nation’s Wetlands and Laws Related Thereto, Hearing 

before the Subcommittee, 101st Cong., 1st and 2d sess., 14 April 1989, p. 214.

 58 Glencoe-McLeod County Chronicle, 28 May 1986; Brownton Bulletin, 5 November 1986.

 59 Litchfi eld Independent Review, 18 September 1986.

 60 Record of Meeting, 30 January 1987, in Binder – Congressional Hearing Info, St. 

Cloud, Minnesota, 14 April 1989, Ben Wopat fi les, St. Paul, Minnesota.

 61 U.S. Congress, House, Subcommittee on Water Resources of the Committee on Public 

Works and Transportation, Status of the Nation’s Wetlands and Laws Related Thereto, Hearing 

before the Subcommittee, 101st Cong., 1st and 2d sess., 14 April 1989, p. 214; Wopat Interview, 

24 October 2002, p. 8.

 62 Joseph Briggs, District Policy on Section 404(f)(1)(c) Exemption, 23 November 1987, 

in Binder – Congressional Hearing Info, St. Cloud, Minnesota, 14 April 1989, Ben Wopat fi les, 

St. Paul, Minnesota.

 63 Wopat Interview, 24 October 2002, p. 9.

 64 U.S. Congress, House, Subcommittee on Water Resources of the Committee on Public 

Works and Transportation, Status of the Nation’s Wetlands and Laws Related Thereto, Hearing 

before the Subcommittee, 101st Cong., 1st and 2d sess., 14 April 1989, p. 214.

 65 “Complete Statement of John S. Doyle, Jr., Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the 

Army (Civil Works) before the Subcommittee on Water Resources, Committee on Public Works 

and Transportation, U.S. House of Representatives,” 14 April 1989,” in Binder – Congressional 

Hearing Info, St. Cloud, Minnesota, 14 April 1989, Ben Wopat fi les, St. Paul, Minnesota, p. 12.

 66 “Complete Statement of John S. Doyle, Jr.,” p. 12.

 67 Wopat Interview, 24 October 2002, p. 8.

 68 Information Paper, June 1991, Box 7842, SPDAR, St. Paul.

 69 “EPA, Corps clarify wetlands rule for farmers,” Engineer Update, (June 1990): p. 3.

 70 News Release 90-17, File “Wetlands/Regulatory,” Box labeled “Hatch,” William 

Baldwin’s fi les, Offi ce of History, HQUSACE, Fort Belvoir, VA.

 71 Christian Science Monitor, 27 June 1990.

 72 Daily Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids), 4 October 1989.

 73 Christian Science Monitor, 27 June 1990.

 74 Public Notice, 28 December 1992, File 228-10 Historical Files Wetlands (89), Box 

4144, SPDAR, St. Paul.

 75 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Impacts of Activities Authorized by 

Section 404 of the Clean Water Act: State of Wisconsin, September 1993, pp. 1-5.
The Regulatory Mission

5

149

 76 Michael Bowen, “What’s Wrong with Mitigation Banks?” The Military Engineer, 573 

(October/November 1995): p. 20.

 77 Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property and Nuclear Safety of 

the Committee on Environment and Public Works, Wetlands: Review of Regulatory Changes, 

105th Cong., 1st sess., 1997, p. 55.

 78 “Protecting America’s Wetlands,” The Clinton Administration’s 24 August 1993 

Announcement, File 1110 – Tribal Coordinator, Box 4154, SPDAR.

 79 Senate Subcommittee on Clean Air, Wetlands, Private Property and Nuclear Safety of 

the Committee on Environment and Public Works, Wetlands: Review of Regulatory Changes, 

105th Cong., 1st sess., 1997, p. 55.

 80 Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, “1999/2000 Minnesota Wetland Report,” 

October 2001, p. 3, available at <http//www/bwsr.state.mn.us/wetlands> (September 2002).

 81 Michael M. Weburg, Policy Analyst, St. Paul District, communication with authors, 25 

September 2002.

 82 Department of the Army Permit GP-01-WI, <http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/

regulatory /proposals/gp01wi98.pdf>, October 2002.

 83 Wopat Interview, 24 October 2002.

 84 Weburg Communication. As of 2000, only Michigan and New Jersey had assumed 

control of Section 404 permitting.

 85 Wopat Interview, 24 October 2002, p.14.

 86 Information Paper, January 2001, John Ahlness fi les, St. Paul District Offi ce, St. Paul.

 87 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11 February 1997.

 88 Rhinelander Daily News, 23 October 1997 and 6 February 1998.

 89 Rhinelander Daily News, 23 October 1997.

 90 “Company attempts to reopen Crandon Mine,” Mining Engineering (February 1999): 

p. 12; Wisconsin State Journal, 10 December 1998.

 91 See Chapter 9 for a discussion of these issue papers.

 92 Information Paper, January 2001, provided to authors by John Ahlness.

 93 Rhinelander Daily News, 4 June, 2002.

 94 Wopat Interview, 24 October 2002, p. 24.

 95 Forest Republican, 26 June, 2002.

 96 Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN), 29 October 2003; Matt Pearcy, “Crandon Mine 

producestons of controversy,” Crosscurrents 26 (December 2003): pp. 8-9.
Grand Portage proposed small boat harbor: The Grand 

Portage project was cancelled when research indicated 

that the entire bay might qualify as a Traditional Cultural 

Property of the Grand Portage Band. (Illustration courtesy of 

St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Cultural Resources and History 6

151

For most of its history, the Corps of Engineers has provided fl ood 

protection and facilitated navigation. Along with these and other 

important functions, the organization, in company with the rest of the 

federal government, initiated cultural resource management programs 

in the late twentieth century. Although still embryonic in the mid-1970s, 

this duty had matured by the twentyfi rst century and had become 

vital to the Corps’ public interaction even though it was not one of the Corps’ defi ned 

missions. Mandated by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the cultural 

resource management function included assessing the effects of Corps’ undertakings 

on historic properties and interacting with Native American tribes to preserve their 

resources. Along with its cultural resource management responsibilities, the St. Paul 

District also implemented an active program to discover, protect and explain the Corps’ 

own history. Although the historical program is not considered part of the Corps’ 

cultural resource management responsibilities, both functions served a major role in 

“educat[ing] the public about Corps’ history and its mission.”

1

Cultural Resources

The Bureau of Reclamation has defi ned cultural resources as “the physical remains of 

a people’s way of life that archaeologists and historians study to try to interpret how 

people lived.”

2

 The St. Paul District’s cultural resource management section, which 

included the position of district historian, described the term more expansively, stating 

that cultural resources consisted of “everything from prehistoric archeological sites 

to historic buildings, from historic engineering structures to historic documents and 

oral records of past events.”

3

 Because of the insight these materials provided to the 

past, they facilitated a comprehension of other cultures, as well as an understanding, 

of architecture and engineering.

4

 By preserving both prehistoric and historic cultural 

6Cultural Resources 

and History
Cultural Resources and History 6

152

resources and by providing means of interpreting them for the public, the St. Paul 

District’s archeologists and historians made the past come alive.

In the early 1900s, individuals in the United States became aware of the need to 

protect the unique cultural resources that the nation had. Accordingly, the 1906 

Antiquities Act and the 1935 Historic Sites Act provided a measure of protection for 

historic and prehistoric resources. The St. Paul District initially worked to excavate 

archeological resources by cooperating with the 

National Park Service under the Inter-Agency 

Archaeological Salvage Program. By the 1960s, 

the recreation section in the Planning Branch 

coordinated these activities, which were almost 

always subcontracted to private organizations.

5

In 1966, the passage of the National Historic 

Preservation Act ushered in a new era of 

preservation by making the federal government 

an active participant. The law created three major 

elements to help government agencies implement 

preservation practices. First, it established the 

National Register of Historic Places to list all 

“districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects 

signifi cant in American history, architecture, 

archaeology, engineering and culture.” Second, 

Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation 

Act required the heads of any federal or federally 

assisted project to “take into account” the effects 

of undertakings “on any district, site, building, 

structure, or object that is included in or eligible for inclusion in the National Register.” 

Third, it created the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and authorized it and 

State Historic Preservation Offi ces to oversee the Section 106 process and the National 

Register in a federal-state partnership.

6

 These provisions meant that whenever the 

Corps began an undertaking, it had to investigate what prehistoric or historic resources 

would be affected, and then consult with State Historic Preservation Offi ces, or SHPOs, 

and the Advisory Council on how to avoid or mitigate the consequences.

Preserving Cultural Resources

In order to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act, Corps’ districts began 

hiring archeologists to conduct the necessary research. In 1970, Tulsa District became 

one of the fi rst districts with a full-time archeologist; and in the mid-1970s, the St. Paul 

District followed Tulsa’s lead by hiring Dan Bowman as its fi rst full-time, permanent 

archeologist.

7

 Bowman only stayed a couple of years; and in 1978, the district hired 

David Berwick as archeologist. Berwick, together with John O. Anfi nson, a historian fi rst 

employed by the district in 1980, became the backbone of St. Paul’s cultural resource 

management program, which fell under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Resources 

Branch. As Robert F. Post, chief of the branch from 1974 to 1982 related, Berwick and 

Upper and Lower Locks at St. 

Anthony Falls, Minneapolis: The 

falls were the highest point of 

navigation on the Mississippi 

River when the Corps of 

Engineers opened an office in St. 

Paul in 1866. (Photo courtesy of St. 

Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Cultural Resources and History 6

153

Anfi nson “were largely responsible for establishing the outstanding foundation of the 

CRM [cultural resource management] program the district has today.”

8

From the beginning, the main responsibility of 

the cultural resource management unit was the 

coordination of the Section 106 process with 

civil works projects. To streamline Section 106 

implementation, the Advisory Council developed 

regulations explaining what agencies had to do to 

comply with the law. Under these regulations (36 CFR 

Part 800), the council mandated that when a federal 

undertaking occurred, the responsible agency had to 

consult with the SHPO to determine what properties 

listed in or eligible for the National Register would 

be affected. The agency also had to confer with 

public and private organizations, local governments, 

Native Americans and others who might know 

about potential resources and would have to conduct 

literature searches and fi eld surveys as well. Once 

the resources had been identifi ed, the agency and the 

SHPO determined the undertaking’s effects. If the two 

agreed there were no adverse effects, the project could 

continue. If adverse effects existed, the two had to 

develop ways to avoid or mitigate them and then sign a memorandum of agreement or 

a programmatic agreement, depending on the complexity of the project, outlining these 

methods. In cases of dispute between the agency and the SHPO, the council mediated.

9

In order to fund these necessary functions, Congress passed the Archeological and 

Historic Preservation Act in May 1974 (also known as the Moss-Bennett Act), permitting 

federal agencies to spend up to one percent of project funding to recover historic and 

archeological resources. Robert M. Vogel, the head of the Smithsonian Institution’s 

Science and Technology Department, believed this law allowed the Corps to expand its 

cultural resource management efforts, transforming its historic preservation reputation 

from one “so rotten it had no way to go but up” to one “ever so much better.”10

With Moss-Bennett funds in place, Corps’ cultural resource management units 

followed the Section 106 regulations. According to Berwick, the St. Paul District used 

several factors to determine a site’s signifi cance, including the potential for scientifi c 

information and “engineering features, architectural styles, or an association with 

an important event, era, or person.” If the Corps and the SHPO determined that 

resources were eligible for the National Register and that the project would adversely 

affect them, the cultural resource management staff took efforts to diminish the 

effects. With archeological sites, such mitigation usually took the form of excavation. 

Fortunately, Berwick explained, “The St. Paul District does not do a lot of excavation 

work, because we have a good track record in avoiding as many sites as possible.”11

Such avoidance was not easy, however, especially since humans naturally tend to 

live near water, meaning that some areas under the district’s jurisdiction had had 

human habitation for at least twelve thousand years.12 At Lake Ashtabula, a reservoir 

Brad Johnson, 

archaeologist, displays a 

prehistoric pottery shard 

from a site at Sandy Lake 

Recreation Area. (Photo by 

Mark Davidson, courtesy of St. 

Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Cultural Resources and History 6

154

created by the Corps’ construction of Baldhill Dam a few miles north of Valley City, 

North Dakota, surveys recorded thirty-seven prehistoric and historic archeological 

sites ranging from burial mounds and bison processing areas to homestead dugouts.13

Likewise, investigations in the 1990s at Grand Forks, North Dakota, and East Grand 

Forks, Minnesota, located nine historic or prehistoric archeological sites in the Red 

River Valley.14

When large acreage surveys or site excavations were necessary, the cultural resources 

management staff hired archeological contractors to perform the work. Prior to the 

passage of a federal regulation in 1990 entitled “Curation of Federally Owned and 

Administered Archeological Collections” (36 CFR Part 79), these contractors would 

often curate the artifacts recovered from the fi eldwork. In 1994, the Corps designated 

the St. Louis District as the Mandatory Center of Expertise for the Curation and 

Management of Archaeological Collections to help districts establish formal curation 

agreements with state historical societies and universities whose storage facilities met 

the requirements of regulations. However, the curation center mainly concentrated 

on complying with the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (see below) 

and provided little help or funding for curation. This forced the St. Paul District to 

continue to rely on contractor storage of artifacts from pre-1990 fi eldwork.15 This 

method of curation created some problems, including the scattering of collections 

across North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. In addition, small cultural resources 

management contractors sometimes went out of business before artifacts were curated 

at appropriate facilities, and a backlog of material began to accumulate in boxes outside 

of the district’s cultural resource management cubicles. Because of these problems, 

Virginia Gnabasik, a senior archeologist for the district, considered effective storage and 

curation of archeological collections as one of the crucial funding issues that the Corps 

needed to address.16

If the affected resources were historical rather than 

archeological, such as individual buildings, housing 

districts or other edifi ces, the Corps implemented other 

methods to avoid harm. In 1998, for example, the St. Paul 

District determined that the area of the fl ood control 

project at Grand Forks/East Grand Forks contained more 

than a hundred properties either listed on or eligible 

for the National Register of Historic Places. In order 

to alleviate the effects on these structures, the district 

entered into a programmatic agreement with the Advisory 

Council, the North Dakota SHPO and the Minnesota 

SHPO, stating that the Corps would “to the extent 

feasible, avoid historic properties either through project 

design changes, use of temporary fences or barricades 

during construction, realignments, landscaping, or other 

measures.”17 In accordance with the agreement, the district 

employed innovations, such as mechanically stabilized 

earthwalls and invisible fl ood was, which, in the words of 

Lake Ashtabula and 

Balhill Dam: The Corps 

excavated thirty-seven 

prehistoric sites prior 

to fi lling the reservoir. 

(Photo courtesy of St. Paul 

District, Corps of Engineers)
Cultural Resources and History 6

155

technical manager Edward McNally, “save[d] a number of areas that probably would 

have been impacted with our initial alignments.”18

In other cases, the Corps could not preserve the structures. In 1983, the St. Paul District 

confronted fi ve dangerous bridges on the Kickapoo River between Rockton, Wisconsin, 

and La Farge, Wisconsin, on State Highway 131. Two of the bridges were eligible for 

the National Register because they were the only two pre-1936 Warren Through Truss 

bridges left in Wisconsin, but safety issues forced the Corps to take drastic measures. 

Initially, the district tried to close off the bridges through gates and dirt mounds, but 

people used cutting torches to remove the gates and maneuvered around the dirt, 

forcing the district to remove the structures. In order to alleviate the effects of removal, 

the district documented and photographed the structures. In this case, public safety 

took precedence over historical value.19

Because of the numerous historic and archeological resources in the St. Paul District, the 

cultural resource management unit and the Corps implemented additional preservation 

policies. Several operational management plans counseled Corps’ resource managers, 

rangers and project personnel to “be aware of the documented archeological and 

historic/architectural sites around the project” and to report “any suspicious activities 

near or acts of vandalism at recorded sites.” The Archeological Resources Protection Act 

of 1979 levied fi nes of up to $10,000 and imprisonment for up to one year for illegally 

removing artifacts from federal lands, and the cultural resource management staff 

asked Corps’ personnel to enforce this law at all times. In accordance with the National 

Historic Preservation Act, the Corps also restricted information regarding the location 

and character of signifi cant cultural resources to prevent vandalism and removal.20

Native American Relations

Congress amended the National Historic 

Preservation Act in 1992 to provide more 

fully for the preservation of Native American 

sites and properties. Among the amendments 

were provisions clarifying that properties 

containing religious or cultural signifi cance 

to Indian tribes or Native Hawaiians were 

eligible for the National Register. The 

amendments also granted “consulting party” 

status to tribes in the Section 106 process 

by authorizing them to assume SHPO 

responsibilities if they developed their own 

cultural resource management programs.21

According to Virginia Gnabasik, these 

amendments increased district interaction with 

tribes, especially after fi ve groups – the Leech 

Lake Band and Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe 

in Minnesota, the Turtle Mountain Band of 

Archaeological site: (Left to 

right) Allen Westover, Corps’ 

archaeologist; Jim Zorn, Great Lakes 

Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission 

attorney; Christine Harrison, principal 

investigator, Archaeological 

Resource Services; Jeff Steere, 

Sandy Lake operations manager; 

and Terry Ladd, Sandy Lake park 

ranger. (Photo courtesy of Brad Johnson, 

St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Cultural Resources and History 6

156

Chippewa in North Dakota and the Ho-Chunk and Menominee in Wisconsin – assumed 

the Section 106 functions of the SHPO and appointed tribal historic preservation 

offi cers. In most cases, Section 106 coordination with tribes started with sending a 

formal letter notifying each tribe of possible religious and cultural resources in a 

project area and then consulting with the tribe if it expressed an interest. Although the 

Corps had to contact every affected tribe, regardless of whether or not it had a cultural 

resource management component, tribes with cultural resource management programs, 

Gnabasik explained, were “easier to work with” because they had “a point of contact” 

with a knowledge of the Section 106 process. These developments enabled the St. Paul 

district to develop good working relationships with the tribes.22

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

Another law, passed in 1990, mandated Corps’ interaction with tribes. For many years, 

removing Native American remains and funerary objects from the earth was a common 

practice in the United States, and many of these objects made their way to museums 

and other repositories. In the 1980s, numerous tribes and other organizations lobbied 

Congress to stop this desecration and to return collected remains to their rightful 

owners. In response, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and 

Repatriation Act on November 16, 1990. The act provided that, when Native American 

human remains or funerary objects were found on federal or tribal lands, they be 

returned to the tribe that had the “closest cultural affi liation with such remains or 

objects.” In addition, the law established penalties for violations and required federal 

agencies and museums to inventory their collections and return any remains or objects 

to pertinent tribes.23 This meant the St. Paul District had to examine any human remains 

or funerary items excavated under the Corps’ authority and make the necessary returns. 

Sissel Johannessen, a district archeologist, took charge of this effort, which was 

funded by the center of expertise in St. Louis. According to Johannessen, the district 

followed certain steps in its Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 

compliance. First, district staff mapped the boundaries of fee title land for each water 

resource project. Second, they examined all of the cultural resource investigations 

that had taken place on that land, scrutinizing the reports for any artifacts that 

could possibly fi t Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act criteria. 

Third, the staff contacted whatever curation facilities housed the relevant items in 

order to inspect them and also collected additional information about the materials. 

Fourth, archeologists developed arguments about the probable cultural affi liation of 

each artifact (or its lack of one) and sent a letter to each tribe with an interest in the 

area, explaining the fi ndings. From all of these investigations, there were only a few 

instances where materials had to be returned or reburied. For example, the district 

gave the remains of three individuals found in eroding banks at Lake Ashtabula, North 

Dakota, to the North Dakota Intertribal Reinternment Committee in 1992. Likewise, 

items excavated in 1969 from Gull Lake in the Mississippi Headwaters, including the 

skeletal remains of eighteen individuals and associated funerary items, such as ceramic 

vessels, potsherds and stone tools, were returned to Eastern Dakota tribes in 
Cultural Resources and History 6

157

1998. By 1999, Johannessen had fi nished inventorying all of the district’s collections, and 

the surrounding tribes seemed satisfi ed with the district’s work.24

Traditional Cultural Properties

Another area that stimulated involvement with American 

Indians evolved in the 1990s from the concern of some 

historians, anthropologists and indigenous groups that 

properties important to a community’s religious beliefs or 

culture were not receiving adequate protection. In 1990, the 

National Park Service published National Register Bulletin 

38, which stated that a cultural resource could be eligible 

for the National Register if it had “traditional cultural 

signifi cance.” According to the bulletin, such resources, 

called Traditional Cultural Properties, or TCPs, consisted 

of any item – whether a building, a structure or a natural 

location – eligible for the National Register “because of 

its association with cultural practices or beliefs of a living 

community that (a) are rooted in that community’s history, 

and (b) are important in maintaining the continuing cultural 

identity of the community.”25

Most TCPs the Corps and other federal agencies 

encountered belonged to Native Americans. Because of 

the different world views of Indians and Euro-Americans 

about these objects, tribal TCP claims sometimes led to 

confusion and outright disbelief on the part of the federal 

government. As archeologist David W. Cushman explained, 

“What one group sees as vital to its cultural identity, the 

other often does not even recognize.” When a tribe claimed 

that portions of Lake Superior were important as places of 

religious and cultural awakening, for example, many EuroAmericans failed to understand the signifi cance. Other 

problems resulted from taboos existing in many tribes to 

discourage the revelation of information about places of 

traditional cultural value, especially to outsiders. These 

taboos sometimes made it diffi cult for cultural resources 

management personnel to obtain the information necessary 

to evaluate a site’s eligibility.26

Such problems confronted district historian John Anfi nson in his dealings with 

TCPs. In 1994, Anfi nson became involved with deliberations on whether or not to 

approve a permit to place a 700-foot-long dock on Grand Portage Bay, located at the 

northeastern tip of Minnesota. The Grand Portage Band of the Chippewa Indians’ 

reservation surrounded the entire bay, and the tribe complained to the Corps that the 

dock and the accompanying boat traffi c would harm the bay, which was important 

Grand Portage 

proposed small boat 

harbor: The Grand 

Portage project was 

cancelled when 

research indicated that 

the entire bay might 

qualify as a Traditional 

Cultural Property of the 

Grand Portage Band.

(Illustration courtesy of Brad 

Johnson, St. Paul District, 

Corps of Engineers)
Cultural Resources and History 6

158

to the tribe’s religion and culture. According to Anfi nson, “People within the district 

found that a hard argument to accept,” so he investigated the bay’s status as a TCP.27

Anfi nson interviewed seven residents of Grand Portage, both Indian and non-Indian, to 

explain further Chippewa’ beliefs. These discussions convinced Anfi nson that the bay 

was “the focal point or heart of the Grand Portage Reservation.” Many of the Grand 

Portage Chippewa believed the bay had spirits and that a marina would force the 

spirits to move. “One person noted that a mountain near the bay had been inhabited 

by a thunderbird spirit,” Anfi nson related. “So many people had started going to the 

mountain that the spirit had left. This, they worry, could happen with the spirits of the 

bay.” Others believed the bay was a part of their soul: “to mistreat [it] could make them 

ill individually and as a people.”28 An

fi nson’s research led district offi cials to deny the 

permit; he had effectively indicated that tribal claims about the bay were not “just some 

spurious thing.”29

Another TCP encounter presented different problems. In 1992, a company began 

pulling logs off the bottom of Lake Superior at Chequamegon Bay for salvage. These 

logs had sunk in the 1800s on their way to sawmills during the early logging era of 

the Great Lakes. Because of the lake’s low oxygen content and cold temperatures, the 

submerged logs remained in their original condition, meaning they could be sold for 

as much as $10,000 apiece. By 1997, the St. Paul District received approximately two 

hundred applications for permits to obtain these logs, but the Red Cliff and Bad River 

bands of Chippewa Indians registered their objections, stating that both the lake and 

the logs themselves were sacred. In this instance, Anfi nson was not convinced of the 

tribes’ claims, mainly because many members of both bands were either Catholic or 

Lutheran and did not attribute any special signifi cance to the logs. But Thomas King, 

an archeology and historic preservation consultant to the Advisory Council, claimed 

that the logs were TCPs, a conclusion Anfi nsen believed was “extremely weak.”30

Ultimately, the Council decided the bay itself was a TCP, but that the sunken wood 

was not, although the individual logs could be part of submerged logging complexes 

eligible for the National Register. The district circulated this determination, stating that 

individuals or companies interested in logging would thereafter have to comply with 

special conditions in order to avoid adverse effects to the bay. According to project 

manager Maria T. Valencia, “This seemed to dissuade potential applicants because no 

further permit requests” were received after that time.31 An

fi nson saw this incident 

as “one of the classic examples of the problems of TCPs in trying to fi gure out what’s 

signifi cant ... in a way that’s fair and true.”32

Appendix C and Section 106 Compliance

TCP designations were not the only issues leading to Corps’ clashes with the 

Advisory Council. In 1990, a confl ict developed between the two over the 

implementation of the Section 106 process as it applies to the Corps’ Regulatory 

Program. Under Section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, 

as amended by the Clean Water Act of 1977, the Corps had the responsibility of 

issuing permits for any undertaking on navigable bodies of water in the United 

States. Because the Corps was the permitting entity, any project that required a 

permit became subject to the Section 106 process. Since the Corps was only serving a 
Cultural Resources and History 6

159

regulatory function and not performing the actual work, complying with Section 106 

assumed different features for the regulatory branch than it did for civil works.33

These differences led the Corps to develop its own guidelines for Section 106 compliance 

in the permitting process. When the Advisory Council produced 36 CFR Part 800 

regulations implementing Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, it 

provided that agencies could develop “alternate procedures” in place of portions of 

Part 800 if the procedures were consistent with the Council’s regulations. If the Council 

approved the “alternate procedures,” they defi ned the Section 106 process for the 

agency.34 On June 29, 1990, the Corps issued its alternative as Appendix C to 33 CFR Part 

325. According to one summary, Appendix C explained, “The steps the Corps follows 

to fulfi ll the requirements set forth in the National Historic Preservation Act, other 

applicable historic preservation laws, and the Presidential directives as they relate to the 

regulatory program.”35 The Advisory Council did not approve the substitute; regardless, 

the Corps used Appendix C after 1990 to govern its compliance with Section 106.

Few disparities existed between the Advisory Council’s regulations and Appendix C, 

but the discrepancies were signifi cant. The main area of contention revolved around 

the differences between “Permit Area” as defi ned in Appendix C and the “Area of 

Potential Effect” as defi ned in 36 CFR Part 800. The “Permit Area” was the geographic 

area in which the project’s activities were dependent on the work or structures 

authorized by the Corps’ permit, including waters of the United States and upland 

areas.36 The Council’s “Area of Potential Effect,” meanwhile, was the “geographic 

area or areas within which an undertaking may directly or indirectly cause alterations 

in the character or use of historic properties.”37

Central to this problem was the defi nition of undertaking and the SHPO’s perception 

that Corps’ regulatory involvement “federalized” an entire project. The Corps defi ned 

“undertaking” as the authorization of work or structures in the waters of the United 

States and not the larger project. Upland project areas could be included in the Corps’ 

scope of analysis if the project activities in those locations would not occur but for the 

authorization of the work or structures or if those upland activities were an integral 

part or directly related to the work or structures. If these criteria were not met, the 

Corps believed it lacked suffi cient control over the project features to avoid their 

potential effects on historic properties. SHPOs generally saw this interpretation as too 

narrow. Regardless of the situation, both sides adhered to their different positions.38

In some circumstances, confl icts over the “Permit Area” and the Area of Potential 

Effect could only be resolved by litigation, but in the St. Paul District, the differences 

merely led to expressions of discontent. Dennis Gimmestad, the compliance offi cer 

for the Minnesota SHPO, stated that Appendix C was the biggest frustration he had 

with the district, especially when he had to declare the Corps out of compliance with 

Section 106. “It doesn’t mean necessarily I don’t think they’re doing their job,” he 

explained. “It’s just that I can’t concur in good conscience with what I’ve been told 

that I need to follow.” District personnel might believe that Gimmestad was taking 

a hard line, but he was only following the guidelines laid out by the Council “I can’t 
Cultural Resources and History 6

160

just throw [the Council’s regulations] out and go by [Appendix C] because I would not 

be doing my job,” he related.39 Scott Anfi nson, John Anfi nson’s brother and a National 

Register archeologist with Minnesota’s SHPO, agreed, but believed that district 

employees were caught in the same bind – if they did not interpret the permit area 

according to Appendix C, they were defi cient in their own positions. “I think a lot of the 

staff over at the Corps in the cultural resources management wing is sympathetic and 

they want to preserve sites,” Anfi nson stated, but “when orders come down you obey 

those orders.”40

In an effort to improve coordination with SHPOs, the St. Paul District assigned Brad 

Johnson, a district archeologist, to work with the Regulatory Branch on a one-year 

assignment. One important result of this endeavor was an understanding that was 

reached on the Permit Area/Area of Potential Effect controversy between the council, 

the Minnesota SHPO and the Corps during consultations pertaining to the effects of 

a housing development on the Rose McAllister farmstead in Chanhassen, Minnesota. 

In November 2002, the council essentially agreed that the Area of Potential Effect for 

a regulatory undertaking should be based on the effects of project activities in the 

permit area and that the undertaking was the authorization of the work or structures 

in the waters of the United States and not the larger project. The Council and the SHPO 

concurred that the effects to the McAllister farmstead were not the result of wetland fi ll or the townhouse lots dependent on that fi ll but resulted from the larger project 

development over which the Corps had little control.41 Whether the council continued 

to interpret permit areas in this way remained to be seen, but as the McAllister 

farmstead incident indicates, Johnson’s temporary appointment to the Regulatory 

Branch helped to further the working relationships between the district, the SHPO and 

the Advisory Council.

Historical Activities

Along with its cultural resources management program, the St. Paul District also 

actively implemented historical activities in the last quarter of the twentieth century. 

Led mostly by John Anfi nson, district historian from 1980 to 2000, the district 

worked to preserve its own past, complete environmental site histories and develop 

interpretive materials at district visitor centers. Although Anfi nson periodically had to 

justify his own position and responsibilities to district offi cials, St. Paul established a 

strong historical program that effectively portrayed its past.

The district saw the value of its history even before it hired Anfi nson in 1980. In the 

1970s, the Corps contracted with Raymond H. Merritt, a professor at the University 

of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, to compose a history of the St. Paul District from its 

beginnings to 1978. District personnel embraced the book after its 1979 publication, 

with District Engineer Colonel William W. Badger claiming that it “did a very good 

job of showing what the Corps does.”42 Despite their enthusiasm, district leaders 

were still uncertain about hiring a full-time historian, questioning whether or not 

such a position was justifi ed. When the district engaged Anfi nson’s services in 1980, 

it actually hired him as an archeologist because he had a double major in history and 
Cultural Resources and History 6

161

anthropology. Not until 1985 did the district change his job title to historian and, even 

then, it did so reluctantly.43

Throughout Anfi nson’s tenure as a district historian, however, he gradually built up 

the historical program, aided by Corps’ headquarters in Washington, D.C., which 

had a strong contingent of historians. In the 1980s, headquarters issued ER 870-1-1, 

outlining the responsibilities of district historical programs. According to this directive, 

historians should “develop in Corps’ personnel knowledgeable interest and pride in 

the history of the Corps of Engineers,” publish histories of individual district activities, 

prepare policy-study reports, compile research materials, preserve records, conduct 

oral history interviews, collect historic artifacts, support public affairs activities and 

provide information for visitor centers.44 As part of these obligations, the St. Paul 

District implemented an oral history program in the 1980s, consisting of end-of-tour 

interviews with district engineers to provide perspectives and “lessons learned” for 

future commanders.45 Frank “Mickey” Schubert, a member of the Corps’ headquarters 

Offi ce of History staff, carried out annual interviews with Colonel William W. Badger 

and Colonel Edward Rapp, both district engineers in St. Paul, in the early 1980s, and 

Anfi nson assumed the responsibility thereafter, conducting end-of-tour interviews with 

North Central Division commanders as well.46 These histories became valuable sources 

for information about the St. Paul District and the Corps in general. A 1991 interview 

with outgoing District Engineer Colonel Roger L. Baldwin, for instance, covered a 

“typical” day in his life, his leadership philosophies, information about Life-Cycle 

Project Management and explanations about cost-sharing, the drought of 1988, civil 

works projects, regulatory issues, the International Joint Commission, congressional 

relations and the Corps’ reorganization.47

Along with these end-of-tour interviews, 

the district began other projects in 

response to Corps’ headquarters request 

that districts “conduct interviews with as 

broad a spectrum of the [district’s] active 

and retired personnel as possible.”48 In 

1986, the cultural resources management 

staff interviewed former Mississippi 

River headwaters employees, including 

dam tenders. According to Anfi nson, these interviews 

were intended to show “how the headwater’s [sic] 

staff perceived what the district offi ce was saying 

and how they carried it out.”49 Another project 

involved interviewing individuals who had helped 

construct and operate Mississippi River Locks and 

Dams 3, 4, 5, 5A, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. The report on these 

interviews explained that they “preserve[d] important 

information not contained or poorly detailed in 

written documents.”50 According to Berwick, these 

interviews helped make “present employees proud of 

what the district has done in the past.”51

Henry P. Bosse’s photo 

of wingdams on the 

Mississippi River: The 

Bosse collection of 136 

photographs, found by 

the district, is a historical 

treasure. (Courtesy of 

St. Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
Cultural Resources and History 6

162

In the 1990s, the cultural resources management unit assumed the function of 

completing environmental site histories, performed mostly by Jane Carroll, who 

worked as a second historian for the district during that decade. These studies, which 

included archival research, as well as site visitation, eliminated delays in civil works 

projects, especially the construction of urban levees. Frequently industries had operated 

on sites where the Corps wanted to construct a levee, and sometimes these businesses 

left behind contaminated soil. If the Corps did not discover the polluted areas until 

late in the project, it could, in the words of Anfi nson, “signifi cantly delay a project or 

cause an increase of costs.” Carroll and Anfi nson thus conducted environmental site 

histories in the planning process to determine where potential contaminated soils were 

in order to forestall any late discoveries. After Carroll left the district, Anfi nson and 

his successor, Matthew Pearcy, had little time to continue such studies because of the 

pressing demands of other projects, so they became the responsibility of the district’s 

Geotechnical and Geology Section.52

In addition to these responsibilities, Anfi nson focused on preserving the Corps’ own 

historic resources. In the early 1990s, the district discovered a book of rare photographs 

of the Mississippi River taken by Henry P. Bosse, who worked for the Corps in the 

late 1800s. The album, entitled Views on the Mississippi River, contained a hundred 

and thirty-six photographs showing some of the Corps’ initial work on the waterway. 

One copy of the rare album had retrieved $217,000 at a 1990 auction. Many believed 

the district’s copy was worth as much as $1.5 million.53 In order to promote these 

photographs, Anfi nson composed a brochure about them and made presentations to 

interested public audiences. The photographs proved to be tremendously popular, 

and Anfi nson estimated that he lectured at least thirty times about them. In addition, 

the Corps itself embraced the photographs as an important resource, with offi cials at 

Corps’ headquarters calling it a great treasure.54 In 2003, prints of the photographs still 

lined the second fl oor corridor of the St. Paul District offi ce, showing the importance the 

district placed on them.

Other Corps’ resources were equally signifi cant, especially the locks and dams under the 

district’s jurisdiction. In the early 1980s, the district undertook an examination of each of 

its locks and dams to determine their hydropower potential, and, at the same time, began 

a major rehabilitation of these complexes, including repairing structures, installing new 

wiring and building new central control stations. As with all federal undertakings, these 

projects had to go through the Section 106 process, and the State Historic Preservation 

Offi ces in the various Upper Mississippi River states asked the Corps to determine 

whether the locks and dams themselves were eligible for the National Register. The 

district hired historian Jon Gjerde in 1983 to study the edifi ces, which had been built 

between 1932 and 1938, and Gjerde and Anfi nson together determined that Locks and 

Dams 3 through 10 were eligible. According to Anfi nson, they represented the orderly 

“spirit of the Progressive Era” and “the public works associated with the New Deal and 

Keynesian economics of Franklin D. Roosevelt.” Their design also showed “both the 

infl uence of the Art Moderne movement and the austerity of the Great Depression.”55

But a study commissioned by the Rock Island District in the mid-1980s to evaluate Locks 

and Dams 11 through 22 disagreed with Gjerde’s and Anfi nson’s assessments, stating 

that the structures might have local and regional signifi cance, but they had no national 
Cultural Resources and History 6

163

importance. The study recommended that only one of the complexes be determined 

eligible as a representative example. After reviewing both reports, the various SHPOs 

agreed with Gjerde’s and Anfi nson’s arguments and declared the locks and dams eligible 

for the National Register.56

When Corps’ offi cers learned about the determination, they were not pleased, believing 

that eligibility would just make it harder for the agency to maintain and operate 

the dams. Fearing that Section 106 requirements would adversely impact operation 

and maintenance, the Corps, especially Rock Island and St. Louis districts, balked 

at complying with the decision. As Anfi nson related, the determination did not “fi t 

well with the construction-operations mentality” of the Corps.57 The St. Paul District, 

however, was less reluctant to accept the decision, perhaps because it recognized the 

importance of preserving the engineering history of the locks and dams. To that end, 

the district entered into a contract with the National Park Service in 1986 to produce 

Historic American Engineering Record documentation for Locks and Dams 3 through 

10. In 1990, Rock Island and St. Louis followed St. Paul’s lead; and in 1992, the National 

Park Service issued a report on the locks and dams entitled Gateway to Commerce: The 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 9 Foot Channel Project on the Upper Mississippi River which 

specifi cally explored the structures’ engineering aspects. All of the documentation, 

including photographs, manuscripts and inventories, were stored in the Library of 

Congress in the Historic American Engineering Record archives, thereby preserving the 

historical record of the Nine-Foot Channel Project.58

Ultimately, the eligibility determination did increase the diffi culty of lock and dam 

operation and maintenance. In order to preserve the structures’ integrity, the Corps 

had to remove any “features inconsistent with the historic character of the locks and 

dams” when possible, in addition to consulting frequently with SHPOs to mitigate any 

effects that major rehabilitation efforts might have.59 To ease the implementation of this 

increased bureaucracy, Anfi nson, as head of the cultural resources management unit, 

argued for its “early involvement ... in all construction and maintenance projects that 

may potentially affect eligible properties.”60 Although the determination hindered and 

delayed some structure rehabilitation, it helped to preserve a vital part of the Corps’ 

history, however reluctantly the organization agreed to this protection.

Another way the St. Paul District tried to maintain the history of the district’s locks and 

dams was through the establishment of visitor centers. In the 1970s, Lieutenant General 

John W. Morris, Chief of Engineers, initiated a program instituting local, regional and 

national visitor centers. Corps’ headquarters reiterated the importance of these units in 

the 1990s with a regulation stating that it was Corps’ policy to operate centers at water 

resource development projects in order to “educate and inform the public with regard 

to the history and mission of the Corps, its role in water resources development, the 

project, its purpose, benefi ts and costs.”61 One of the earliest visitor centers in the St. 

Paul District was at Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, completed in 1963 at the 

site of the only naturally occurring waterfall on the Mississippi. The center initially was 

only an open overlook structure on the top of the control building. In the late 1970s, 

the district proposed a renovation but funding for the construction was cut in 1978.62 It 

was not until the late 1980s and early 1990s that the Corps made a concerted effort to 
Cultural Resources and History 6

164

St. Anthony Falls Visitor Center

(top) A commercial pleasure boat passes the visitors center. (below) A view of 

the river from inside St. Anthony Falls Visitor Center. (Photos by Frank Star, courtesy of 

St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Cultural Resources and History 6

165

restructure St. Anthony Falls Visitor Center the overlook and establish fi rst-rate exhibits 

telling the story of Upper St. Anthony Falls and the Corps.

This push for an expanded visitor center occurred for a couple of reasons. First, the 

Corps itself requested that more time be spent on developing interpretive materials 

at visitor centers.63 Second, in 1988 the Minnesota State Legislature created the 

St. Anthony Falls Heritage Interpretive Zone in the area of the lock and dam and 

established a Heritage Board to administer it. As part of its plans for the region, the 

Heritage Board proposed the development of a trail system throughout the zone that 

would help interpret the historic riverfront. The board proposed making the district’s 

Upper St. Anthony Falls Visitor Center one of the primary features of the trail. If the 

board implemented the trail and other interpretive features, the Corps estimated that 

the center’s current visitation of 30 to 40 thousand visitors annually could triple. This 

would necessitate an expansion in order to manage the increased visitation.64

However, the center was located within the St. Anthony Falls Historic District. Because 

of this, as an offi cer at the Minnesota SHPO related, even though the lock and dam was 

not eligible for the National Register, the Corps still had to treat it as “a contributive 

element” to the historic district and prevent extensive modifi cations that “could have 

considerable impact.”65 Offi cials and citizens concerned with historic preservation 

worried about the effects of the Corps’ expansion, especially given its track record in the 

area. When it fi rst constructed the lock and dam in 1963, for example, the Corps altered 

Stone Arch Bridge 1962: The Corps altering the 1880s Stone Arch Bridge in 

Minneapolis prior to building Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam in 1963. 

(Photo courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
Cultural Resources and History 6

166

the historic Stone Arch Bridge, built by railroad magnate James J. Hill in the 1880s, 

by replacing two arches and installing a steel truss bridge to accommodate barges.66

Although the bridge had since been recognized as a National Civil Engineering 

Landmark, the damage had been done. In order to ensure changes to the visitor center 

did not likewise disrupt the historic character of the St. Anthony Falls District, Russel 

Snyder, a landscape architect for the St. Paul District, and Anfi nson met frequently 

with the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Board to receive their input on the renovation 

designs. Among other things, the board successfully convinced Snyder and Anfi nson 

not to block off the south windows of the observation deck for a display area, believing 

“the view from the observation deck was critical to interpretation of the area and the 

Corps’ role.”67

With the approval of the Heritage Board and the SHPO, the district completed the 

necessary renovations in the mid-1990s. These improvements included installing an 

elevator to the observation level and a rest room at the ground level to make the center 

more accessible for people with disabilities. At the same time, new exhibits told the 

story of Upper St. Anthony Falls and the Corps’ involvement there. The new displays, 

generated by Anfi nson and John Fisher of the district’s Engineering Division, explained 

the general history of the Corps and its missions, the general history of the St. Anthony 

Falls area, how the Corps preserved the falls from destruction in the late 1800s, the 

construction of Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam and how the lock and dam 

operated. In addition, an interactive kiosk allowed users to simulate the locking of a 

vessel and the dredging of a waterway. The Corps hoped such displays would teach 

the public more about the district and its activities, as well as about the history of the 

falls.68 These improvements generated increased visitation, but some interaction was 

lost in September 2001, following coordinated terrorist attacks against the United States. 

Because of the resulting security concerns, the Corps barred any public contact with 

its locks and dams and shut down the Upper St. Anthony Falls Visitor Center until the 

middle of 2002. When the center reopened, its hours were changed from 6 a.m. to 10 

p.m. to 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The lock continued to follow these visitor hours in 2003, with 

no indication of when or if they would return to the longer hours.69

Conclusion

The Upper St. Anthony Falls Visitor Center was a good example of some of the ways 

the St. Paul District sought to provide information about the Corps and its structures 

to the general public. With such activities, coupled with existing programs in oral 

history and environmental site histories, Anfi nson built a strong district history 

program. Meanwhile, David Berwick and other archeologists implemented the 

district’s cultural resources management program, including the Section 106 process 

for Corps’ undertakings and the mediation between SHPOs and the Regulatory Branch 

over Appendix C. Both the history and cultural resources management components 

educated the public about the Corps’ past and the history of the region under the St. 

Paul District’s jurisdiction. As John Anfi nson related, those personnel comprising the 

cultural resources management section, be they archeologists or historians, successfully 
Cultural Resources and History 6

167

explained history and prehistory to the public in a way that enabled citizens to “really 

use [cultural resources] and learn about them.”70

Chapter Six Endnotes

 1 John O. Anfi nson Memorandum for Robert F. Post, Chief, Engineering and 

Planning Division, 31 March 1994, copy provided by John O. Anfi nson, Cultural 

Resources Specialist, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, National Park 

Service. Anfi nson worked as a historian within the St. Paul District’s CRM division from 

1980 to 2000.

 2 U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, “Bureau of Reclamation Cultural Resources 

Management,” <http://www.usbr.gov/cultural> (6 June 2003).

 3 “Cultural Resources Input, Operational Management Plan, Upper Mississippi 

River, 19 March 1990,” File MR-HPP, Cultural Resources Management Administrative 

Files, St. Paul District of the Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul, Minnesota [CRM Files].

 4 “Bureau of Reclamation Cultural Resources Management,” <http://www.usbr.

gov/cultural> (6 June 2003).

 5 U.S. Conference of Mayors Special Committee on Historic Preservation, With Heritage 

So Rich (New York: Random House, 1966; reprint, Washington, D.C.: The Preservation 

Press, 1983), p. 191; Lisa S. Mighetto and William F. Willingham, Service – Tradition 

– Change: A History of the Fort Worth District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1975-1999 

(Fort Worth, TX.: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District, 2000), pp. 33-36; 

David Berwick, personal communication with the authors, 31 October 2002; Robert F. 

Post, personal communication with the authors, 6 January 2003. Post was Chief of the 

Environmental Resources Branch from 1974 through 1982.

 6 Quotations from “National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended 

through 1992,” in U.S. Department of the Interior, Federal Historic Preservation Laws 

(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, 1993), pp. 7, 9-10, 22; see also Mike 

Wallace, Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory (Philadelphia: 

Temple University Press, 1996), p. 190.

 7 Mighetto and Willingham, Service – Tradition – Change, pp. 33-36; Bob Post, 

personal communication with the authors, 6 January 2003.

 8 Quotation in Post, personal communication with the authors, 6 January 2003; 

see also “Cultural Resources Unit,” Crosscurrents 10 (June 1987): p. 7; Berwick, personal 

communication with the authors, 31 October 2002; John O. Anfi nson interview by 

Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 25 October 2002, p. 1. The program was originally 

established as a unit under the Environmental Resources Branch, but became a section 

in 1989. “Cultural Resources Section Input, District Historical Report,” File Planning 

Division AR 89, Box 6412, St. Paul District administrative records, St. Paul, Minnesota 

[SPDAR].
Cultural Resources and History 6

168

 9 Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, “Section 106 Regulations (Effective 

11 January 2001),” 36 CFR Part 800, <http://www.achp.gov/regs.html> (6 June 2003); 

see also Adina W. Kanefi eld, Federal Historic Preservation Case Law, 1966-1996: Thirty 

Years of the National Historic Preservation Act (Washington, D.C.: Advisory Council on 

Historic Preservation, 1996), pp. 11-12.

 10 Both quotations in James Kahn, “History Takes a Step Forward,” Water 

Spectrum 7 (Fall 1975): p. 40.

 11 “Cultural Resources Unit,” p. 7.

 12 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Native American History 

in the Mississippi Headwaters Region,” <http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/history/

native_am> (6 June 2003).

 13 “Lake Ashtabula Operational Management Plan,” File Baldhill Dam/Lake 

Ashtabula OMP, Homme Dam OMP, Lake Ashtabula/Homme Lake EA, CRM Files.

 14 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Final Environmental Impact 

Statement, Flood Control, East Grand Forks, Minnesota, Grand Forks, North Dakota,” 

p. 30, <http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/docs/projs/eisfi nal.pdf> (6 June 2003).

 15 Mighetto and Willingham, Service – Tradition – Change, p. 41; Virginia 

Gnabasik interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 22 October 2002, p. 9.

 16 Gnabasik Interview, p. 9.

 17 Quotation in “Programmatic Agreement Among the U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers, St. Paul District, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the 

North Dakota State Historic Preservation Offi cer, and the Minnesota State Historic 

Preservation Offi cer Regarding Implementation of Flood Protection Measures for 

the Cities of Grand Forks, North Dakota and East Grand Forks, Minnesota,” Revised 

Draft – July 1998, p. 7, File 1110-2-1150a East Grand Forks Flood Control Programmatic 

Agreement (‘98), Box 8076, SPDAR; see also U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul 

District, “Final Environmental Impact Statement, Flood Control, East Grand Forks, 

Minnesota, Grand Forks, North Dakota,” p. 34.

 18 Edward McNally interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 22 October 

2002, p. 7.

 19 “Draft, Environmental Assessment, LaFarge Bridges Removal/Relocation, 

Kickapoo River, Near La Farge, Wisconsin,” pp. 1-9, File 1501-07 Ref. Paper Files – 

La Farge – Tech. Drawings, Box 7932, SPDAR; Richard Otto interview by Matthew 

Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 23 October 2002, pp. 11-12; John Anfi nson Interview, p. 8.

 20 Quotation in “Homme Dam Operational Management Plan,” File Baldhill 

Dam/Lake Ashtabula OMP, Homme Dam OMP, Lake Ashtabula/Homme Lake 

EA, CRM Files; see also “Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979,” in 

U.S. Department of the Interior, Federal Historic Preservation Laws, p. 55; Charles 
Cultural Resources and History 6

169

P. Spitzack Memorandum for CENCS-DDPM (Crist), 9 April 1997, File La Farge 

Correspondence, Box 6407, SPDAR.

 21 “National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended through 1992,” in 

U.S. Department of the Interior, Federal Historic Preservation Laws, pp. 14-15.

 22 Gnabasik Interview, pp. 7-8. For an example of a Corps letter requesting tribal 

participation, see Kenneth S. Kasprisin, Colonel, Corps of Engineers, to Honorable 

Phillip “Skip” Longie, Jr., Chairman, Spirit Lake Tribal Council, 19 November 1999, File 

1110- 21150a Baldhill Dam Pool Raise (‘99), Box 6417, SPDAR.

 23 Quotation in “Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act,” in 

U.S. Department of the Interior, Federal Historic Preservation Laws, p. 65, 67; see also 

U.S. Congress, 101st Cong., 2d sess., “Providing for the Protection of Native American 

Graves, and For Other Purposes,” House Report 101-877, 1990, pp. 13-17, <http://

www.cast.uark.edu/other/nps/nagpra/DOCS/lgm001.html> (6 June 2003).

 24 Sissel Johannessen, “Notes on NAGPRA,” 28 May 2003, document provided 

to the authors; Gnabasik Interview, pp. 6-7.

 25 Patricia L. Parker and Thomas F. King, “Guidelines for Evaluating and 

Documenting Traditional Cultural Properties,” National Register Bulletin 38, <http://www.

cr.nps.gov/nr /publications/bulletins/nrb38> (6 June 2003). For background on TCPs, 

see Antoinette J. Lee, “Recognizing Cultural Heritage in the National Historic Preservation 

Program,” CRM 16 (1993 Special Issue – Traditional Cultural Properties): pp. 7-8.

 26 David W. Cushman, “When Worlds Collide: Indians, Archeologists, and 

the Preservation of Traditional Cultural Properties,” CRM 16 (1993 Special Issue – 

Traditional Cultural Properties): pp. 49-51 (quotation on p. 50).

 27 John Anfi nson Interview, p. 11.

 28 “Oral Interviews: The Signifi cance of Grand Portage Bay to the Grand Portage 

Chippewa Band,” memorandum provided to the authors by John Anfi nson.

 29 John Anfi nson Interview, p. 11.

 30 Quotation in John Anfi nson Interview, p. 12; see also “Watery Logs Expand 

Wood Products Industry,” Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Fedgazette (July 1997) 

<http://minneapolisfed. org/pubs/fedgaz/97-07/wi.cfm> (6 June 2003).

 31 Maria T. Valencia to Ben A. Wopat, 17 December 2002, email message 

supplied to the authors by Ben A. Wopat.

 32 John Anfi nson Interview, p. 12.

 33 Dennis Gimmestad interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 23 

October 2002, p. 1; Scott Anfi nson interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 24 

October 2002, p. 5. Gimmestad served as the Minnesota State Historic Preservation 

Offi ce’s Compliance Offi cer, while Anfi nson was a National Register Archeologist for 

Minnesota’s SHPO.
Cultural Resources and History 6

170

 34 Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, “Section 106 Regulations 

(Effective 11 January 2001),” 36 CFR Part 800, Section 800.14, <http://www.achp.gov/

regs.html> (6 June 2003).

 35 “Department of the Army Regulatory Program – An Overview,” June 1997, in 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory Executive Training Session Binder, 7-9 March 

2000, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers [HQUSACE] administrative records, 

Washington, D.C.

 36 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “33 CFR Part 325, Appendix C – Procedures 

for the Protection of Historic Properties,” <http://www.usace.army.mil/inet/

functions/cw/cecwo/reg/33cfr325.htm#appendixC> (6 June 2003).

 37 Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, “Section 106 Regulations 

(Effective 11 January 2001),” 36 CFR Part 800, Section 800.16 – Defi nitions, <http://

www.achp.gov/regs.html#800.16> (6 June 2003) (emphasis added).

 38 Gimmestad Interview, p. 7; Brad Johnson, personal communication with the 

authors, 15 March 2004.

 39 Gimmestad Interview, p. 6.

 40 Scott Anfi nson Interview, p. 5.

 41 SHPO No. 2000-1434, as related in Johnson, personal communication with the 

authors, 15 March 2004.

 42 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Offi ce of the Chief of Engineers, Engineer 

Profi les: The District Engineer, Interviews with Colonel William W. Badger, by Frank N. 

Schubert (Washington, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1983), pp. 37-38 [hereafter cited 

as Badger Interviews].

 43 John Anfi nson Interview, p. 1.

 44 Albert J. Genetti, Jr., Colonel, Corps of Engineers, Chief of Staff, “Historical 

Activities: Field Operating Activities Historical Programs,” Regulation No. 870-1-1, 30 

April 1990, p. 2, File Hist. Cmte. (1989-90), Box 6412, SPDAR.

 45 William A. Stofft, Brigadier General, Chief of Military History, Memorandum, 

2 July 1986, File Oral History – General, Box 7842, SPDAR; John Anfi nson Interview, p. 2.

 46 John O. Anfi nson, personal communication with the authors, 30 December 

2002; Paul K. Walker Memorandum for Commander, U.S. Army Engineer Division, 

North Central, 18 August 1989, File Oral History – General, Box 7842, SPDAR. Schubert 

had a summer cabin in Minnesota, giving him opportunities to implement the oral 

history program in the St. Paul District.

 47 Colonel Roger L. Baldwin interview by John O. Anfi nson, St. Paul, MN, 1 July 

1991, 3 July 1991, Oral History File, St. Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Cultural Resources and History 6

171

 48 Genetti, “Historical Activities: Field Operating Activities Historical 

Programs,” p. 5.

 49 Quotation in “District Begins Oral History Program,” Crosscurrents 10 (August 

1987): p. 6.

 50 Jo Blatti, “Oral History of the Mississippi River Locks and Dams Nos. 3-10: 

Draft Final Report,” p. 3, File MR Oral History 2, Box 7842, SPDAR.

 51 Quotation in “District Begins Oral History Program,” p. 6.

 52 Quotation in John Anfi nson Interview, p. 4; see also Charles E. Crist, Chief, 

Planning Branch, Memorandum for Robert F. Post, Chief, Engineering and Planning 

Division, 31 March 1994, document provided to the authors by John Anfi nson; Berwick, 

personal communication with the authors, 31 October 2002; Matthew T. Pearcy, 

personal communication with the authors, 29 December 2002. The Geotechnical Section 

usually contracts these histories out to a private fi rm.

 53 John Anfi nson, “Detailed Overview: Henry P. Bosse Exhibit,” File 200 Cultural 

Resources, General Folder #1, Box 4338, SPDAR.

 54 John Anfi nson Interview, p. 5.

 55 John O. Anfi nson to Sverdrup, 6 December 1988, File Lock and Dam 4 – Major 

Rehab., CRM Files.

 56 John O. Anfi nson, “The Nine-Foot Channel: Eligibility and Protection,” File 

Lock and Dam 4 – Major Rehab., CRM Files.

 57 John Anfi nson Interview, p. 4.

 58 William Patrick O’Brien, Mary Yeater Rathbun, and Patrick O’Bannon, 

Gateways to Commerce: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 9-Foot Channel Project on the 

Upper Mississippi River, edited by Christine Whitacre (Denver: National Park Service, 

Rocky Mountain Region, 1992), p. 7; John Anfi nson Interview, p. 5. The Historic 

American Engineering Record is under the purview of the National Park Service.

 59 “Mississippi River – OMP,” pp. 7-9, File Locks and Dams – History, CRM Files.

 60 Joseph H. Mose, Acting Chief, Environmental & Economic Analysis Branch, 

Memorandum for MVP-CO/Ken Buck, n.d., File Section 106 and Con-Ops, CRM Files.

 61 Robert L. Herndon, Colonel, Corps of Engineers Chief of Staff, “Planning, 

Development, Management and Operation: Visitor Center Program,” ER 1130-2-401, 

15 February 1991, p. 2, File SAF Visitor’s Center, CRM Files; see also Raymond Merritt, 

“New Directions: Transitions in the St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers, 1976-1982,” 

unpublished manuscript, St. Paul District, p. 61.

 62 “Fact Sheet: Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam Visitor Center 

Improvements,” 20 August 1990, File SAF Visitor’s Center, CRM Files; see also Steven 
Cultural Resources and History 6

172

Lenhart interview by Matthew Godfrey, Minneapolis, MN, 21 October 2002, p. 19. 

Lenhart is the lockmaster at USAF Lock and Dam.

 63 See, for example, Herndon, “Planning, Development, Management and 

Operation: Visitor Center Program.”

 64 “Fact Sheet: Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam Visitor Center 

Improvements”; “Plan Summary Draft Text (13 November 1989),” pp. 4-5, File SAF 

History, CRM Files.

 65 Ted Lofstrom, Review and Compliance Offi cer, Minnesota State Historic 

Preservation Offi ce, to Mr. Robert J. Whiting, St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers, 

13April 1990, File SAF History, CRM Files.

 66 Minnesota Historical Society, “Railroad Properties: Stone Arch Bridge (in 

the St. Anthony Falls Historic District),” <http://nrhp.mnhs.org/property_overview.

cfm?propertyID=79> (6 June 2003).

 67 Russel Snyder, “Meeting with St. Anthony Falls Heritage Board Technical 

Advisory Committee, November 28, 1988: Memo for the Record,” 6 December 1988, File 

SAF Historic District, CRM Files.

 68 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Interpretive Prospectus: Morgan 

J. Tschida Visitor Center, Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam (St. Paul, MN: U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, 1995), pp. 2, 6-8; John Anfi nson Interview, p. 3; 

Lenhart Interview, pp. 2, 15-16.

 69 Lenhart Interview, p. 12; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, 

“Corps of Engineers Opens Most Lock and Dam Visitor Centers Along the Mississippi 

River,” Press Release, 10 May 2002, <http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/pressroom/

default.asp?pageid=329> (6 June 2003).

 70 John Anfi nson Interview, p. 14.
Cultural Resources and History 6

173
Ranger Kyle Curtiss, Pokegama Dam and Recreation 

Area, Grand Rapids, Minn., assists a camper in 

making a pinecone bird feeder. (Photo by Tammy Wick, 

courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
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175

In 1988, Colonel Joseph Briggs, outgoing district engineer of the St. 

Paul District, related that the Corps’ “recreational business is growing 

in leaps and bounds.”1

 The Corps received the responsibility from the 

federal government to develop recreational opportunities in conjunction 

with its civil works projects in the mid-twentieth century. As Briggs 

explained, recreation had become an increasingly important function 

of the Corps as the century progressed, although it was never considered as important 

as the navigation and fl ood control missions. Emphasizing the value of recreation, 

however, a 1996 Corps’ engineering regulation declared that one of the primary goals 

of the Corps was “providing quality public outdoor recreation experiences to serve the 

needs of present and future generations.” By the twenty-fi rst century, the Corps had 

become one of the largest operators of recreation units on federal land.2 Yet the Corps 

sometimes shied away from fully developing recreational opportunities, in part because 

of environmental concerns and in part because of confl icts with other missions and 

federal agencies. An examination of the recreational function in the St. Paul District in 

the late twentieth century highlights some of these features.

Although Congress has never authorized the Corps to build a dam and reservoir solely 

for recreational purposes, the Corps obtained authority in the 1944 Flood Control Act 

to build recreation facilities. The 1965 Federal Water Project Recreation Act allowed 

the Corps to include recreation as a contributing factor to benefi t-cost ratios, while 

also mandating that non-federal sponsors bear at least fi fty percent of the construction 

costs.3 With these authorities, the Corps developed campgrounds, day-use areas, boat 

ramps and swimming beaches around the bodies of water it managed. As more and 

more Americans participated in outdoor recreation in the 1960s and 1970s, Corps’ 

resources became increasingly popular. The Corps estimated in 2003 that 360 million 

people annually visited the 2,500 recreation areas at the more than 450 projects that 

it operated, as well as the 1,800 other sites leased to state, local or private recreation 

7Recreation
Recreation

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176

managers. However, the Corps’ responsibilities did not merely consist of providing 

areas of enjoyment. According to one manager, they also extended to “insur[ing] the 

public safety and health of the visiting public, ... protect[ing] natural resources for 

future generations, and ... charg[ing] fees where appropriate to offset operation and 

maintenance costs.” Because of these diverse duties, Corps’ regulations required that 

its Natural Resources Management Program staff be drawn from “personnel having 

expertise in areas such as forestry, wildlife management, recreation management, 

fi sheries management, parks management, landscape architecture, biology, soil science, 

interpretation, visitor assistance and contract administration.”4

In the St. Paul District, recreation management was a part of the Natural Resources 

section of the Construction-Operations Division. Project managers within the 

Construction-Operations Division administered project sites, and recreation personnel 

reported to the on-site supervisor. The main recreational attractions in the district 

included the Mississippi River, its headwaters and several other reservoirs and 

waterways scattered across North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Essentially, the 

district’s recreational operations lay in four major areas: developing new opportunities 

on civil works projects; maintaining existing projects; conducting public outreach 

ventures, including safety programs; and assisting in natural resources management. 

Most of these functions could best be carried out at the projects themselves, meaning the 

district did not have a large recreation staff in its St. Paul offi ce. Instead, most recreation 

and natural resource employees were located in the fi eld, and these individuals labored 

to ensure the public had ample recreational opportunities and satisfactory experiences.5

Developing New Opportunities

One of the main functions of the district’s recreation staff included the development 

of recreational features as part of new civil works projects. After 1936, the Corps built 

numerous large dams for fl ood control, and the resulting reservoirs were some of the 

major attractions for the general public. Numerous factors, including the environmental 

movement and increasing costs, however, reduced the Corps’ dam/reservoir 

construction in the 1970s in favor of more non-structural solutions.6 Yet recreation 

opportunities still existed, and the Corps continued to develop these possibilities 

whenever feasible.

One of the major successes for the St. Paul District stemmed from the construction of 

the South Fork Zumbro River Flood Control Project in Rochester, Minnesota, completed 

in the 1990s and the recipient of several awards (see Chapter Four). Recreation was an 

important component of this project from the beginning.7 According to Frank Star, an 

outdoor recreation planner for the district, the involvement of the recreation staff in 

Rochester was typical of its participation in most civil works projects. First, Star related, 

the district had to determine whether recreational aspects were feasible. If so, it had to 

discover whether local entities were willing to share the costs of these developments. 

The City of Rochester expressed an early willingness to pay the fi fty percent cost 

requirement, meaning the district’s recreational staff worked closely with the city to 

determine just what features were desirable. “Once we had fi gured out what the project 
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was going to consist of, which was channel work in the city itself,” Star stated, “then 

we looked at what kind of recreational opportunities ... that afford[ed].” The two sides 

ultimately decided that the best utilization lay in bicycle and pedestrian trails and picnic 

areas along the Zumbro River where much of the Corps’ work was occurring.8

During the project’s construction in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many citizens in 

Rochester grew excited about the opportunities. As one newspaper report related, 

“Not only will the project protect the city from fl ooding, but it will provide outdoor 

enthusiasts with an array of new opportunities through a network of bike trails, a 

series of reservoirs and new parks and campgrounds.” These features, the newspaper 

concluded, showed that the Corps, as well as other entities involved in the project, 

was “work[ing] hard to combine fl ood protection and fun.”9

 In essence, the recreation 

developments consisted of 6.5 miles of walkways and bicycle paths along the Zumbro 

in downtown Rochester, as well as pedestrian plazas, picnic shelters and better 

access points to the river. Even before the project was completed, the general public 

extensively used these features, and frequently commented favorably.10 One woman 

was grateful for the bike paths because her daughter could ride without worrying 

about automobiles and curbs. Another man, on an “after-dinner stroll,” expressed 

his pleasure with the trails, stating that the area was “much improved over what it 

was.”11 According to project manager Deborah Foley, the well-accepted recreation 

Recreation: Swimmers at the Crosslake Recreation Area in Cross Lake, 

Minnesota. (Photo by Shannon Bauer, courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
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developments, funded in part by the city, were “key” reasons why the project received 

“top honors” in 1996.12

The South Fork Zumbro River Project was representative of the way the district 

developed recreational aspects on civil works projects. Although not all local parties 

were as willing to foot fi fty percent of the bill, other undertakings, including the St. 

Paul and the Grand Forks/East Grand Forks fl ood control projects, also had signifi cant 

recreation features. However, as with the Zumbro, once the Corps completed 

construction of these developments, it turned the recreation units over to the local 

sponsor for operation and maintenance. Thereafter, the Corps had little to do with 

the projects, aside from periodic inspections to ensure they were being operated and 

maintained correctly. Local assumption of responsibility commonly occurred in the 

last half of the twentieth century. According to Richard Otto, who began working with 

the St. Paul District’s recreation program in 1975, because most of these facilities were 

“small areas and parks ... used by local people,” common sense dictated that local 

governments operate them.13

However, the Corps quickly learned that local governments sometimes caused 

problems in the management of recreation facilities. In 1980, for example, Vernon 

County, Wisconsin, which leased Blackhawk Park on the Mississippi River from the 

Corps, decided to terminate its operating lease and return the park to Corps’ control. 

The county also informed the St. Paul District it would no longer maintain the access 

road to the park, even though the street provided service to private residences and 

public utilities. In addition, the county refused to construct safety features on the road, 

including warnings at a railroad crossing. Because of the county’s unwillingness to take 

responsibility for the road and the safety concerns, the Corps closed Blackhawk Park for 

a couple of months in the spring of 1984. The loss of tourist 

revenue hurt the surrounding communities, leading 2,843 

people to sign a petition demanding the county assume 

responsibility for the road. The county fi nally accepted that 

duty in May, allowing the Corps to reopen in time for the 

Memorial Day weekend. Although the situation eventually 

resolved itself, it showed some of the diffi culties that could 

result from a local government’s lack of participation in 

recreation projects.14

Mississippi National River and Recreation Area

The Mississippi River was another site for recreational 

development in the last quarter of the twentieth century, 

although the Corps was at times dubious about pursuing 

recreation on the river. As part of the Great River 

Environmental Action Team’s (GREAT I) study of the 

Upper Mississippi River in the 1970s (see Chapter Three), a 

recreation work group, consisting of representatives from 

the Corps, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Heritage 

The Mississippi National 

River and Recreation 

Area extends from the 

mouth of the Crow River 

below Lock and Dam 

1 (shown here) through 

the Twin Cities to the 

mouth of the St. Croix 

River. (Photo courtesy of 

St. Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
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Conservation and Recreation Service and the states of Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, 

issued recommendations in 1979 for increasing recreation on the Mississippi. The work 

group suggested that: 

 The Corps should consider recreation enhancement when disposing of dredged 

 material on the river; 

 Congress should give the Corps authority to maintain recreational areas 

 on federal lands along the river in cooperation with other agencies without local 

 cost-sharing;

 The Corps should maintain backwater accesses; 

 Federal agencies should “provide a diversity of recreational opportunities” on 

 the river; and 

 Recreation should be included as a “project purpose” of the Nine-Foot 

 Navigation Project.15

When the St. Paul District issued its report on the 

implementation of GREAT I’s recommendations, it noted 

that its nine-foot navigation channel increased recreational 

boating opportunities on the river and recognized the 

popularity of islands in the Mississippi created by the 

disposal of dredged material. However, the district only 

promised to give “additional consideration” to recreation 

on the river, recognizing that other programs, such as 

environmental management, took priority.16 Accordingly, 

when the district later received authority for its Upper 

Mississippi Environmental Management Program in the 

1980s, the recreation component received no funding 

from Congress “due to a low” federal priority.17 As Frank 

Star explained, “The big problem is that the recreation 

community is not [as] well organized as some of the 

environmental community is ... There’s no big group of 

campers or hikers or somebody to raise the stakes.”18

Although GREAT I’s recommendations did not 

signifi cantly alter recreational opportunities on the 

Mississippi, it enabled Congress and environmental 

organizations to examine how recreation could be 

integrated more fully into river management plans. These 

dialogues eventually culminated in the introduction 

of legislation in the late 1980s by U.S. Representative 

Bruce F. Vento (D-Minnesota) for the establishment of a 

Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. It would 

encompass an 80-mile stretch of the river beginning near 

the Crow River in Minnesota and running through the 

Twin Cities to the confl uence of the Mississippi and the 

St. Croix rivers at the Wisconsin-Minnesota border. Vento 

Wildlife Refuge: Don 

Powell served as 

project manager for 

the Fish and Wildlife 

Service’s Trempealeau 

Refuge Project as 

part of the Upper 

Mississippi Environmental 

Management Program. 

(Photo by Shannon Bauer, 

courtesy of St. Paul District, 

Corps of Engineers)
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foresaw this area as falling under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, with 

a coordinating committee aiding its governance. He believed the designation would 

“maximize the River’s potential and assure a fair balance between commercial and 

recreational interests.”19

The St. Paul District, however, was not enthusiastic about Vento’s plan, believing, in the 

words of District Engineer Colonel Briggs, that “another layer of coordination would 

unduly delay the essential time required to accomplish the things that we have to do,” 

such as navigation, fl ood control and environmental regulation. Vento disagreed with 

the Corps’ complaints, believing the real reason why Briggs opposed the project was 

because he did not want the National Park Service infringing on the district’s “turf,” a 

charge Briggs denied.20

Despite the Corps’ reservations about the new system, the bill had enough support 

to become law on November 18, 1988. Along with designating the 80-mile section of 

the river as a national river and recreation area under the jurisdiction of the National 

Park Service, the law also established a Mississippi River Coordinating Commission 

“to assist federal, state, and local authorities in the development and implementation 

of an integrated resource management plan.” Representatives from the National Park 

Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the state of Minnesota and the Corps all had 

a seat on the commission. 21 This helped the St. Paul District work closely with the 

National Park Service to develop recreational activities on the Mississippi, including 

installing interactive kiosks at visitor centers and initiating the Mighty Mississippi 

Passport program, whereby children could earn a Mighty Mississippi Junior Ranger 

Badge and certifi cate by visiting a certain number of sites on the river. Although district 

offi cials were initially reluctant to support the designation of the river as a national 

recreation area, they eventually accepted it as a good way, in the words of Frank Star, to 

“encourage people to come down and look at the river and [our] stewardship.”22

Lower St. Anthony Falls Whitewater Park

Other possibilities for Mississippi River recreation also 

existed. In the late 1990s, the Corps began discussions with 

the Minnesota DNR about the creation of a whitewater park 

at Lower St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis. The Mississippi 

Whitewater Park Development Corporation provided the 

impetus for the facility, forming specifi cally to outline plans 

for the park. The development corporation envisioned the 

establishment of a rapids channel adjacent to the Lower St. 

Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, along with a park and trail 

system on the east bank of the Mississippi. The channel 

would be 40 feet wide and 2,000 feet long and would utilize 

the dam’s vertical drop of 25 feet. Proponents believed that 

canoeists, kayakers and rafters would use the conduit, which 

would also provide fi shing opportunities. In addition, not 

only would the channel restore the whitewater rapids that 

Recreation Boating: 

Canoeists paddle 

through the Lower 

St. Anthony Falls 

Lock and Dam in 

Minneapolis during an 

annual Independence 

Day event. (Photo 

courtesy of St. Paul District, 

Corps of Engineers)
Recreation

7

181

existed on the river decades before, but the park itself would enhance the aesthetics of a 

desolate portion of the river. In 1999, Minnesota’s DNR completed a feasibility report on 

the park, and Congress authorized the project in the Water Resources Development Act 

of 2000. The Corps and the DNR entered into a cooperative agreement in 2002 to begin 

planning and design, but the outcome of the project was unclear after President George 

W. Bush omitted it from his fi scal year 2003 budget. Regardless, most supporters 

believed it was only a matter of time before the park would be constructed, and, when 

completed, it would, according to the Mississippi Whitewater Park Development 

Corporation, “expand the concept of a ‘user-friendly’ river, increasing environmental 

awareness, [and] giving Minnesotans the opportunity to make the Mighty Mississippi a 

part of their lives.”23

Maintaining Existing Facilities

Along with planning new recreational developments, the St. Paul District also 

maintained existing facilities under its control. Several of these were located at the 

headwaters of the Mississippi in northcentral Minnesota, including the Cross Lake, 

Pokegama Lake, Sandy Lake, Leech Lake, Gull Lake and Lake Winnibigoshish 

recreation areas. The Corps created these reservoirs between 1884 and 1912 by 

constructing several dams at the Mississippi Headwaters to store water for release 

during the summer to support navigation below St. Paul. After the Corps developed 

the nine-foot navigation channel on the Mississippi River in the 1930s, these reservoirs 

became less important for navigation but more signifi cant for wildlife habitat and 

recreation. In 1964, the fi rst offi cial recreation facilities were designated at the lakes 

with the completion of a recreational development master plan for the Pine River 

Reservoir, another name for Cross Lake. After that time, the Corps developed master 

plans for the other lakes as well.24 In addition to the headwaters, the St. Paul District 

supervised recreational facilities at several other locations, including Orwell Lake, Lake 

Traverse and Lac Qui Parle Dam in Minnesota; 

Homme Lake and Lake Ashtabula in North 

Dakota; and Eau Galle Lake and Blackhawk 

Park in Wisconsin. Finally, the Mississippi River 

itself provided numerous recreational resources, 

including beaches and islands made from 

dredged materials.25

One of the Corps’ essential responsibilities in 

managing these facilities was determining public 

needs and improving parks accordingly. Most of 

the sites, whether in Minnesota, North Dakota or 

Wisconsin, offered essentially the same waterrelated activities: boating, swimming, camping, 

fi shing and picnicking. Some provided hiking, 

playground areas and visitor centers as well. 

With so many facilities scattered throughout 

the three states, district employees spent much 

Pine River Dam in Crosslake, 

Minnesota, received a 

facelift from 1999 to 2003. 

Improvements included an 

accessible fi shing pier. (Photo by 

Shannon Bauer, courtesy of St. Paul 

District, Corps of Engineers)
Recreation

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182

time maintaining resources and ensuring the public’s satisfaction with the areas. In 

1985, for example, the Corps decided that changes were necessary at Leech Lake Dam. 

Traditionally an excellent spot for fi shing, the lake had experienced only nominal 

annual increases in visitation in the 1980s. The Corps determined that more appealing 

activities for families, retired couples and persons with disabilities might increase 

visitation, so it installed a game area with horseshoe pits, shuffl eboard, volleyball, 

badminton and basketball courts. The district also constructed landscaped stairways, 

ramps and walkway bridges to increase access. The improvements worked, and 

visitation increased by seventeen percent in 1986 and nine percent in 1987.26

The number of campers, coupled with a decreasing number of Corps’ employees at 

Leech Lake, compelled the district to instigate a volunteer campground host program. 

Under this plan, volunteers became the principal contact point for visitors to the area, 

handling questions and distributing information. According to the Corps, “hosts 

never enforce rules and regulations or become involved in any domestic disputes.” 

Instead, they performed “common daily duties, allowing rangers additional time to 

perform more professional duties.” Although the district never widely implemented 

the volunteer host program, it helped Leech Lake cope with a lack of personnel in the 

late 1980s.27

Funding and personnel issues were always problems for the St. Paul District and the 

Corps in general. Not only did recreation recommendations made by study groups 

such as GREAT I receive little money, but existing recreation areas, dependent on 

congressional appropriations, sometimes faced paltry funding as well. In 1989, for 

example, President Ronald Reagan’s fi scal year 1990 budget slashed the St. Paul 

District’s recreation operations and maintenance budget by nearly twenty-fi ve percent. 

This meant most sites had to cut back on activities.28 The St. Paul District was not alone; 

in 1989 the Bush Administration called for the closing of 654 Corps’ recreation areas 

nationwide. Fortunately for the Corps’ recreational employees and local economies 

depending on these sites, Congress rejected the plan. Because of these budget 

constraints, the Corps examined new ways to fund recreation projects in the early 1990s. 

As Frank Star said, funding was “always an issue” for recreation, in part because of 

its “non-essentiality.” Whereas transportation networks needed highway repairs, the 

maintenance of campgrounds was less important. This made recreation an “easy target” 

for budget cuts.29

User Fees

One of the ways the Corps attempted to bolster its funding was by charging user fees 

at its facilities. Congress fi rst authorized the Corps to impose recreation fees in the 

1965 Land and Water Conservation Fund Act. This law stated that federal agencies 

administering outdoor recreation sites could levy recreation use charges, mandating 

that such costs be “fair and equitable.” Other than campground fees, however, the 

Corps did not implement any charges at that time. With funding cuts for recreation 

in the 1990s, however, the agency decided user fees could rectify the situation. 

Accordingly, Congress included in the 1993 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act a 

provision allowing the Corps to implement day-use charges at appropriate areas.30
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Subsequent Corps’ regulations claimed that the fees had fi ve major purposes: to recover 

some of the operation and maintenance costs of facilities, to reduce overcrowding, to 

provide quality recreational experiences which would support the national economy, 

to control vandalism and disruptive behavior and to foster a responsible user ethic 

among its guests. The resulting revenue went into a special Corps’ account in the U.S. 

Treasury and was ultimately returned as Special Recreation Use Funds to those projects 

producing the revenue.31 Although fees meant increased costs for the consumer, the 

public generally accepted the charges, in part because it knew the Corps used the 

revenue to offset operation and maintenance costs. As Star related, “If you can show 

them that the money is coming back and you’re actually making use of it to improve 

facilities, then [the public is] more accepting of it.”32 In addition, the fees were not 

burdensome. At the beginning of 2003, the public could purchase annual passes 

allowing yearlong day-use of Corps facilities for $30, while persons 62 years of age and 

older could buy a Golden Age Passport, which provided a fi fty percent discount on 

all recreation fees, for $10. Individual day-use charges ranged from $1-3 per person, 

depending on whether or not the individual accessed a boat ramp or a swimming area.33

National Recreation Reservation System

Another change the Corps implemented was the creation of the National Recreation 

Reservation System. In the late 1990s, the Corps joined with the Forest Service and 

the Bureau of Land Management, and later, the National Park Service, to establish a 

national reservation system for federal campgrounds. According to the Corps, this 

would “enhance customer service for users of our public lands by providing, with a 

single phone call, the ability to make reservations for fee-based, recreation facilities.” 

The organizations contracted with ReserveAmerica to provide this service, thereby 

facilitating the camping experience for those willing to make and pay for advance 

reservations. Although the Corps characterized this program as a “win-win-win 

service for our customers,” it did lead to some problems early on, mainly with the 

service provided by ReserveAmerica. Company representatives at times provided 

misinformation about the availability of campsites, while others placed non-disabled 

people on sites set aside for those with disabilities. The Corps also discovered the 

reservation system made it easier for individuals to skirt around policies such as the 

number of days a group could stay at a campsite. Frank Star expressed some frustration 

with the contractor, stating it was “not responsive at times to some of our complaints or 

problems,” but he still recognized the system was valuable at least for “reduc[ing] some 

of our workload.”34

Public Outreach and Safety Programs

The Corps faced other problems at its recreation sites. Some trouble arose because of 

the proximity of these areas to urban regions. The Corps prided itself on providing 

recreational opportunities to cities, but this same feature created diffi culties in the 

twenty-fi rst century. Alcohol had long been a source of concern at Corps’ facilities 

and forced the agency to conduct periodic assessments of its prevalence at larger sites, 
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but the appearance of methamphetamine labs at some Corps’ campgrounds was 

disturbing as well.35 So, too, was the danger that some Corps’ rangers faced. Because 

rangers did not have any law enforcement authority, working only to implement 

rules and regulations, they could not carry or use weapons, meaning they sometimes 

had little means of protecting themselves against assaults. The need to provide for 

ranger safety was emphasized in the 1970s when escapees from the Oklahoma State 

Prison abducted two park rangers in Arkansas, critically 

injuring one and killing the other. Such incidents caused 

concern, and, in 1995, the government appointed a task 

force to investigate ranger safety. This group issued a 

report and policy letter in 1996 addressing concerns and 

providing recommendations. One of the results of this 

study was the implementation in 1999 of a pilot program 

in the Fort Worth District allowing rangers to carry 

pepper spray. Based on the success of this experiment, 

the Corps issued a circular in April 2002 allowing 

all of its park rangers to carry and use the spray for 

self-defense. St. Paul District rangers welcomed this 

authorization, especially after discovering that in the 

summer of 2002 a highly dangerous sex offender was 

located not many miles from one of its camping sites 

in Minnesota. As Star related, “It’s getting a little more 

scary out there for our employees.”36

As visitation at Corps’ facilities expanded, littering 

problems increased as well. The St. Paul District, for 

example, had trouble with trash problems on the 

dredged material islands in the Mississippi River. 

Richard Otto, one of the district’s natural resources 

managers, explained there was little the district could do 

to ensure that visitors to these islands cleaned up their 

trash because “we don’t have any staff to patrol on the 

water.”37 Instead, the district sponsored annual volunteer 

cleanups at the islands, but littering continued. At other 

sites manned by the Corps, rangers regularly patrolled 

campgrounds and water areas both for safety reasons 

and for trash control, but as one district engineer related, 

“with limited resources, we cannot assign 24-hour ranger 

patrols to each recreation area.”38

In large part because of its staff and its outreach 

programs, the St. Paul District was able to provide a 

satisfying experience at its recreation facilities. The 

district received numerous letters from pleased visitors 

applauding Corps’ personnel and various recreation 

programs. One couple expressed their approval with 

the district’s Gull Lake campground. “It is nice to 

Water Safety: Frank 

Star, wearing his ranger 

uniform, introduces the 

Corps’ Seamoor the Sea 

Dragon to children in La 

Crosse, Wis. Seamoor’s job 

is to teach water safety. 

(Photo by Shannon Bauer, 

courtesy of St. Paul District, 

Corps of Engineers)
Recreation

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185

know that there is always such a great place to go for camping,” they commented, 

“and it is especially nice to know that we see the same familiar, friendly and helpful 

staff.”39 Neil R. Hunt, the president of a local Parent-Teacher Association, echoed these 

sentiments after a grade-school class toured the Cross Lake Recreation Area with two 

summer interns. “The kind of human level, service-oriented actions” exemplifi ed by 

the employees, he observed, did “more to improve the attitude of taxpayers than any 

program or brochure coming out of Washington.”40

Outreach programs provided an excellent means for the Corps to interact with the 

public, especially youth. School groups routinely visited recreation areas for tours, 

environmental workshops and fi shing lessons, while youth also attended summer 

fi shing clinics and contests. In 1978, for example, several recreation sites sponsored 

“Eco-Expoz,” where students participated in tours, games and exercises dealing 

with the environment. According to Richard Otto, the students enjoyed the different 

programs, convincing the district to continue them in future years.41 In a similar way, 

the St. Paul District participated in the Mississippi River 

Project in 1993, where different federal agencies coordinated 

a day of water quality awareness education for youth along 

the Mississippi from its headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico. 

As part of this program, students in the St. Paul District 

went to Lake Itasca, Harriet Island in St. Paul and Locks and 

Dams 3, 7 and 9 to help with water sampling and testing. 

At Lock and Dam 7, Otto and Corrine Hodapp, a park 

ranger at Blackhawk Park, discussed commercial navigation 

and water safety before the students conducted their 

experiments. As a district account of the event concluded, 

“By the end of the day, more than 300 future stewards of the 

Mississippi River had a better understanding of the river 

and its problems and promises.”42

Fishing activities were also popular. In June 1991, the staff 

at Sandy Lake Dam sponsored a clinic for campground 

visitors and a local 4-H club. Forty youth attended the event 

and learned how to identify different species of fi sh and 

how to tie various knots, while also gaining knowledge in 

artifi cial lures, casting, the uses of live bait and the proper 

way to release fi sh. At the conclusion of the workshop, the 

4-H group asked the Corps to hold such clinics every year.43

Meanwhile, the Lake Ashtabula staff conducted an annual 

program entitled “Take A Kid Fishing Day,” held each June 

in conjunction with National Fishing Week. Rangers helped 

the children fi sh in the morning, and then talked to them 

about water safety and the “Mr. McGruff ” safety program in 

the afternoon. Upon leaving, each child received a bag with 

safety literature, coloring books, a National Fishing Week 

Educational Activity Book and various prizes donated by 

Valley City, North Dakota, businesses.44

Recreation: Young 

fi shermen at Lake 

Ashtabula in North 

Dakota (Photo by Jeff 

Kapaun, courtesy of St. 

Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
Recreation

7

186

Safety Programs

As the Lake Ashtabula clinic showed, safety was an important feature of the Corps’ 

outreach programs. Because so many recreational opportunities revolved around 

water, the Corps was concerned about the public’s safety. The locks and dams on the 

Mississippi River constituted some of the most dangerous places because of the strong 

currents and powerful undertows close to the structures. To combat this problem, 

the Corps established restricted areas both above and below the locks and dams, 

but accidents still occurred.45 The safety hazards that water posed led lock operators 

and park rangers to gain training in rescue, CPR and fi rst aid, and this preparation 

was sometimes very useful. In May 1989, for example, park rangers at Leech Lake 

conducted two separate rescue operations within three days of each other. The fi rst 

involved a fi sherman who had become lost on the lake, while the second saved 

two couples stranded in a boat fi lled with water. Park Rangers Clint Fishel, Corrine 

Hodapp and Jeff Steere all participated in the rescues, leading one Corps’ publication 

to express its gratitude for the “training and expertise of the park rangers at our 

recreation areas.”46

In addition to ensuring its employees had proper rescue skills, the Corps conducted 

safety programs at its recreation sites. Lake Ashtabula, for example, presented “Kids 

in Boats” workshops to teach children about personal fl otation devices, hypothermia, 

rescue techniques and knot tying. Although students could attend the session at the 

lake, rangers also took the program to various locations in North Dakota in support 

of the North Dakota Game and Fish Department and the North Dakota Safety 

Council. According to one ranger, the workshops were so popular the staff could not 

fi ll every request. Likewise, personnel at the Cross Lake Recreation Area provided 

water safety presentations to grade school classes at the end of every school year in 

preparation for summer water activities.47 According to park ranger Kevin Berg, these 

programs helped “the public better understand the importance of thinking ‘safety’ 

while on the water.”48

Other forms of outreach included Corps’ participation in outdoor recreation 

conferences and professional societies. The St. Paul District often had booths at 

recreation and sports shows, where it explained its recreation operations. Frank Star 

claimed these shows enabled the Corps to “tell our story” to people unaware of “how 

big the Corps was and what it did.” Several district employees, some in leadership 

positions, were also active in professional societies, including the National Association 

of Interpreters, the National Recreation and Parks Association and the National Society 

for Park Resources. All of these efforts resulted in increased public exposure of the 

Corps’ recreation mission.49

Assisting in Natural Resources Management

Recreation employees also helped the Corps manage its natural resources. Part of 

this mission consisted of ensuring that recreation use on reservoirs and rivers did not 

harm the surrounding environment. One way the St. Paul District accomplished this 

was through environmental studies. As part of the Upper Mississippi River-Illinois 
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Waterway System Navigation Study in the 1990s, for example, the district undertook 

an examination of the effects of recreational boating traffi c on the Upper Mississippi 

River for the project’s EIS. The study related that recreational vessels caused “wake 

waves, propeller turbulence, noise in air and under water, release of petroleum and 

combustion products into air and water, and consumption of petroleum fuels.” In 

addition, they contributed to “shoreline erosion, sediment resuspension, and land 

use changes for marina facilities and boat landings.” Finally, although boating was an 

enjoyable activity, the plan stated, it produced “confl icts for lockage with commercial 

vessels, boating accidents, use of nonrenewable resources for leisure, and disturbance 

of other recreational users.” The study addressed how an expansion of navigation on 

the Mississippi River would affect these conditions but offered few solutions to the 

problems.50

This was not the fi rst time the district examined the diffi culties of recreational boating 

on the Mississippi. In 1977, the Corps held public workshops on locking delays faced 

by recreational boaters on the Mississippi River. Because commercial barges had 

priority at the locks, recreational vessels sometimes had to wait as long as two-and-ahalf hours for the availability of a lock. The Corps commissioned a study on the issue, 

and this report contained seven alternatives for relieving the congestion, including 

using signs to inform boaters of the length of the wait, providing special tie-up areas 

for recreational boaters, implementing designated lock times for recreational vessels 

and constructing separate recreation locks.51 In 1978, the Corps examined the feasibility 

of these alternatives, and the district eventually decided that the best ways to alleviate 

the congestion were to use signs and to establish better waiting areas. Unfortunately, 

these methods did not resolve the issue. In 2002, Frank Star still considered lock delays 

“a problem” for recreational boaters.52

Additional studies of the environmental effects of recreation on waterways also 

occurred. The Long Term Resource Monitoring Program of the Corps’ Environmental 

Management Program, conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, studied the 

characteristics of waves from recreational watercraft in 1992 in order to determine 

their effects on the environment. The report recognized that waves from recreational 

vessels could exacerbate bank erosion and “cause resuspension of fi ne sediments and 

increased turbidity, which can then be carried to the side channels and backwater areas 

and may impair riverine ecosystems.”53 Meanwhile, in 1996 the River Resources Forum 

Recreation Work Group, an interagency organization chaired by Richard Otto, studied 

water-based recreational activities in Pools 7 and 8 of the Mississippi River in order to 

gather information useful “in determining future recreational uses of the river.” The 

group discovered that the most popular activities on the river were boat fi shing and 

recreational boating and that personal watercraft, such as jet skis, were becoming more 

prevalent. Such conditions led “a large number of boaters” to “avoid certain parts of the 

river because there are ‘too many other boats’ or ‘too many [boat] wakes.’”54 However, as 

with the Upper Mississippi Navigation Study, these reports did not offer many solutions.

But as a Minnesota DNR brochure explained, there were measures that could be taken. 

It was the boater’s responsibility to reduce his or her speed and wake size in order to 

mitigate shoreline erosion and other problems, the brochure claimed, but the Corps 
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could implement mandatory speed and wake restrictions. “If all boaters become aware 

of the wakes their boats create and take action to reduce them when necessary,” the 

brochure concluded, “the shoreline erosion can be reduced and conditions should 

improve.”55 The St. Paul District did not necessarily disagree. Richard Otto, for example, 

believed if the Corps did a better job of getting information to boaters, environmental 

effects could be lessened.56

In the meantime, district offi cials continued to serve on natural resource studies. In 

the fi rst years of the twenty-fi rst century, Frank Star participated in an examination 

of a system-wide operating plan for the headwaters of the Upper Mississippi. Called 

the Reservoir Operating Plan Evaluation Study, or ROPE study, it was conducted in 

partnership with the Forest Service, attempted, in the words of the St. Paul District, “to 

evaluate alternative plans and to recommend a new operating plan for the Mississippi 

Headwaters Reservoirs system with consideration given to tribal trust, fl ood control, 

environmental concerns, water quality, water supply, recreation, navigation, 

hydropower and more.”57 In essence, Star explained, the ROPE study would enable 

the Corps to operate the headwaters “more as a system.” Some of the alternatives the 

study examined were allowing more natural fl ow releases from the lakes in the spring 

and changing the levels of some of the lakes. It remained to be seen how extensively 

the study would change the Corps’ recreational practices at the headwaters, but the 

coordination of different purposes would at least provide better communication 

between agencies and groups responsible for the headwaters.58

Mississippi River Boathouses

One of the major controversies involving recreation and natural resources in the St. Paul 

District occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, but its beginnings stretched back into the 1920s. 

In 1924, Congress established the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge 

along a stretch of the river running from Wabasha, Minnesota, to Quincy, Illinois, and 

placed it under the jurisdiction of the Fish and Wildlife Service. In order to preserve 

habitat, the Fish and Wildlife Service purchased land along the Upper Mississippi. When 

Congress authorized the nine-foot channel navigation project in 1930, the Corps began 

buying land as well. This resulted in a checkerboard pattern of land ownership along 

the Upper Mississippi, in which the Corps owned some land and the Fish and Wildlife 

Service held other tracts. As people purchased property along the Mississippi River, the 

shoreline remained under the control of the two agencies. Against the wishes of the Fish 

and Wildlife Service, however, the Corps allowed individuals to place boathouses and 

docks on shorelines and did nothing to regulate this until 1960, even though some people 

moved amenities into the structures in order to have a place to stay on the weekends.59

In 1960, the Corps, concerned that these property owners were using public land for 

private purposes, developed Special Use Licenses for anyone wishing to place a structure 

on the shoreline, and these licenses specifi cally prohibited human habitation in the units. 

The Corps revised the license in 1973 to state that specifi c items, such as beds, stoves and 

heaters, were not allowed. Four years later, the St. Paul District, led by District Engineer 

Colonel Forrest T. Gay, strictly implemented these provisions and issued both public 

statements and private letters stating the Corps would remove units out of compliance. 
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It was unclear why Gay decided to take a stand at this time, but it is likely that he was 

partly motivated by pressure from the Fish and Wildlife Service, which considered the 

boathouses to be incompatible with the river’s wildlife refuge designation.60

Whatever Gay’s reasoning, a public outcry arose against enforcement. Minnesota 

State Representative Tom Stoa from Winona prepared a state resolution opposing the 

Corps’ licenses, arguing that “the vast majority of boathouses are neither a hazard to 

navigation nor detrimental to the river environment.” Stoa suggested the Corps target 

industrial pollutants, such as the Metro Waste Commission, “rather than harass the 

little guy who likes to spend the 

weekend at his boathouse.”61

At the same time, the city of 

Brownsville, Minnesota, the site of 

numerous boathouses, supported 

the property owners; the city 

council declared that they saw 

“no harm with an overnight or 

weekend stay, to be able to relax, 

do a little fi shing or boating, 

providing [property owners] 

keep their area respectable and 

refrain from polluting.” Finally, 

citizens formed CARP (Concerned 

About River People), an 

organization which championed 

an owner’s right to stay in his 

or her boathouse on occasional 

weekends.62

The confl ict continued into the 1980s, when the St. Paul District announced it would 

begin on-site inspections of structures near Brownsville that it suspected were out of 

compliance with the regulations. On September 30, 1980, Ted Loukota and Joe Murphy 

of the district’s real estate section conducted the inspections. One newspaper reported 

that “there was no apparent animosity between the inspection team” and the boathouse 

owners, but citizens were still displeased. La Crosse County Supervisor William Ipsen 

wondered whether the crackdown would “push our kids back on the streets” because 

they would not want to go to the river “and sit in a bare room.” Loukota and Murphy 

expressed sympathy but argued that “if we allow the boathouses to be improved so 

they can be lived in we are granting exclusive rights to a few.”63

After these inspections, the issue remained dormant until 1982 when the Corps and the 

Fish and Wildlife Service began preparing a Land Use Allocation Plan for the Upper 

Mississippi. In a discussion of how to handle private use of the shoreline, the Fish and 

Wildlife Service declared that the boathouses, whether livable or not, were incompatible 

with the river’s designation as a wildlife refuge. The Fish and Wildlife Service claimed 

that lands purchased with tax dollars should be public land – they should not be leased 

Boathouse: An individual fi shing from a 

boathouse on the Mississippi River. (Photo by 

Richard Otto, courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
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out for private exclusive use. In a spirit of cooperation with the Fish and Wildlife 

Service, the Corps agreed as part of the Land Use Allocation Plan to refuse to issue any 

new licenses for boathouses on the river and to phase out all existing boathouses and 

docks by grandfathering them only for the life of the current owner. Once that owner 

died, the Corps would demolish the structure.64

The Land Use Allocation Plan and the Corps held public meetings in towns along the 

river throughout 1982 to announce this plan. But, in the words of Richard Otto, who 

operated as the district’s spokesman on the issue, “We got crucifi ed pretty badly.” 

Hundreds of people attended the meetings and were almost universally opposed to the 

plan. “They made a very strong point that they wanted their ... privileges to continue,” 

Otto related.65 In order to bolster their case against the Corps, CARP and other 

concerned citizens turned to the National Inholders Association, an organization whose 

mission was to fi ght bureaucracy on behalf of private property interests. The National 

Inholders Association pledged $35,000 annually to battle the Corps.66

Despite the National Inholders Association’s efforts, the Land Use Allocation Plan, as 

published, called for the elimination of the boathouses, stating that the grandfathering 

would occur in 1989. A Corps’ newsletter published that same year unequivocally 

stated the Corps’ reasons for instigating the plan: “Special private use of Federal land 

is becoming increasingly less appropriate and is not in the best public interest ... All 

available Federal land along the river will be needed to help meet future public use 

demands.” Although it seemed that boathouse owners had little recourse after this 

policy was issued, the National Inholders Association assured them there were several 

avenues still open. Even Otto admitted that “though the plan is in the very fi nal stage, 

there is a chance that the public could have it changed through legislation.” This was 

the exact approach that the National Inholders Association took.67

For the next few years, the National Inholders Association lobbied Congress to allow 

the boathouses to remain; and in 1986, its dedication paid off. In the Water Resources 

Development Act of 1986, Congress mandated that no existing structure could be 

phased out on Corps’ land. Because of this legislation, the Corps had to change its plan 

to say it would grandfather the structure instead of the owner, meaning that transfers of 

ownership could occur. As Otto explained, the boathouses thus “could be perpetuated 

way on into the future,” although the Corps still refused to grant permits for new 

units. This meant, essentially, that the number of structures was frozen. “If there’s 92 

structures,” Otto said, “there will never be 93.” This new plan went into effect in 1988 

and forced the Corps to use one full-time person to inspect the structures every year 

to ensure they were up to code. According to Otto, “habitation [was] still prohibited; it 

[was] just very diffi cult to enforce.”68 The presence of the Mississippi boathouses, then, 

represents a good example of the confl ict that arose between private property and the 

Corps’ mission to manage its waterways for the benefi t of the general public. It also 

showed that at least in some instances, public opinion could change Corps’ policy.
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Conclusion

Whether the St. Paul District was developing recreation opportunities at new projects, 

maintaining existing facilities, providing outreach programs or managing natural 

resources, its recreation staff interacted to a great extent with the public. Although at 

times the district, and the Corps in general, was reluctant to embrace its recreational 

mission fully, whether because of interagency confl icts, environmental concerns 

or the preeminence of other functions over recreation, the St. Paul District offered 

numerous services to the public. Indeed, recreation provided good exposure for the 

Corps, established good public relations and offered services many people appreciated. 

Because of this service function, recreation offi cials sometimes considered themselves 

to be public servants rather than just Corps’ employees. “I often tell people I don’t work 

for the Corps in the same sense that you work for General Motors,” Frank Star related. 

“I work for the public.”69 With this commitment, the St. Paul District’s recreation 

program effectively brought information about the Corps and its mission to the people, 

enhancing the Corps’ visibility in the process.

Chapter Seven Endnotes

 1 Colonel Joseph Briggs interview by Mickey Schubert, St. Paul, MN, 24 May 

1988, p. 22, Oral History File, St. Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota.

 2 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “Recreation Operations and Maintenance 

Policies,” Engineering Regulation [ER] No. 1130-2-550, p. 2-1 (each section has its own 

page numbers), <http://www.usace.army.mil/publications/eng-regs/er1130-2-550/

entire.pdf> (6 June 2003).

 3 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “Visitor Assistance: Program Summary,” 

<http://corpslakes. usace.army.mil/employees/visitassist/pback.html> (6 June 2003).

 4 Quotation in Jean Harrison, “The Corps’ Stake in Recreation,” Parks and 

Recreation 10 (March 1975): pp. 2b-3b, 7b; see also U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

“Recreation,” <http://www.usace.army. mil/public.html#Recreation> (6 June 2003); 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “Recreation Operations and Maintenance Policies,” 

ER No. 1130-2-550, p. 2-2; Frank Star interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 21 

October 2002, p. 1.

 5 Star Interview, pp. 2, 12.

 6 See, for example, Marvin Zeldin, “Corps’ New Look in Flood Control: No 

Dams, Levees,” Audubon 77 (July 1975): pp. 103-104.

 7 “Cooperative Planning: Zumbro River at Rochester,” Crosscurrents 1 (January 

1978): p. 3.

 8 Quotation in Star Interview, pp. 2-3; see also “Rochester Gets Go-Ahead in 

Water Bill,” Crosscurrents 10 (January 1987): p. 1.

 9 “On the Waterfront,” Post-Bulletin (Rochester, MN), 24 August 1991. 
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192

 10 Star Interview, p. 3.

 11 Quotations in “Some Not Happy with Flood Control Project,” Post-Bulletin, 10 

July 1990.

 12 “District Projects Earn Top Honors,” Crosscurrents 19 (April 1996): p. 4.

 13 Richard Otto interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, MN, 23 October 2002, p. 20.

 14 “Delay in Opening Corps Park,” Crosscurrents 7 (April 1984): p. 7; “Blackhawk 

Reopened?” Crosscurrents 7 (August 1984): p. 3; “Nonagreement Causes Park Closure,” 

Courier Press (Prairie du Chien, WI), 28 March 1984; “Support the Park,” Vernon County 

Broadcaster, 28 March 1984; “Blackhawk Park to be Closed,” La Crosse Tribune, 23 March 

1984.

 15 Great River Environmental Action Team, GREAT I: Recreation, Work Group 

Appendix – Upper Mississippi River (Head of Navigation to Guttenberg, Iowa) (Des 

Moines, IA: Great River Environmental Action Team, 1979), pp. 1-23.

 16 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Implementation for GREAT I 

Study (St. Paul, MN.: St. Paul District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1981), pp. 14-15, 28.

 17 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, North Central Division, Upper Mississippi 

River System Environmental Management Program, Sixth Annual Addendum 

(Chicago: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, North Central Division, 1991), p. 2.

 18 Star Interview, pp. 3-4.

 19 Quotation in U.S., Congress, House, Committee on Interior and Insular 

Affairs, National Parks and Public Lands Subcommittee, Miscellaneous National Park 

Issues: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands of the 

Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives, 100th Cong., 1st 

and 2d sess., 1987-1988, p. 177; see also U.S., Congress, Senate, Committee on Energy 

and Natural Resources, Public Lands, National Parks and Forests Subcommittee, 

Miscellaneous Parks and Public Lands Measures: Hearing Before the Subcommittee 

on Public Lands, National Parks and Forests of the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources, United States Senate, 100th Cong., 2d sess., 1988, pp. 43-44.

 20 House Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands, Miscellaneous 

National Park Issues, pp. 238-243 (quotations on pp. 239-240).

 21 Public Law 100-696, 18 November 1988, <http://80-web.lexisnexis. com.

weblib.lib.umt.edu:2048 /congcomp/document?_m=9815b4f857438c030d4436e3483e4

ab2&_docnum=1&wchp=dG LbVtz-lSlAA&_md5=0fb6b5db5ee9e907aec0087c936ceb

6d> (6 June 2003).

 22 Star Interview, p. 10.

 23 Quotation in Mississippi Whitewater Park Development Corporation, “Who 

We Are,” <http://www.whitewaterpark.canoe-kayak.org/MWPDC_Info.html> (6 June 

2003); see also U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Lower St. Anthony Falls 
Recreation

7

193

Rapids Restoration, Mississippi River, Minneapolis, Minn.,” <http://www.mvp.usace.

army.mil/fi nder/display. asp?pageid=110> (6 June 2003); “In Search of a Bumpy Ride,” 

St. Paul Pioneer Press, 14 January 1999; “A Drifting Dream,” Star Tribune, 28 April 2000; 

Star Interview, p. 11.

 24 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “History of the Headwaters 

Recreation Areas,” <http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/history/headwaters> (6 June 

2003); “Mississippi River Headwaters,” Crosscurrents 7 (July 1984): pp. 4-5.

 25 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Recreation,” <http://www.

mvp.usace.army. mil/recreation> (6 June 2003).

 26 “Leech Lake Dam: A Family Recreation Area,” Crosscurrents 11 (April 1988): p. 6.

 27 “Leech Lake Campground Host Program First in District,” Crosscurrents

(August 1988): p. 6.

 28 “Potential Rec Area Closures in FY 90,” Crosscurrents 12 (February 1989): p. 3.

 29 Quotation in Star Interview, p. 5; see also “Corps Seeking New Ways to Fund 

Projects,” The Forum (Fargo, ND), 22 April 1990; “Corps Considers Alternatives,” Valley 

City Times-Record (ND), 22 November 1989; “Information Paper: Corps of Engineers 

Recreation Study,” January 1990, File Information Papers – National Recreation Study, 

Box 6412, SPDAR.

 30 “Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965,” Public Law 88-578, pp. 

9-10, <http://www.house.gov/resources/105cong/reports/105_a/lwcf65_.pdf> (6 

June 2003); “Corps Seeking New Ways to Fund Projects,” The Forum, 22 April 1990; 

“User Fees Okayed for Corps Recreation Areas,” Crosscurrents 16 (December 1993): p. 4. 

31 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “Recreation Operations and Maintenance Policies,” 

pp. 9-1 – 9-8.

 32 Star Interview, p. 7.

 33 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Annual Day Passes Available 

for 2003 Recreation Season at Corps of Engineers Parks,” Press Release, 18 November 

2002, <http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/fi nder/display.asp?pageid=541> (6 June 

2003); U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “Recreation Operations and Maintenance 

Policies,” p. 9-6.

 34 Star quotations in Star Interview, p. 9; other quotations in Daniel R. Burns, 

Chief, Operations, Construction and Readiness Division, Directorate of Civil Works, 

Memorandum for See Distribution, 19 October 1995, File I-39A-4 Reading File, 

HQUSACE administrative records, Washington, D.C. See also U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, “Reservations at Federal Recreation Facilities,” <http://www.usace.army.

mil/inet/recreation> (6 June 2003).

 35 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “Recreation Operations and Maintenance 

Policies,” p. 2-3; Star Interview, pp. 8-9.
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194

 36 Quotation in Star Interview, p. 11 (see also p. 12); U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, “Visitor Assistance: Program Summary”; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

“Oleoresin Capsicum (Pepper Spray) Program,” Engineer Circular [EC] No. 1130-2-

214, 22 April 2002, p. 1, <http://www.usace. army.mil/publications/eng-circulars/

ec1130-2-214/entire.pdf> (6 June 2003). Corps regulations emphasize that “the 

authority of resource managers and park rangers is limited to the enforcement of rules 

and regulations as designated in Title 36 and does not extend to arrest authority or 

the enforcement of state and local laws, including game laws.” Rangers or any other 

Corps personnel could not be deputized while on duty and could not perform any law 

enforcement activity on civil works installations even if not on duty. U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers, “Recreation Operations and Maintenance Policies,” pp. 6-1 – 6-2.

 37 Otto Interview, p. 19.

 38 Joseph Briggs, Colonel, Corps of Engineers, District Engineer, to Honorable 

Kent Conrad, U.S. Senate, 10 July 1987, File Congressional Correspondence, Box 6412, 

SPDAR.

 39 Larry and Diane Uhlir to Mr. Gregg Struss, Resource Manager, Gull Lake 

Recreation Area, 9 June 2001, reprinted in “Campers’ Kudos to Staff at Headwaters 

Sites,” Crosscurrents 24 (July 2001): p. 7.

 40 Neil R. Hunt, President, CCS PTA, to Ray Nelson, Crosslake Recreation Area, 

12 June 2001, reprinted in “Campers’ Kudos to Staff at Headwaters Sites,” p. 7.

 41 “Classroom Without Walls,” Crosscurrents 1 (June-July 1978): p. 7.

 42 “St. Paul District Participates in Water Quality Project,” Crosscurrents 16 (June 

1993): pp. 1-3 (quotation on p. 3).

 43 “It Won’t Be Long Before They’re at This Again! Fishing Clinics at Sandy 

Lake,” Crosscurrents 14 (April 1991): p. 8.

 44 “Feed-a-Kid-a-Line (Fishing Line, That Is)!” Crosscurrents 13 (October 1990): 

p. 5.

 45 “Drownings Lead to Change in Restricted Areas,” Crosscurrents 6 (April-May 

1983): p. 1; Otto Interview, p. 19.

 46 “A Tale of Two Rescues,” Crosscurrents 12 (August 1989): p. 5.

 47 “ ‘Kids in Boats’ Program at Lake Ashtabula Teaches Safe Boating and 

Water Safety,” Crosscurrents 22 (October-December 1999): p. 4; “Special Programs at 

Crosslake,” Crosscurrents 14 (October 1991): p. 8.

 48 “Water Safety,” Crosscurrents 12 (August 1989): p. 4.

 49 Star Interview, p. 4.

 50 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Study Plan Navigation Study 

Environmental Work Unit 11: Effects of Recreational Boating,” 28 December 1994, pp. 3-
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195

4, File 10-1-7a Mississippi River Illinois Waterways Navigation (1994), Box 5601, 

SPDAR; see also U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Effects of Recreational 

Boating on the Upper Mississippi River System,” <http://www.mvp.usace.army.mil/

fi nder/display.asp?pageid=187> (6 June 2003).

 51 “Small-Boat Locks at Area Dams Studied by Corps of Engineers,” PostBulletin, 2 December 1977; “Corps Looks at River Lock Delays,” Red Wing RepublicanEagle, 13 August 1977.

 52 Quotation in Star Interview, p. 8; see also Howard Needles Tammen and 

Bergendoff, “Recreational Craft Locks Study Selected Alternatives: Upper Mississippi 

River, Minneapolis to Guttenberg, for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District,” 

October 1978, File 1517-08 Mississippi River – Upper Mississippi River Recreation 

(1980), Box 1065, SPDAR.

 53 Nani G. Bhowmik and Ta Wei Soong, Waves Generated by Recreational 

Traffi c: Part I, Controlled Movement (Champaign, IL: Illinois State Water Survey, 1992), 

p. 3.

 54 River Resources Forum Recreation Work Group, Recreation Use Profi les: 

Upper Mississippi River Pools 7 and 8 (La Crosse, WI: Wisconsin Department of 

Natural Resources, 1996), pp. 1-5.

 55 Quotation in Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Mississippi River 

Bank Erosion and Boating: Facts and Solutions (St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Department of 

Natural Resources, 1993), n.p.

 56 Otto Interview, p. 20.

 57 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Reservoir Operating Plan 

Evaluation (ROPE) Study for Mississippi Headwaters,” <http://www.mvp.usace.army.

mil/environment/default.asp? pageid=143> (6 June 2003).

 58 Star Interview, p. 11. For more information on the ROPE study, see “Corps 

Leads Public-Private Headwaters Study,” Crosscurrents 25 (November 2002): pp. 3, 6.

 59 Colonel Forrest T. Gay, III, District Engineer, to Mr. Theodore Ranzenberger, 

8 April 1977, File 1501-07 Reference Paper Files (Mississippi River) 1977, Box 1660, 

SPDAR; Otto Interview, pp. 13-14.

 60 “Corps Zeroes in On the Area’s ‘River Rats,’ “ Houston Signal (MN), 11 

September 1980; Gay to Ranzenberger, 8 April 1977; Major Walter L. Heme, Acting 

District Engineer, to Honorable Albert H. Quie, 26 April 1977, File 1501-07 Reference 

Paper Files (Mississippi River) 1977, Box 1660, SPDAR.

 61 “Stoa Hits Corps on Boathouse Ban,” Minnesota House of Representatives 

News Release, 5 July 1977, File 1501-07 Reference Paper Files (Mississippi River) 1977, 

Box 1660, SPDAR.

 62 Giles Quillin, Mayor, and Harold Harer, Clerk, to Mr. Albert, Mr. Reisdorf 

and all members of “Save the Boathouse Ass’n,” 8 July 1977, File 1501-07 Reference 
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Paper Files (Mississippi River) 1977, Box 1660, SPDAR; “Boathouse Hassles Following 

Course of River,” Houston County News (La Crescent, MN), 18 September 1980.

 63 Quotations in “Boathouses for Boats or People?” La Crosse Tribune, 1 October 

1980; see also “Corps to Crack Down on Squatters,” The Forum, 15 September 1980.

 64 Otto Interview, pp. 14-15.

 65 Quotations in Otto Interview, p. 15; see also “Proposed Land-Use Allocation 

May Doom Future of County Boathouses,” Houston Signal, 18 December 1982.

 66 “ ‘Pro’ Joins River Battle,” unidentifi ed newspaper clipping, File 228-10 IHFMR, Box 3854, SPDAR.

 67 Quotations in “Mississippi Land Use Plan Finalized,” unidentifi ed newspaper 

clipping, File 228-10 IHF-MR, Box 3854, SPDAR; see also “Shoreline Management Plan,” 

p. P2-29, document provided by Richard Otto.

 68 Quotation in Otto Interview, pp. 15-16; see also “Shoreline Management 

Plan,” pp. P2-33, P2-36, P2-38.

 69 Star Interview, p. 1.
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197
Lake Winnibigoshish Reservoir at the 

center of controversy during the 

drought of 1988. (Photo courtesy of St. Paul 

District, Corps of Engineers)
Emergency Operations and Recovery

8

199

In the 1950s, Congress mandated the Corps of Engineers to provide 

relief to communities stricken by fl oods. Additional laws expanded the 

Corps’ responsibility, authorizing it to provide emergency operations in 

water-related disasters such as hurricanes and drought. In the regions 

served by the St. Paul District, the Corps’ emergency response was 

extremely important. The high water tables and severe winters of North 

Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin caused fl ooding almost every spring, as melting ice 

and snow poured into river basins in fi ve separate fl oodplains. In times of disaster, the 

district’s Readiness Branch provided logistical and technical support to incapacitated 

communities, building emergency levees and supplying equipment and manpower to 

fi ght fl oods. As it participated in these activities in the late twentieth century, the Corps 

earned accolades from those it aided, which improved its public image and boosted the 

morale of its employees. The Corps basked in this praise, frequently commenting on 

the worthwhile service it provided and the good feelings this engendered. As Robert 

F. Post, chief of the Engineering and Planning Division from 1987 to 1999, related after 

a 1997 fl ood on the Red River, “The professionalism and dedication displayed by the 

more than 200 men and women of the Corps’ Flood Emergency Response Team during 

this event was truly awesome.”1

The Corps’ emergency operations mission was a relatively new development. In June 

1955, Congress passed Public Law (PL) 84-99, which created a $15 million emergency 

fund to be used by the Corps “in fl ood emergency preparation; in fl ood fi ghting and 

rescue operations, or in the repair or restoration of any fl ood-control work threatened 

or destroyed by fl ood.”2

 Subsequent amendments to the act expanded the Corps’ 

authority to deal with hurricane and shore protection, contaminated water and 

drought. In such instances, the Corps could engage in any action “which is essential 

for the preservation of life and property,” such as strengthening existing fl ood control 

8Emergency Operations 

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Emergency Operations and Recovery

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structures, constructing temporary levees, clearing channels and removing debris and 

wreckage once a fl ood had receded and providing clean water to regions in need.3

Supplementing PL 84-99 was the 1974 Disaster Relief Act, which empowered the 

president of the United States to provide federal assistance during major natural 

disasters of any kind upon a governor’s request. If the president determined a disaster 

exceeded the capabilities of a state, he would authorize federal emergency operations 

to begin.4

 To provide a central coordinating agency for this federal response, President 

Jimmy Carter issued an executive order in 1979 that created the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency.5 In 1988, Congress formalized FEMA’s role in the Robert T. 

Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.6 Under the provisions of 

this law, FEMA reviewed governors’ requests for federal assistance and then made 

recommendations to the president on whether or not aid was warranted. If the 

president decided assistance was required, he issued a disaster declaration and chose a 

federal coordinating offi cer who supervised FEMA’s direction of relief activities.7

In order to streamline emergency operations, FEMA developed a Federal Response 

Plan outlining the responsibilities of different agencies in times of disaster. Under the 

plan, the Corps became the operating agent for Emergency Support Function #3 (ESF3), entitled Public Works and Engineering. This made the Corps the lead agency in 

providing a variety of services, including: technical advice and evaluation, construction 

management and inspection, emergency repair of water and wastewater treatment 

facilities, emergency power, inspection of residential and commercial structures 

to determine damage and the stabilization or demolition of damaged structures or 

facilities deemed hazardous. In essence, the Federal Response Plan required the Corps 

to supply both logistical support and materiel in times of disaster.8

Whether the Corps acted on its own under the authority of PL 84-99 or under the 

direction of FEMA depended on the status of the disaster and whether or not it was 

water-related. If the Corps supplied fl ood assistance before a presidential disaster 

proclamation, it used its PL 84-99 authorization and funded the operation in a couple 

of ways. If the emergency called for strengthening fl ood control works operated by 

the Corps, money came from project funds. If local sponsors had responsibility for the 

fl ood control works, they paid up to twenty-fi ve percent of the cost. However, in cases 

where a presidential disaster declaration had been issued and in instances of non-waterrelated emergencies, the Corps had to wait for FEMA to authorize its ESF-3 function 

before it could take any action. The Corps then funded these operations with money 

routed through FEMA.9

 In all cases, Corps’ offi cials emphasized, emergency operations 

were supplements to local and state actions, not replacements. Local and state offi cials 

had to exert “maximum efforts” and offi cially request aid before the Corps could 

become involved. In addition, local governments had to “identify specifi c needs; obtain 

all necessary easements and rights of ways; provide a local source of borrow material; 

and coordinate with local landowners.”10

In the St. Paul District, disaster relief fell under the authority of the Readiness Branch in 

the Construction-Operations Division. The chief of the Readiness Branch served as the 

district’s point of contact for emergency situations and was responsible for the district’s 
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Emergency Operations Center, an administrative support offi ce within district 

headquarters that provided central logistical guidance.11 The chief, together with the 

district’s fl ood executive offi cer (who was the chief of the Engineering Division and 

who provided technical advice to the district engineer), ensured the district had a cadre 

of well-trained specialists that could be mobilized in times of emergency. Among these 

were the fl ood area engineers and operations managers who worked in the fi eld to 

coordinate fl ood control activities. In order to keep themselves ready for deployment, 

these employees participated both in annual fl ood scenario workshops and training in 

emergency operations and technology such as ENGLINK, an emergency operations 

software program. Other exercises included teaching people about contract negotiations 

for levee construction, practicing deployment of personnel to sites and establishing 

communication links between individuals in the fi eld and in the offi ce. Such simulations 

prepared the district for real emergency situations.12

Floods

Most of the St. Paul District’s disaster operations occurred in response to spring fl ooding 

in the fi ve fl oodplains under its jurisdiction. One of the major trouble spots was the Red 

River of the North Basin in North Dakota and Minnesota, a predominantly agricultural 

area. In geologic times, fi rst a continental glacier and then glacial Lake Agassiz covered 

the region, creating an immature, fl at and poorly drained valley through which runs 

the Red River, a waterway that begins in the vicinity of Breckenridge, Minnesota, and 

Wahpeton, North Dakota, and runs north into Canada. In the winter, frequent blizzards 

and below-zero temperatures cause large accumulations of snow. When spring arrives, 

snowmelt runoff, beginning fi rst in the southern headwaters, generates high fl ows in the 

river. As the water moves north, it collides with ice in the river’s still-frozen downstream 

reaches. These jams elevate fl ood stages and frequently push the waterway out of its 

banks. When that happens, water runs for miles in every direction because of the fl atness 

of the valley. Surrounding communities and farmland sustain heavy damage.13

In the spring of 1950, for example, the river ran 54,000 cubic feet per second, or cfs, at 

Grand Forks, North Dakota, instead of the usual 32,000 cfs, causing millions of dollars 

of damage. Despite several projects constructed to restrain the waterway, the river 

overfl owed again in the spring of 1969, this time inundating Fargo, North Dakota, with 

nearly three times its normal fl ow.14 The problems continued in 1978 when a greater than 

normal snowpack led the district to prepare for fl ooding. Thirty employees constructed 

temporary levees along the Red and its tributaries and gathered pumps, sandbags and 

polyethylene sheeting for the fi ght. The district also set up an offi ce to coordinate with 

local offi cials.15

When fl ooding began in late March and early April 1978, the river reached record water 

levels at Oslo, Minnesota, and approached records at Twin Valley and Hendrum, both 

Minnesota, and at Grand Forks. By the middle of April the water had formed a lake 22 

miles long and 5 miles wide over rural farmlands just north of Grand Forks. “The water 

has been coming up so fast, I don’t have any idea how many roads we’ve got fl ooded,” 

Norman County Sheriff Herman Lovas related. “It’s just running wild.”16 Fortunately, 

the river soon crested, easing the danger, but the damage had been done. U.S. Senator 
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Quentin Burdick (D-North Dakota) believed the devastation “thoroughly justifi e[d]” 

a presidential disaster declaration, and twenty-three counties subsequently received 

disaster assistance.17 Although many farms and ranches suffered from fl ooding, the 

district, using a complicated formula that compared peak fl ood stage/discharge 

data with existing stage/discharge damage curves, claimed that its emergency 

preparations and permanent levees prevented an estimated $40 million in additional 

damages, especially in urban areas. However, the fl ood highlighted the need for 

increased protection in several communities, including Grand Forks and West Fargo 

in North Dakota, and East Grand Forks, Crookston, Halstad, Hendrum and Roseau in 

Minnesota.18

Floodfi ghting

Grand Forks, North Dakota, during the Red River of the North fl ood of 1997. 

(Photos courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
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Before the Corps could take any measures, the basin experienced its worst fl ood of 

the century. Initial forecasts in the spring of 1979 indicated that, although fl ooding 

was possible along the Red River and its tributaries, water levels would not approach 

those of 1978. In fact, the National Weather Service downgraded its forecast in April, 

indicating that, with normal precipitation patterns, only minor fl ooding would occur. 

The situation changed in mid-April when heavy rains fell and snow began melting 

rapidly. In preparation, the St. Paul District established emergency fi eld offi ces at Fargo 

and Grand Forks, constructed new emergency levees, and strengthened old ones. In 

some areas, the water rose too rapidly, and the communities of Warren and Stephen, 

Minnesota, and Grand Forks, Argusville, Bowesmont and Grafton, North Dakota, were 

inundated by the end of April. Water spread for 12 miles just north of Grand Forks, 

topping farmer-constructed dikes and submerging thousands of acres of farmland. By 

the time the water receded, it had reached heights unseen since 1897 – the worst fl ood 

on record – and had caused more than $90 million in damages.19

Ninety district employees labored to ease the disaster’s effects. The Corps estimated 

that workers spent 10,186 man hours fi ghting the fl ood, serving in one of four units: 

materials distribution, construction, reconnaissance and communication. The materials 

distribution group gathered the items necessary for the operation, such as sandbags and 

pumps, and coordinated the rental of other equipment. The construction unit planned 

and designed the required levees and negotiated the requisite construction contracts. 

The reconnaissance team collected fi eld stream gauging data and set high-water 

marks so that it could better record the peak discharges and stages along the river. The 

communications unit installed equipment, such as commercial telephone lines and 

radios, to ensure interaction between the fi eld offi ces and the emergency centers. These 

groups also coordinated efforts with other agencies, including the Minnesota and North 

Dakota National Guards, the Second Coast Guard District, the Air Force, the National 

Weather Service and the U.S. Geological Survey, among others.20

By the end of the fi ght, the district, in partnership with these entities, had assisted 

more than fi fty communities and constructed 33,470 feet of new emergency levee, 

while upgrading an additional 42,640 feet of existing levee. It additionally supplied 

affected areas with 462 rolls of polyethylene sheeting, 104 pumps and nearly 4 million 

sandbags. According to Corps’ calculations, these efforts prevented approximately $40 

million in damages, leading the district to claim that its role “was a key one carried out 

skillfully and tenaciously.” The Corps’ estimate of damage prevention failed to impress 

many residents in the Red River Valley who demanded more permanent fl ood control 

projects. “More than $300 million of damage has been done by fl oods in the last 10 

years,” U.S. Representative Arlan Stangeland (R-Minnesota) declared. “I am tired of 

facing this devastation every year.”21 The Corps acknowledged that some communities, 

such as East Grand Forks, required additional fl ood protection and promised to pursue 

these projects further, especially after Congress held hearings in the summer of 1979 on 

Red River fl ooding problems and solutions.22

Throughout the 1980s, however, the Corps had diffi culty fi nding projects in the area 

with favorable benefi t-cost ratios. When it did, local communities, such as East Grand
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Forks, sometimes balked at paying their share of the cost (see Chapter Four). Because 

there were no major fl oods for most of the decade, the public clamor for projects on 

the Red River subsided, highlighting the obvious connection between disasters and 

fl ood control projects. If fl ooding occurred several years in a row, the public and its 

congressional delegation pleaded for projects. If weather patterns produced no fl ooding 

for an extended period of time, it was diffi cult for the Corps to convince communities of 

potential danger, even if its fi gures showed a signifi cant fl ood potential.23

In the spring of 1989, the relative lull in the Red River Valley ended when ice jams once 

again caused the Red to fl ow out of its banks. The Corps began preparing in March 

after National Weather Service forecasts indicated that minor to moderate fl ooding 

would occur in the Red River Basin. In April, large slabs of ice clogged the river at 

Breckenridge, Minnesota, and Wahpeton, North Dakota, quickly elevating water 

levels to dangerous heights. Before the Corps or the cities could act, water fl owed into 

the streets, pouring into Breckenridge’s sewer system and fl ooding more than three 

hundred houses. “I’ve been here over 20 years and people just can’t believe it,” Butch 

Stollenwerk, a city worker for Breckenridge, related. “They haven’t seen anything like 

this before.” Craig Hinton, a St. Paul District engineer, agreed. “You look at the little 

old Red River during the summer and it’s just a little stream,” he explained. “Now it’s 

something else.”24 The water forced many citizens to evacuate their homes, leaving 

behind empty neighborhoods and mobile home parks. “It gives you a spooky feeling,” 

Gary Ferguson, a resident of Breckenridge, commented. “From what I can see, it’s 

pretty deserted.”25

Although little could be done for Breckenridge and Wahpeton, the St. Paul District 

quickly set up operations in communities downstream. From these bases, the Corps 

constructed emergency levees for Fargo and Grand Forks, as well as for East Grand 

Forks and Moorhead, Minnesota. At the same time, hydrologic teams inspected the 

Red and its tributaries to develop forecasts for the river’s maximum stages. According 

to the district’s After Action Report, sixty-fi ve members of the St. Paul District worked 

in the Red River Basin “during the peak of operations” in the fi rst two weeks of April. 

Fortunately, normal temperatures and little precipitation together diminished the fl ood 

threat, and many of these workers were able to return home after only a few days in 

the fi eld. The staff expended a total of 10,117 man hours, and, as with earlier fl oods, 

cooperated with several different agencies, including the Minnesota and North Dakota 

National Guards, the Second Coast Guard District and the Air Force. Breckenridge and 

Wahpeton experienced serious damage, but few other cities saw drastic fl ooding, and 

rural areas, overwhelmed in previous fl oods, escaped relatively unscathed. In its After 

Action Report, the district estimated its work prevented $25 million in damages to 

twenty communities.26

One reason for the district’s effectiveness was the availability of new technology that 

facilitated communications between emergency operation centers and fi eld workers. 

In the 1970s and 1980s, America experienced a technological boom, especially in 

computing and communications systems.27 By 1989, the Corps was reaping the 

benefi ts of these innovations. During the fl ood fi ght, the Corps used technology not 

available in the 1970s, such as laptop computers, which expedited contract negotiations 
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and reconnaissance reports; facsimile (FAX) machines, which quickly transported 

contracts, situation reports, correspondence and newspaper articles between offi ces; 

and portable radios and beepers.28 “The development of high technology in the last 

decade,” an article in the district’s newsletter explained, “made a signifi cant difference 

in communications and record keeping operations from the fl oods of ‘78 and ‘79.”29

According to one report, this technology would only “expand in the future,” enabling 

the Corps to further “increase the speed and effi ciency of administrative control of 

emergency operations.”30
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For the next few years, the Corps enjoyed a reprieve from serious fl ooding; but in 

the late spring and early summer of 1993, major rainstorms inundated the Midwest, 

overfl owing numerous rivers. Although states such as Iowa bore the brunt of the 

storms, North Dakota and Minnesota also experienced problems. In May, the town of 

Marshall, Minnesota, fl ooded after receiving nearly 10 inches of rain in one day, and 

this was repeated in June. Meanwhile, Valley City, North Dakota, experienced a seveninch rainfall in three hours on July 15. In order to mitigate the resulting fl oods, St. Paul 

District offi cials made a risky but innovative decision: they closed the gates of the Lake 

Ashtabula reservoir a few miles upstream from Valley City, thereby shutting off its 

discharge. The closure meant that water overtopped the reservoir’s gates by six inches, 

exerting a signifi cant amount of pressure on the structure. Despite the risk of collapse, 

the overtopping was necessary because it reduced the amount of water fl owing into 

Valley City, preventing signifi cant damages. Had another large rainstorm passed 

through the region, the district would have had to release the water, causing even 

more fl ooding, but the gamble paid off and the city survived.31 “If we had . . . stayed 

within the absolute technical bands in which we were supposed to work,” District 

Engineer Colonel Richard W. Craig explained, “Valley City would be [completely] 

fl ooded right now.”32

As rainstorm after rainstorm pummeled the Midwest in the summer of 1993, the soil in 

the area became saturated, causing heavy runoff into the streams and rivers feeding the 

Mississippi River. This started a chain reaction of massive fl ooding on the Mississippi, 

especially from the Quad Cities of Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri.33 Throughout the 

summer of 1993, Corps’ personnel fought to keep the river in its banks. Working in 

concert with FEMA, the Coast Guard, National Guard units and the American Red 

Cross, the Corps constructed emergency levees and strengthened existing structures. 

It also used gage readings to develop numerical models of river stage forecasts – a 

diffi cult task because of the wide fl uctuations in water levels caused by levee breaks and 

overtoppings – and supplied sandbags and pumps to local governments. By August 

9, more than fi ve hundred Corps’ employees were involved in the fi ght, including a 

hundred and seventy-one from the St. Paul District. In the district itself, most of the 

damage occurred when the Minnesota River spilled into towns and farmland before 

reaching the Mississippi River. Although the Mississippi reached an all-time summer 

record of 19.2 feet at St. Paul, fl ood control structures in the Twin Cities prevented 

major destruction. Unfortunately, fl ood control structures in other regions, especially 

privately constructed agricultural levees, were not as strong and water broke through 

in numerous places outside of the St. Paul District’s jurisdiction. By the time the water 

receded throughout the whole Mississippi Valley, the Great Flood of 1993 had killed 

fi fty-two people, injured 2,300, left 56,000 homeless and caused more than $10 billion in 

property damage.34

Although the fl ooding sparked a national debate about the effects of the Corps’ levees 

on the Mississippi River (see Chapter Three), the major lessons learned by the St. Paul 

District focused more on its fl ood response efforts. An After Action Report explained 

that accessible basin maps and project locality maps would facilitate staff discussions 

of future operations. It also called for blackboards, fl ip charts or other ways to display 

current hydrological data, location of district personnel, summaries of pertinent events 
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and important telephone numbers. Fighting the fl ood had demonstrated that cellular 

telephones were an effective way of communicating during some emergency operations 

and district offi cials advocated their future use. Finally, the fl ood had convinced the 

district that if local governments would prepare emergency situation guidelines, 

including emergency notifi cation contacts, inventories of supplies and maps of the 

region, damage could be reduced.35

Map: Red River of the North Basin in North Dakota and Minnesota. (Map courtesy 

of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
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The lessons of the 1993 fl ood served the St. Paul District well four years later when the 

Red River of the North inundated Grand Forks, East Grand Forks and several other 

communities. During the winter of 1996 and 1997, six to eight feet of snow accumulated 

in the Red River basin, breaking records in several places. In February 1997, the 

huge snowpack caused the National Weather Service to issue a forecast of major 

fl ooding, and the Corps began to prepare for the fi ght. In March, the district initiated 

approximately twenty-two advance measures in several communities, spending $5 

million. When warm temperatures at the end of March hastened melting, swelling 

the river and its tributaries, District Engineer Colonel J. M. Wonsik authorized the 

beginning of emergency operations.36

During the fi rst week of April, the Corps established emergency operation centers in 

Fargo and East Grand Forks and worked from these locations throughout the month. 

Based on a fl ood stage forecast of 49 feet at Grand Forks, the district constructed 

emergency levees around the city to a stage of 52 feet and transported sandbags to the 

area. Then, on April 6, Blizzard Hannah, one of the worst snowstorms in fi fty years, hit 

the region, causing whiteout conditions, heavy wind gusts and wind chill temperatures 

of forty below zero. The storm dropped an additional 3.5 inches of precipitation on the 

already-saturated ground.37

After the blizzard ended, temperatures escalated 

again, producing vast quantities of meltwater. 

During the third week of April, the Red rose to 54 

feet, nearly 40 feet above its normal level. Water 

spilled over the emergency levees, pouring water 

into the downtown areas of both Grand Forks and 

East Grand Forks and forcing massive evacuations. 

Not long after, broken gas pipes ignited a fi re 

in downtown Grand Forks. Because the water 

prevented fi re fi ghters from reaching the blaze, 

eleven buildings burned. In the words of Lisa 

Hedin, project manager of the Grand Forks/East 

Grand Forks Flood Control Project, the situation 

“was like a bad Sunday night movie.” By the time 

the river crested at 54.2 feet, signifi cant damage 

had occurred. On April 22, President Bill Clinton 

visited the two communities, declaring them 

disaster areas and commented that the people of 

America “could never imagine facing a fl ood and 

a fi re and a blizzard all at the same time.”38 By the 

time the water receded, eight people died, tens 

of thousands had fl ed their homes and property 

destruction approached $2 billion.39

But Grand Forks and East Grand Forks were not 

the only communities waging battles in 1997. 

Breckenridge, Minnesota; Fargo, North Dakota; 

Cleanup: Corps’ contractors 

cleanup the aftermath left in 

Grand Forks, North Dakota, by 

the devastating Red River of 

the North fl ooding in 1997. (Photo 

courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
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and Ada, Minnesota, also experienced fl ooding, as did areas along the Minnesota 

River and the Mississippi River. More than a hundred district employees provided 

emergency services to more than forty communities in the spring of 1997, winning 

the fi ght in all but four of them – Grand Forks, East Grand Forks, Breckenridge and 

Ada. In total, the district estimated it spent $14.8 million and prevented an additional 

$100 million in damages by supplying state and local governments with 4.5 million 

sandbags and 235 pumps. “Every fl ood executive offi cer hopes that during their career 

they won’t have to deal with any fl ood, much less a fl ood of this magnitude,” Robert 

Post, chief of engineering, commented. “Thank God we were prepared and trained for 

this emergency.”40

Flood fi ghts continued in the twenty-fi rst century, when the Red River and the 

Minnesota River overfl owed again in 2001. Likewise, after heavy rainstorms in the 

summer of 2002, the district faced fl ooding from the Wild Rice River at Ada, Minnesota; 

the Roseau River at Roseau, Minnesota; and Lake of the Woods at Warroad, Minnesota. 

As with other fl oods, the district aided local communities with levee construction, water 

stage predictions and cleanup efforts. At Lake of the Woods, the district employed a 

new fl ood fi ghting device: geo-cells, which were plastic grid systems fi lled with dirt 

and stacked four feet-by-four-feet. The Corps worried about their cost, but because 

they were recyclable for up to six fl oods, offi cials hoped they would prove to be costeffective. Using such technology, the Corps protected streets, residences and businesses 

in the three communities. “The entire district supported the fl ood fi ght,” David 

Christenson, chief of the Readiness Branch, stated, “and they did it very effectively.” 

A note from a family in Roseau concurred with this assessment, expressing “a sincere 

thank you” to Corps Employees for “a job well done.”41

Drought

Although fl ooding was the major natural disaster the St. Paul District routinely faced, 

other emergencies occurred as well. In 1977, Congress amended Public Law 84-99 to 

mandate the Corps provide services in times of drought, such as offering emergency 

supplies of water and constructing wells in affected areas.42 To fulfi ll this mandate, 

the Corps developed several plans of action. If the National Weather Service issued a 

drought alert forecast in the vicinity of the Upper Mississippi River, for example, the 

Corps could use its locks and dams to conserve water in its reservoirs, and then release 

the stored fl ow at later dates. If the drought became severe, the Corps could restrict the 

number of lockages on the Mississippi in order to preserve pool elevations. It could 

also conduct emergency dredging operations if water levels became too low. When 

local, county and state resources became exhausted, the Corps could supply emergency 

drinking water assistance by providing water tank trucks, bottled water, temporary 

fi ltration, mobile purifi cation units, temporary pipelines and well-drilling equipment. 

In such instances, the Corps would cover the transportation costs while the community 

would pay for the water charges.43

The St. Paul District used these plans in 1976 when severe drought conditions affected 

the Midwest. When the Mississippi River’s water fl ow dipped to 532 cfs between 

Minneapolis and St. Paul, District Engineer Colonel Forrest Gay and Minnesota Governor 
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Wendell Anderson called an emergency news conference to ask Minnesotans to 

conserve as much water as possible. Within two weeks, residents of the Twin Cities 

had curtailed their water consumption by fi fty percent. The district also restricted the 

number of recreational lockages at St. Anthony Falls and Lock and Dam 1, thereby 

helping navigation interests on the river. Because of these actions, Minnesotans 

successfully outlasted the drought until rain fi nally fell.44

Another drought occurred in 1988 when water fl ows on the Mississippi again declined 

dramatically. During an unusually dry June, water levels at Anoka, Minnesota 

(upstream of the Twin Cities), dropped to 1,280 cfs, dramatically lower than the normal 

10,000 cfs average for June. Throughout the month, Ed Eaton, chief of the district’s 

water control unit, met with representatives from the Minnesota DNR in a series of 

technical drought meetings. At the same time, the district’s emergency management 

team prepared a situation report on the conditions in North Dakota, Minnesota and 

Wisconsin. When water levels continued to fall, the district advised recreational boaters 

that they could face either locking delays or restrictions on the Mississippi, and the state 

of Minnesota asked its residents to conserve water.45

Conditions worsened in July when no rain was forthcoming. The Minnesota DNR 

informed the Corps on July 6 that if water levels dipped below 1,000 cfs for three 

consecutive days, it would request the district release water from its headwaters 

reservoirs. During the last week of July, three consecutive days of sub-1,000 cfs fl ows 

occurred. In response, Governor Rudy Perpich asked the Corps to release 300 cfs of 

water from the Lake Winnibigoshish Reservoir. The Leech Lake Band of the Chippewa 

Indians protested the plan, concerned that a release of water at that time would have 

adverse impacts on its wild rice and fi shing operations later. At the same time, St. Paul 

District offi cials, including Colonel Roger Baldwin, who had only recently assumed 

the position of district engineer, did not believe the release would materially affect the 

low water levels. But because there was no conclusive data to support these claims, the 

district was reluctant to reject the request. While district offi cials considered the best 

course to follow, the river’s fl ow dropped to 842 cfs at Anoka on July 30. Fortunately, 

only three days later, rain began falling. Using the rainfall as justifi cation, Baldwin 

informed Perpich, the Leech Lake Band and Minnesota’s congressional delegation that 

he would not release water from Winnibigoshish. For the next two weeks, intermittent 

heavy rains soaked the area, and, by August 16, the Mississippi’s fl ow was at 2,690 cfs, 

convincing state offi cials to rescind water conservation requirements.46

Although the August rains meant that no emergency water supplies were necessary 

in Minnesota, other communities were not as fortunate. In North Dakota, two small 

towns, Pembina and Edmore, had inadequate supplies after the Pembina River’s fl ow 

dropped to nearly zero. In need of aid, the cities turned to the St. Paul District. In 

September, the district installed a 1,100-foot temporary pipeline connecting Pembina’s 

water treatment plant with the Red River of the North. In October, Assistant Secretary 

of the Army for Civil Works Robert Page declared Edmore drought distressed after the 

city’s main reservoir dried up. When Edmore offi cials found an old reservoir containing 

an estimated 4.5 million gallons of water, they called on the St. Paul District for help. 

The district installed a temporary pipeline and pump that drained the reservoir in 
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November. At the same time, district employees, in cooperation with the Omaha 

District, investigated more than ninety individual water supply requests from farmers 

in North Dakota and recommended that the North Central Division approve ten of 

them. The authorization was never given, but when autumn rains began falling, the 

worst of the drought was over.47

These episodes in 1988 taught the Corps several important lessons about drought in 

general. For one thing, conditions on the Mississippi River demonstrated the necessity 

of revising the district’s thirty-year-old low fl ow headwaters plan and drought 

contingency strategy. In the words of Gary Nelson, a Corps’ sociologist, “The drought 

told the staff we had severe information defi cits.”48 The St. Paul District immediately 

began working with state and federal agencies to correct these plans; and by 1991, 

according to Colonel Roger Baldwin, employees had a better understanding of “the 

physical nature of the basin” and “the physical nature of the water fl ows.” This enabled 

the Corps to produce a low fl ow headwaters plan that was “far superior” to the 

previous one.49 The drought also allowed the Corps to conduct water quality studies on 

the Mississippi River, thereby gaining information on how drought affected the river’s 

basic characteristics and how dam operations could improve water quality. The Corps’ 

Waterways Experiment Station, located in Vicksburg, Mississippi, assisted the St. Paul 

District with this study, taking samples from Pools 1 and 2 on the river and testing them 

for dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity and temperature.50 Finally, the Corps developed 

a drought management team, similar to its fl ood management team, and studied Indian 

water rights. As Baldwin concluded, “a lot of education took place among all agencies 

and all players.”51

Lake Winnibigoshish 

Reservoir at 

the center of 

controversy during 

the drought of 1998. 

(Photo courtesy of St. 

Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
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Disasters Outside the St. Paul District

For the most part, the St. Paul District’s emergency operations focused on disasters 

within its own boundaries. However, in accordance with the Stafford Act of 1988, the 

district responded to emergencies in other regions as well. On October 17, 1989, for 

example, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake known as Loma Prieta rocked the San Francisco 

Bay area in California. The quake, which was the worst one in the United States since 

1906, killed sixty-two people, injured 3,775, left 12 thousand homeless, knocked out San 

Francisco’s power and caused $7.1 billion in damages. President George Bush declared 

San Francisco and other communities a major disaster area, and on October 20, FEMA 

requested Corps’ assistance in conducting residential inspections to determine whether 

people were eligible for FEMA’s individual assistance program. Normally, FEMA 

contracted out such inspection work, but because Hurricane Hugo, which had occurred 

the year before, had depleted the supply of available contractors, FEMA turned to the 

Corps for help, asking for three hundred people.52

On October 21, Corps’ headquarters in Washington, 

D.C., transmitted FEMA’s request, asking that 

divisions send only their best employees since they 

would be dealing directly with the public. Two days 

later, ten volunteers from the St. Paul District arrived 

in Sacramento, California, along with approximately 

three hundred other Corps’ personnel. Two of the 

district’s representatives were Clyde Giaquinto and 

Arne Thompson, who spent their time inspecting 

houses in Redwood City and Oakland, California. 

One of the problems they faced included people 

fraudulently claiming the earthquake had damaged 

structures actually destroyed by other means. At 

one address, for example, Giaquinto found “nothing 

more than a chain link fence in front of a vacant lot.” 

The applicant claimed the earthquake had destroyed 

his house, but after interviewing a neighbor and a 

postal worker, Giaquinto discovered the house had 

been torn down months before. Although damage 

claims investigations were not as glamorous as other 

engineering jobs, employees such as Thompson and 

Giaquinto understood that such work ensured that 

assistance only went to those truly in need. Thompson 

insisted he was glad to help in the situation, especially 

because the Corps’ efforts refuted general criticism 

levied against federal disaster relief in the aftermath 

of Hurricane Hugo. Unlike those efforts, the Loma 

Prieta earthquake response was, according to 

Thompson, “excellent.”53

Rebuilding: The St. Paul 

District provides emergency 

operations support around 

the world. Here, Mark 

Koenig, and General 

Robert B. Flowers, Chief 

of Engineers, survey the 

area at Pol-E-Charkhi Army 

Base in Afghanistan, 2003.

(Photo by Captain Taylor Hwong, 

courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps 

of Engineers)
Emergency Operations and Recovery

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Other relief assignments allowed the Corps to focus more on engineering. At the 

end of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, several members of the St. Paul District traveled 

to Kuwait to help the nation rebuild Kuwait City after its invasion and short-lived 

occupation by Iraq. The Corps had the responsibility of performing damage surveys, 

participating in emergency and long-term recovery efforts in public works, utilities, 

transportation and coordinating the reconstruction of key government and defense 

facilities. More than 2,000 Corps’ members volunteered for the response, including 

nineteen from the St. Paul District. James Ruyak, who served as chief of construction 

for the district from 1973 to 1979, worked as the resident engineer at the Ali Al-Salem 

Air Base. He surveyed damage, planned construction projects and mediated between 

the construction contractor and Kuwait’s Air Force. “The city’s entire infrastructure 

[was] pretty well destroyed,” Ruyak observed, but the Corps’ emergency response 

experience and its resources helped to restore much of Kuwait’s water, power and 

defense networks.54

In 1992, four representatives from the St. Paul District aided the city of Chicago in 

its recovery from the “Great Chicago Flood.” On April 13, 1992, a piling driven into 

the bottom of the Chicago River caused a small leak in a network of tunnels 50 feet 

underneath downtown Chicago. Water spread throughout the system, fl ooding 

basements in a number of businesses, causing power outages, closing subway routes 

and forcing thousands to evacuate. Initially, the Corps supplied only technical 

assistance to the city; but when the city could not stop the leak, FEMA authorized 

the Corps to assume command. Led by the Chicago District, the Corps set up three 

emergency operation centers around the city to coordinate repair and water removal. 

Lieutenant Colonel Mike Mahoney, deputy district engineer for the St. Paul District, 

supervised the effort to pump water from the tunnels, while Captain Mark Miller 

of the district’s Construction Branch served as chief of the Corps’ night shift team at 

the interagency command center. Dan Reinartz, from St. Paul’s hydraulics section, 

examined water conditions during the pumping operations, while Ken Gardner, chief of 

the district’s Public Affairs Offi ce, aided in media response.55

In August 1992, district employees were sent to southern Florida after Hurricane 

Andrew, a Category Four hurricane, caused $20 billion in property damage and left 

160,000 people homeless. To facilitate the cleanup effort, FEMA assigned two major 

tasks to the Corps: providing temporary roofi ng to residences and collecting storm 

debris. In response, more than 1,150 Corps’ personnel went to South Florida, including 

ten from the St. Paul District. Upon completion of its duties, the Corps had covered 

43 thousand damaged roofs and extracted 13 million cubic feet of storm debris. “It is 

amazing how the Corps of Engineers can organize,” Greg Porycky, an engineering 

technician from the district, remarked.56

The Corps also played a signifi cant role in disaster response after terrorists destroyed 

New York’s World Trade Center towers and part of the Pentagon on September 11, 

2001. At the time of the attacks, District Engineer Colonel Robert L. Ball and Deputy of 

Programs and Project Management Judith L. DesHarnais were conducting their annual 

congressional visit with U.S. Representative Ron Kind (D-Wisconsin). Although neither 

Ball nor DesHarnais were injured in the attack, the St. Paul District became involved in
Emergency Operations and Recovery

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214

another way. Michelle M. Shafer of the St. Paul District’s Operations Branch, who was 

working at Corps’ headquarters in preparation for the upcoming hurricane season, 

was immediately mobilized along with two other employees as an Emergency Support 

Team for FEMA, and they spent the next nine days coordinating missions between 

FEMA and the Corps. The Emergency Support Team sent structural safety assessment 

teams, debris subject-matter experts and Emergency Support Function leaders to New 

York City and Washington, D.C., and also responded to telephone calls offering help. “I 

will never forget the numerous strangers, recognizing the Corps’ castle and emergency 

operations shirt I was wearing, that approached me just wanting to say thanks,” Shafer 

recounted. “It was probably one of my proudest experiences as a Corps’ employee.”57

Conclusion

Whether in the district or outside, St. Paul personnel assisted in emergency operations. 

Through the leadership and coordination of the Readiness Branch, the district 

responded to a variety of disasters, including fl oods, earthquakes and drought. This 

effort comprised several tasks. In some cases, the Corps provided technical assistance, 

equipment and coordination of operations; in other instances, the Corps helped in 

cleanup efforts and structure inspection. Each disaster gave the Corps an opportunity 

to refi ne its operations, making it more effi cient the next year. Ironically, the suffering 

of others gave the Corps some of its most positive publicity as it assisted those in need. 

As Colonel William Badger, district engineer from 1979 to 1982, stated, emergency 

operations gave the Corps “the highest marks, the highest visibility. That’s where we 

help people the most.”58 Colonel J. M. Wonsik, district engineer from 1995 to 1998, 

expressed it in a different way: natural disasters provided circumstances where the 

Corps “had no choice but to excel.” Because “each and every member of the district 

accepted that challenge personally,” the St. Paul District displayed its ability to combat 

emergencies effectively throughout the last quarter of the twentieth century.59

Chapter Eight Endnotes

 1 “District Puts in Herculean Effort Against the Flood of ‘97,” Crosscurrents 20 

(Summer 1997): p. 7.

 2 Act of 28 June 1955 (69 Stat. 186).

 3 Quotation in Public Law 84-99, Emergency Flood Control Work, copy at 

<http://www.orn. usace.army.mil/pmgt/customer/Water%20Supply/pl84-99.

htm> (10 May 2003); see also Act of 7 March 1974 (88 Stat. 12); Act of 20 June 1977 (91 

Stat. 233); U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Fact Sheet: Emergency 

Operations Overview,” 23 March 1999, document provided by David S. Christenson. 

Christenson succeeded Ben A. Wopat as Chief of the Readiness Branch in 1986.

 4 The Disaster Relief Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 143).
Emergency Operations and Recovery

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215

 5 Federal Emergency Management Agency, “FEMA History,” <http://www.

fema.gov/about/history.shtm> (6 June 2003). FEMA was not the fi rst emergency offi ce; 

the Offi ce of Emergency Preparedness predated the creation of FEMA.

 6 Act of 23 November 1988 (102 Stat. 4689).

 7 Saundra K. Schneider, “FEMA, Federalism, Hugo, and ‘Frisco,” Publius: The 

Journal of Federalism 20 (Summer 1990): p. 99; Senate, Disaster Relief Act Amendments 

of 1988, 100th Cong., 2d sess., 1988, S. Rept. 100-524, p. 4. Schneider estimated that it 

usually took a governor fourteen days to request federal aid and the president ten days 

to approve or reject it, although the response time could be accelerated if urgency and 

need required it. 

 8 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “Emergency Employment of Army and Other 

Resources: Civil Emergency Management Program,” Engineer Regulation [ER] No. 

500- 1-1, 30 September 2001, p. 2-1 (each section has its own page numbers), <http://

www.usace.army.mil/publications/eng-regs/er500-1-1/entire.pdf> (6 June 2003); 

Federal Emergency Management Agency, “FEMA History,” <http://www.fema.gov/

about/history.shtm> (6 June 2003); Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal 

Response Plan, 9230.1-PL (Washington, D.C.: Federal Emergency Management Agency, 

1999), pp. ESF #3-1 – ESF #3-8.

 9 See U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “Emergency Employment of Army and 

Other Resources: Civil Emergency Management Program,” pp. 4-6 – 4-7, Glossary-10; 

Public Law 84-99, Emergency Flood Control Work; Act of 23 November 1988 (102 

Stat. 4689); St. Paul District, “Fact Sheet: Emergency Operations Overview”; Federal 

Emergency Management Agency, Federal Response Plan, pp. 1-2; David S. Christenson, 

personal communication with the authors, 25 June 2003.

 10 St. Paul District, “Fact Sheet: Emergency Operations Overview.”

 11 David S. Christenson, personal communication with the authors, 7 March 

2003. Before the 1990s, the Readiness Branch was its own division under the District 

Engineer. Christenson described the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) as “an 

offi ce area with work stations for EOC staff that provide support to fi eld operations. 

It includes a briefi ng room, operations center, storage area and project team area. . . It 

provides computers [and] communications separate from the personnel normal work 

area. It is the central location for district command staff to manage the emergency 

response.” In times of fl ooding the Corps also set up fi eld EOCs to perform similar 

functions. Christenson, personal communication with the authors, 25 June 2003.

 12 David S. Christenson interview by John O. Anfi nson, St. Paul, MN, 23 

November 1993, p. 9, Oral History File, St. Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota; “Flood 

Preparations Start Early at the District,” Crosscurrents 25 (March 2002): p. 1; “District 

Readies for Spring with Flood Control Exercise,” Crosscurrents 15 (May 1992): p. 6.

 13 U.S. Army Engineer District St. Paul, Red River of the North and Souris River Post 

Flood Report: 1979 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Offi ce, 1979), pp. 2-6 – 2-12.
Emergency Operations and Recovery

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216

 14 Raymond H. Merritt, Creativity, Confl ict and Controversy: A History of the St. 

Paul District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing 

Offi ce, 1979), pp. 348-349; United States Army Engineer District St. Paul, Red River of 

the North Post Flood Report: 1978 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Offi ce, 

1978), p. 5.

 15 United States Army Engineer District St. Paul, Red River of the North Post Flood 

Report: 1978, pp. 38-39.

 16 “Some Homes Abandoned as Rural Flooding Spreads,” Minneapolis Tribune, 8 

April 1978.

 17 “Crest Moves North,” Minot Daily News, 14 April 1978. Burdick’s remark 

highlighted a growing belief in America that people were entitled to federal assistance 

in times of natural disasters even if they lived in areas at high risk. For more 

information on this subject, see Richard Reeves, “Hurricane$, Earthquake$, and Flood$: 

If People Want to Build Their Houses in Dangerous Places, Why Should the Rest of Us 

Pay When Disaster Strikes?” The Washington Monthly 26 (April 1994): 10-13.

 18 United States Army Engineer District St. Paul, Red River of the North Post Flood 

Report: 1978, pp. 13, 51, 59-64; “Flood Danger Eases at Grand Forks,” The Forum (Fargo, 

ND) 14 April 1978; “20-Mile Long Valley Sea,” Grand Forks Herald, 14 April 1978. 

 19 United States Army Engineer District St. Paul, Red River of the North and Souris 

River Post Flood Report: 1979, pp. 3-1 – 3-6, 5-1; “1979 Red River Flood Set Records for 

Damage,” Minneapolis Tribune, 10 May 1979; “Red River Flood Threat is Decreased,” 

Grand Forks Herald, 27 March 1979.

 20 United States Army Engineer District St. Paul, Red River of the North and Souris 

River Post Flood Report: 1979, pp. 3-4 – 3-6, 3-22, 4-1 – 4-2.

 21 “Staying in Touch! Congressman Arlan Stangeland,” Benson Monitor, n.d., 

clipping in File 870 Red River of the North Flood 1979, Box 3858, SPDAR.

 22 Quotation in Crosscurrents 2 (May 1979): p. 3; see also United States Army 

Engineer District St. Paul, Red River of the North and Souris River Post Flood Report: 1979, 

pp. 3-9 – 3-10, 5-7 – 5-8, 7-5; U.S., Congress, House, Committee on Public Works and 

Transportation, Oversight and Review Subcommittee, Flooding of the Red River of the 

North and Its Tributaries: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Review of 

the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, 96th Cong., 1st sess., 1979, pp. 1-2.

 23 For an example of this, see Edward McNally interview by Matthew Godfrey, 

St. Paul, MN, 22 October 2002, p. 5.

 24 Quotations in “Three Rivers Flood Breckenridge: Red River Hits Record 

Level, Hasn’t Peaked,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 5 April 1989; see also “Worst Flood Ever: 

Wahpeton-Breckenridge May Top Record by 2 Feet,” The Forum, 5 April 1989.

 25 “Perpich Calls Up Guard in Breckenridge Flood,” Star Tribune, 6 April 1989.
Emergency Operations and Recovery

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217

 26 Quotation in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Spring Flood 89: 

Red River of the North After Action Report (St. Paul, MN: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

St. Paul District, 1989), pp. 3-1 – 3-4, 4-1, 5-1; see also “Red River of the North Flood of 

‘89,” Crosscurrents 12 (May 1989): p. 1; “Drayton is Ready for Red’s Crest,” Grand Forks 

Herald, 19 April 1989.

 27 John M. Murrin, Paul E. Johnson, James M. McPherson, et al., Liberty Equality 

Power: A History of the American People. Volume II: Since 1863, concise 2d ed. (Fort Worth, 

TX.: Harcourt College Publishers, 2001), p. 821.

 28 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Spring Flood 89: Red River of the 

North After Action Report, p. 5-3.

 29 “Floodfi ght Snapshots,” Crosscurrents 12 (May 1989): p. 4.

 30 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Spring Flood 89: Red River of the 

North After Action Report, p. 5-3.

 31 Tim Bertschi interview by John O. Anfi nson, St. Paul, MN, 1993, pp. 1, 3-4; 

Christenson Interview, pp. 1-2.

 32 Colonel Richard W. Craig interview by John O. Anfi nson, St. Paul, MN, 20 

July 1993, p. 15.

 33 Lt. Col. Gary M. Koenig, “The Great Flood of 1993,” File 1993 Flood, Cultural 

Resource Management Files, St. Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota; David McConnell, 

“Mississippi River Flood: 1993,” <http://enterprise.cc.uakron.edu/geology/natscigeo/

Lectures/streams/Miss_Flood.pdf> (6 June 2003).

 34 Michael C. Robinson, “Nightmare in the Heartland: The Great Midwest Flood 

of 1993,” APWA (American Public Works Association) Reporter 60 (September 1993): pp. 

6-7; “1993 Reviewed,” Crosscurrents 17 (January 1994): p. 4; Koenig, “The Great Flood of 

1993”; David Tenenbaum, “Rethinking the River,” Nature Conservancy 44 (July/August 

1994): p. 11.

 35 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, After Action Report: Summer 

1993 Flooding in the Upper Mississippi Basin and Red River of the North Basin (St. Paul, MN: 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, 1993), pp. 22-23.

 36 “District Puts in Herculean Effort Against the Flood of ‘97,” p. 2; U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, After Action Report: Spring 1997 Flood in the Red 

River of the North Basin, Minnesota River Basin and Mississippi River Basin (St. Paul, MN: 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, 1997), pp. 4-5; Congressional Record, 

105th Cong., 1st sess., 24 April 1997, p. H1866, <http://80-web.lexisnexis. com.weblib.

lib.umt.edu:2048/congcomp/document?_m =cfec99d7fffd8c93d0d4c2edf6534444&_

docnum=12&wchp=dGLbVzz-lSlAA&_md5= b90242eb6e5e744703d50b29ff1e2954> (6 

June 2003). According to Major General Russell L. Fuhrman, Deputy Chief of Engineers 

and Deputy Commanding General of the Corps the district’s preparations were some of 

the best advance measure work that the Corps had ever performed.
Emergency Operations and Recovery

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218

 37 “District Puts in Herculean Effort Against the Flood of ‘97,” p. 6; U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, After Action Report: Spring 1997 Flood in the Red 

River of the North Basin, pp. 5-13.

 38 “Transcript of Clinton Remarks April 22 in Briefi ng on Flood Damage by 

Local Offi cials,” U.S. Newswire (23 April 1997), <http://80-infoweb.newsbank.com.

weblib.lib.umt.edu:2048/iw-search/we> (6 June 2003).

 39 Quotation in “District Puts in Herculean Effort Against the Flood of ‘97,” p. 6; 

“After Action Report: Spring 1997 Flood in the Red River of the North Basin,” pp. 5-13.

 40 Quotation in “District Puts in Herculean Effort Against the Flood of ‘97,” p. 7; 

see also After Action Report: Spring 1997 Flood in the Red River of the North Basin, pp. 14-17; 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, “Flood of 1997,” <http://www.mvp.

usace.army.mil/disaster_response/default.asp?pageid=61> (6 June 2003).

 41 Quotations in “District Supports Flood Fight in Northwestern Minnesota,” 

Crosscurrents 25 (September 2002): pp. 3-10; see also U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

St. Paul District, Spring 2001 Flood in the Red River of the North, Minnesota River and 

Mississippi River Basins: After Action Report (St. Paul, MN: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

St. Paul District, 2001).

 42 Act of 20 June 1977 (91 Stat. 233).

 43 “The Corps and Drought: What Can Be Done,” Crosscurrents 4 (April 1981): 

pp. 1-2. 

 44 “The Corps and Drought,” p. 2; Raymond Merritt, “New Directions: 

Transitions in the St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers, 1976-1982,” unpublished 

manuscript, St. Paul District, pp. 3-4.

 45 “The Drought of 1988: A Chronology,” Crosscurrents 11 (September/October 

1988): p. 4.

 46 “The Drought of 1988,” p. 5; Colonel Roger L. Baldwin interview by John O. 

Anfi nson, St. Paul, MN, 1 July 1991, p. 9; “Annual Historical Report for 1988: St. Paul 

District,” n.p., File 870 Annual Historical Report (90), Box 1560, SPDAR.

 47 “Two Emergency Water Projects Completed,” Crosscurrents 12 (January 1989): 

p. 3; “Annual Historical Report for 1988: St. Paul District,” n.p.

 48 Quoted in “Drought of ‘88 Offers Lessons for Minnesota of ‘89 and Beyond,” 

Star Tribune, 26 April 1989.

 49 Quotation in Baldwin Interview, p. 9; see also “Annual Historical Report for 

1988: St. Paul District,” n.p.

 50 “Drought Provided Opportunity for Water Quality Study,” Crosscurrents 12 

(April 1989): p. 3.
Emergency Operations and Recovery

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219

 51 Baldwin Interview, p. 9; see also “Drought of ‘88 Offers Lessons for Minnesota 

of ‘89 and Beyond.”

 52 Schneider, “FEMA, Federalism, Hugo, and ‘Frisco,” p. 109; Janet A. 

McDonnell, Response to the Loma Prieta Earthquake (Fort Belvoir, Virginia: U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, 1993), pp. 27-28.

 53 Quotations in “Earthquake Team Returns to District,” Crosscurrents 12 

(December 1989): pp. 4-5; see also “Earthquake Update: Corps Responds with Pride and 

Professionalism,” Crosscurrents 12 (November 1989): p. 12. 

 54 Quotation in “Minnesota Engineer Among Those Who Volunteered to Rebuild 

Kuwait,” St. Paul Pioneer Press, 3 March 1991; see also Janet A. McDonnell, After Desert 

Storm: The U.S. Army and the Reconstruction of Kuwait (Washington, D.C.: Department of 

the Army, 1999), pp. 37-39, 210-211.

 55 “Great Chicago Flood: St. Paul District Helps Plug Subterranean Flood,” 

Crosscurrents 15 (June 1992): pp. 1-2.

 56 “Ten from St. Paul District Work Hurricane Andrew Relief Duty,” 

Crosscurrents 16 (January 1993): pp. 1, 3.

 57 “Shafer Assists FEMA on Pentagon, NYC Recovery,” Crosscurrents 24 

(October 2001): pp. 3, 8; “St. Paul District, Congressional Visits by Colonel Ball and 

Judy DesHarnais, 10-11 September 2001,” File Record of Congressional Visits, St. Paul 

District, St. Paul, Minnesota.

 58 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Offi ce of the Chief of Engineers, Engineer 

Profi les: The District Engineer, Interviews with Colonel William W. Badger, by Frank N. 

Schubert (Washington, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1983), p. 71.

 59 Colonel J.M. Wonsik interview by John O. Anfi nson, St. Paul, MN, 20 January 

1998, p. 8, Oral History File, St. Paul District, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Native American relations: Swamp Creek fl ows just 

north of the formerly proposed Crandon Mine site 

into the Mole Lake Indian Reservation where the 

tribe harvests wild rice from Rice Lake. (Photo by Jon 

Ahlness, courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
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221

During the past quarter century, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

maintained its traditional close relationship to Congress. At the same 

time, it developed stronger relationships to state, local and Indian 

tribal governments. The Corps also cultivated stronger partnerships 

with other federal agencies, such as when it responded to the U.S. 

Fish and Wildlife Service on endangered species issues, or cooperated 

with the Environmental Protection Agency on regulatory matters or provided disaster 

relief under the auspices of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In step with 

the rest of the Corps’ organization, the St. Paul District devoted increasing effort to 

developing and sustaining myriad relationships with other federal agencies, state and 

local governments and nongovernment organizations. This development refl ected the 

growing complexity of the Corps’ mission in the environmental era as well as new 

realities associated with government reform.

Relationship with Congress

Congress traditionally took a close interest in the Corps of Engineers, particularly in 

the civil works program, which provided a prize opportunity for federal spending 

in each congressional member’s home state. In a practice known as “logrolling,” 

congressmen refrained from criticizing civil works projects in another member’s 

state in the expectation that the member would return the favor. In this way, the civil 

works program became a favorite arena for so-called “pork barrel politics” and the 

Corps became beholden to Congress. Beginning with President Carter and continuing 

through the Reagan, Bush and Clinton Administrations, the chief executives sought to 

cut useless “pork” or undesirable projects out of the civil works program and to wean 

the Corps from its close relationship to Congress. This power struggle affected the 

Corps primarily at the headquarters level and above – especially in the Offi ce of the 

9External Relationships
External Relationships

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222

Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works). At the district level, the Corps continued 

to communicate frequently with members of Congress who represented the respective 

states. In the St. Paul District, the district engineer communicated primarily with 

senators and congressmen from Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. Although 

Congress’s relationship to the Corps in the last quarter century was highly contested at 

the national level, the relationship of local congressmen to the St. Paul District in this 

era might be better characterized as business as usual.

Local congressmen communicated directly 

with the district engineer. The local point of 

contact was crucial in times of disaster relief, 

such as during the Midwest fl oods of 1993. 

Congressmen also took the concerns of their 

constituents directly to the St. Paul District 

offi ce, as when a Section 404 permit application 

became controversial or a feasibility study hung 

in the balance. At no time was the relationship 

of Congress to the district offi ce more apparent 

than in the 1990s when the Corps’ reorganization 

plan called for elimination of the St. Paul District. 

Senators Paul Wellstone (D-Minnesota) and 

Dave Durenberger (R-Minnesota) joined eighteen 

other senators in protesting the plan. Wellstone 

and Representative Bruce Vento (D-Minnesota) 

visited the St. Paul District offi ce and reassured 

Corps’ employees, saying that they were doing 

all they could to block the Administration’s 

reorganization plan or to develop an alternative 

plan. This meeting occurred in the cafeteria of 

the St. Paul Post Offi ce and was attended by 

most of the district offi ce’s 440 employees.1

Once each year, the district engineer visited 

members of Congress on Capitol Hill to inform 

them of the Corps’ various activities in their 

states and congressional districts. Typically the deputy for planning, program and 

project management or chief of planning accompanied the district engineer, and prior 

to making the rounds in the Capitol these two offi cials would meet with their superiors 

at Corps’ headquarters and the Offi ce of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil 

Works). Then, they proceeded to Capitol Hill, where they might get appointments 

with fi ve or six senators and a dozen or more representatives. Sometimes they met 

with a congressional staff assistant but more often they spoke directly with a senator 

or congressman. They highlighted what was of most interest to each member – civil 

works projects, feasibility studies, the environmental management program, the 

Section 404 program – and they left briefi ng papers. The St. Paul District accomplished 

these congressional visits on a yearly basis in order to keep senators and congressmen 

informed of new developments and to establish or renew personal relationships. Since 

Congressional Visits: Deputy for 

Planning, Programs and Project 

Management Judy DesHarnais; 

Congressman Earl Pomeroy 

(D-North Dakota); District 

Engineer Colonel Robert L. Ball; 

and A.J. Wojciak, legislative 

assistant, on the steps of the 

Capital, in March 2003. (Photo 

by Marsha Mose, courtesy of St. Paul 

District, Corps of Engineers)
External Relationships

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223

the district engineers were on a three-year rotation (or two-year rotation from 1991 to 

2001) it was important for them to introduce themselves regularly.2

Interagency Cooperation

One of the most infl uential demands of the environmental movement was to force 

greater cooperation among government agencies. It was not enough to introduce 

interdisciplinary perspectives within a land-management agency such as the Army 

Corps. The holistic approach to environmental protection required interagency 

cooperation as well. Congress responded to this imperative by embedding innumerable 

requirements for interagency cooperation in environmental laws. The enthusiasm for 

establishing river basin commissions in the 1970s furthered the trend toward greater 

interagency cooperation.

In the St. Paul District, the focal point of interagency 

cooperation was the Mississippi River. Interagency 

cooperation began at the state level, as Minnesota, Wisconsin 

and Iowa shared concerns along the river where it formed 

state boundaries. It was institutionalized in the Upper 

Mississippi River Basin Commission established in 1972. The 

commission included the three states together with fi ve federal 

agencies: the Army Corps of Engineers, the Fish and Wildlife 

Service, the Soil Conservation Service (now Natural Resources 

Conservation Service), the Environmental Protection Agency 

and the Department of Transportation. The Corps worked 

particularly closely with the Fish and Wildlife Service, for 

the Corps was responsible for dredging the navigation 

channel, while the Fish and Wildlife Service was responsible 

for managing fi sh and wildlife habitat. Indeed, much of the 

area was designated as wildlife refuges and came under the 

jurisdiction of the Fish and Wildlife Service. The placement 

of dredged material on manmade and natural islands and in back channels, sloughs and 

wetlands posed both a threat and an opportunity for habitat management. 3 This was a 

classic example of the need for interagency cooperation.

Environmental groups were vigilant in demanding interagency cooperation in order to 

make one federal agency serve as a watchdog over another federal agency. The Corps 

had a long-standing arrangement of transferring funds to the Fish and Wildlife Service to 

help the latter agency study and recommend ways to modify civil works projects so as to 

enhance fi sh and wildlife habitat. The Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act authorized the 

transfer of funds. When the Army threatened to eliminate the transfers in the early 1980s, 

a prominent Washington-based environmental group, the Wildlife Management Institute, 

protested. The departments of natural resources of Wisconsin and Minnesota also stood 

to lose both funding and input regarding Corps’ actions if the Army decision held.4

Congress responded to these concerns by mandating more intensive cooperation 

between the Corps and the Fish and Wildlife Service on the Upper Mississippi. 

Interagency 

cooperation: District 

personnel consult with 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service staff, 1982. 

(Photo by Lyle Nicklay, 

courtesy of St. Paul District, 

Corps of Engineers)
External Relationships

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224

Congress designated the Upper Mississippi River System a nationally signifi cant 

ecosystem. It funded a series of “habitat projects” along the river under the Corps’ 

new Environmental Management Program.5

 The habitat projects were a combination 

of dredge-and-fi ll operations and bank stabilization efforts, each designed with a view 

to enhancing fi sh and wildlife habitat while preserving the navigable waterway. These 

projects involved the Fish and Wildlife Service in project design and environmental 

monitoring. The states participated under cost-sharing agreements.6

After Congress authorized the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area 

in 1988, the Corps coordinated with the National Park Service on navigation and 

recreation issues. The protected area extended for 80 miles along the river from Dayton, 

Minnesota, to Hastings, Minnesota, and the St. Paul District commander served as 

commissioner on an advisory board. The Corps already consulted with the National 

Park Service on matters involving historic properties and other cultural resources 

under the Corps’ jurisdiction, as required by the National Historic Preservation Act of 

1966 and NEPA. The historic properties included the system of locks and dams on the 

Mississippi River. The Corps additionally coordinated with the National Park Service 

on issues involving the Rainy River drainage in Voyageurs National Park, located on 

Minnesota’s international border with Ontario. Interagency cooperation became yet 

more structured in the Upper Mississippi River System Environmental Management 

Program established by Congress. Although the Environmental Management 

Program was fundamentally a partnership, Congress invested the Corps with overall 

responsibility for federal management of the program. The Corps actively coordinated 

with the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association 

and the fi ve states of Minnesota – Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. The Corps’ 

North Central Division managed the program, while three districts – St. Paul, Rock 

Island and St. Louis – managed the habitat projects within their boundaries. The 

Environmental Management Program recognized the river’s importance both as a 

system of major national wildlife refuges and a commercial waterway for navigation.7

International Cooperation

The International Joint Commission, or IJC, is a permanent body established by the 

Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. Its purpose is to deal impartially with problems 

of mutual concern wherever waters extend along or fl ow across the international 

boundary. Historically, the IJC was concerned primarily with obstruction or diversion 

of water, particularly where it affected navigability. In the latter part of the twentieth 

century, it became increasingly involved with water quality, especially in the Great 

Lakes. As the St. Paul District is bounded on the north by the international border 

with Canada, the district is one of a handful of Corps’ districts involved with the IJC. 

After the St. Paul District boundaries were realigned in 1979, the district was no longer 

concerned with Great Lakes matters. In its present confi guration the St. Paul District 

encompasses three rivers that fl ow along or across the international border: the Rainy, 

Red and Souris rivers.
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The IJC consists of six commissioners: three Canadians and three Americans. One 

member from each nation serves full-time as a cochairman, while the other two 

commissioners from each nation serve part-time. The commissioners act as a unitary 

body and are supposed to make decisions which will best serve both nations. While 

the IJC itself maintains only a small technical staff, it is empowered to establish boards, 

composed of engineers and other technical experts from both nations, to oversee 

particular issues. The boards may meet regularly or conduct studies, and they make 

recommendations to the IJC.8

In 1980, the St. Paul District district engineer served on seven different boards under the 

IJC. These were the International Lake of the Woods Control Board (established 1925), 

International Rainy Lake Board of Control (1940), International Prairie Portage River 

Board of Control (1939), International Souris-Red Rivers Engineering Board (1948), 

International Pembina River Engineering Board (1962), International Roseau River 

Engineering Board (1971) and International Garrison Diversion Study Board (1975). The 

number of boards proliferated as the IJC became more involved with pollution issues. 

In 2001, the district engineer served on four international boards: the International 

Lake of the Woods Control Board, International Rainy Lake Board of Control, 

International Souris-Red Rivers Engineering Board, and International Red River Board 

of Control.9 Each board comprised a small number of public offi cials from each nation. 

The International Souris-Red Rivers Engineering Board, for example, included three 

U.S. offi cials from the Bureau of Reclamation, Corps of Engineers and the Geological 

Survey together with two Canadian offi cials from the departments of Agriculture and 

Environment.10

As has been discussed in Chapter Four, the Souris and Red rivers present diffi cult 

problems for fl ood control. Both rivers fl ow north. Spring thaw generally occurs 

upstream (in the United States) before it occurs downstream (in Canada), causing 

fl oodwaters to back up and overfl ow the riverbanks. Moreover, the two river valleys are 

exceptionally fl at and the fl oodplains cover large expanses containing both urban and 

The Souris River 

at Minot, North 

Dakota, with levee 

and channel work 

performed by the 

Corps of Engineers. 

(Photo courtesy of St. 

Paul District, Corps of 

Engineers)
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agricultural development. The Corps of Engineers operates a number of fl ood control 

dams and reservoirs on these rivers and their tributaries in North Dakota and on the 

Minnesota-North Dakota state line.

Relations with Indian Tribes

At the end of the twentieth century the Corps was no newcomer to political 

controversies involving Indian tribes and resources. Numerous dam projects had 

involved the Corps with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal representatives since 

the 1930s.11 For most of this period, however, the federal government treated tribes as 

dependent wards, with the government in the role of trustee and guardian. This began 

to change in the 1970s, when the Nixon Administration adopted a national policy of 

Indian self-determination aimed at promoting tribal self-government. Congress enacted 

the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, which initiated 

a broad program of federal support for greater tribal autonomy in the management of 

tribal resources. With federal assistance, tribes took control of programs formerly under 

the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal governments increased their power through the 

formation of intertribal political organizations. As one example of this trend, tribes in 

Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota formed The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife 

Commission, which pressed for the protection of treaty rights through legal action. 

Environmental legislation in the 1970s required federal agencies to consult with tribal 

governments on actions that could affect tribal resources or treaty rights. The National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the River and Harbor and Flood Control Act of 1970 

and the Water Resources Development Act of 1974 provided new requirements for the 

Corps to deal with Indian tribes. In 1978, these requirements were strengthened by the 

Council on Environmental Quality, which published “Regulations for Implementing the 

Procedural Provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.” Under these 

regulations, the Corps needed to consult with tribes concerning project development 

and project de-authorization, real estate acquisition and disposal, water resources 

planning, wildlife mitigation and other environmental management programs, cultural 

resources management and regulatory functions. Importantly, these consultation 

requirements were not limited to actions involving Indian lands but extended to other 

Indian resources such as cultural sites and off-reservation hunting and fi shing grounds 

associated with treaty rights.12

President Jimmy Carter sought to increase coordination between the Corps and tribes 

on water development projects. In a memorandum concerning federal and Indian 

reserved water rights dated July 12, 1978, Carter outlined procedures for federal 

agencies to evaluate Indian water development projects and to increase Indian 

water development in conjunction with quantifi cation of water rights. Secretary of 

the Interior Cecil D. Andrus established a federal task force, which held a series of 

meetings with Indian representatives and made recommendations in a report. It 

specifi cally recommended the Corps establish procedures for coordinating with tribes 

on water development projects and for consulting with tribes on permit applications 

that might affect tribal resources. While the Corps initially responded favorably to the 
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recommendations, the initiative died with the advent of the Reagan Administration 

in 1981.13

Federal environmental legislation and Indian policy were not the only factors that 

encouraged tribes to assert tribal sovereignty during the last quarter of the twentieth 

century. As the courts and the Indian Claims Commission entered judgments awarding 

money to tribes for past actions by the United States (mainly involving inadequate 

compensation for land takings), tribes often employed these funds so as to assert 

themselves in economic planning and development. Moreover, various court rulings 

in this era reaffi rmed tribal sovereignty in matters ranging from the power to tax and 

create corporations and administer justice for tribal members, to environmental matters 

such as the authority to regulate water quality on the reservation. In the mid-1980s, the 

Environmental Protection Agency initiated government-to-government agreements 

with tribes concerning the setting of water quality standards. Courts subsequently 

upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to treat Indian tribes as states 

under the Clean Water Act.

The move toward government-to-government relations signifi cantly advanced when 

President Bill Clinton signed a memorandum dated April 29, 1994, directing the head 

of each executive department and agency to improve federal cooperation with tribal 

governments. Clinton specifi cally called for a government-to-government framework 

for dealing with federally-recognized tribes. In response to Clinton’s initiative, the 

Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, John H. Zirschky, directed the 

Corps to hold interest-group workshops and gather data aimed at improving the Corps’ 

working relationships with tribal governments. The Corps assigned this responsibility 

to a Native American Intergovernmental Relations Task Force under the auspices of the 

Institute for Water Resources.14

Between February and June 1995, fi eld personnel met with tribal representatives 

of 186 tribes. Each district offi ce prepared an after action report on the workshops 

and supplied the data to the task force. The task force found a nationwide pattern of 

“confl ict ... between the Corps multistage execution of its water resource missions 

and its obligation, as a federal agency, to honor the commitments made to Federally 

Recognized Tribes in treaties, statutes, administrative orders, and court cases.” It stated 

the Corps had an obligation “to reconcile these confl icts as they arise.”15

The St. Paul District participated in two workshops, the fi rst drawing representatives of 

ten tribes in Minnesota and North Dakota, and the second, held jointly with the Detroit 

District, drawing representatives of all nine federally-recognized tribes in Wisconsin.16

The general format of the workshops was a series of presentations on Corps’ programs 

followed by round-table discussions of tribal concerns. Many of the tribes’ comments 

were directed at the regulatory program. For example, the tribes wanted assurance that 

the Corps would enforce clean water standards where the tribes adopted more stringent 

standards than the states, and they wanted the Corps to “lobby” against weakening 

of the Clean Water Act. (On the latter point, Corps’ offi cials stated the Corps does not 

lobby for or against its programs, and that tribes must take this initiative.) Another 

theme in the discussions concerned the defi nition of tribal trust resources. The Corps 

wanted the tribes to identify their trust resources, and it offered to assist the tribes with 
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wetland mapping, aerial and ground surveys and other means. The tribes stated they 

lacked money and manpower to do this, and they believed the Corps defi ned trust 

resources too narrowly. In particular, they disagreed with the St. Paul District counsel’s 

view that a tribal trust resource must be specifi cally mentioned in a federal legal 

document such as a treaty or executive order. The tribes noted that many tribal trust 

resources related to cultural heritage or spiritual values and could not be described in 

“Euro-Asian terms” for the Corps.17

Part of the workshops’ emphasis on the Corps’ regulatory responsibilities stemmed 

from the controversy surrounding the Crandon Mine proposal, which threatened 

to impact no fewer than eight federally-recognized tribes. Three tribes occupied 

reservations in the vicinity of the mine: the Forest County Potawatomi Tribe, the 

Menominee Indian Tribe and the Sokaogon Chippewa Community (Mole Lake Band). 

Five other tribes reaffi rmed in court their rights to hunt, fi sh and gather in the area 

around the mine. These tribes were the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 

the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake 

Superior Chippewa, the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the 

St. Croix Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Additional tribes potentially had trust 

resources at stake, having ceded lands in the area.18

When the workshops 

convened, the three tribes 

whose reservations were 

near the Crandon Mine had 

recently produced a study, 

“The Potential Cultural Impact 

of the Development of the 

Crandon Mine on the Indian 

Communities of Northeastern 

Wisconsin.” This contracted 

report by two anthropologists 

and a biologist described 

the history of resource use 

by the affected tribes and 

the potential environmental 

impacts of mining operations. 

The report warned of sulfuric 

acid pollution in Rice Lake and the Wolf River – vital 

resources to the Mole Lake Band and the Menominee 

Tribe respectively – not only as a consequence of 

mining, but also in anticipation of mine abandonment 

many years in the future.19 Tribal representatives 

raised these concerns in the workshop three months 

later when they admonished the Corps to evaluate 

projects on a longer time frame. Although the Corps 

normally considered project lives of fi fty to a hundred 

years, one tribal representative stated, tribal policy 

Native American relations: 

Swamp Creek fl ows just 

north of the formerly 

proposed Crandon Mine site 

into the Mole Lake Indian 

Reservation where the tribe 

harvest wild rice from Rice 

Lake. (Photo by Jon Ahness, 

courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps 

of Engineers)
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was to consider effects on the next seven generations. Therefore, the Corps was urged 

to weigh the benefi ts of a mine that might create an economic boom for twenty to forty 

years against the costs of “decades of restoration work.”20

Each of the three tribes in the vicinity of the Crandon Mine had unique concerns. The 

Mole Lake Band occupied a reservation only two miles from the mine site, and the 

reservation encompassed Rice Lake, from which they harvested wild rice. According 

to early versions of the mining proposal, wastewater from the mine would enter 

Swamp Creek and fl ow into Rice Lake, threatening the wild rice crop. The Potawatomi 

were located on lands northeast of the mine site and their primary concern pertained 

to air quality. They did not want airborne pollutants descending on the area and 

contaminating the plants and animals that formed a substantial part of their diet. 

The Menominee Reservation, meanwhile, was located south of the mine site and was 

traversed by the Wolf River. The portion of the river fl owing through the reservation is 

a national wild and scenic river. The tribe was concerned about the water quality of the 

river, particularly as several tribal chiefs were buried along its banks.21

Tribal demands that the Corps defi ne its trust responsibilities toward Indian tribes 

intensifi ed in 1997, when the Corps handed the Crandon Mining Company a seeming 

victory in its long effort to develop the mine. Faced with formidable problems in 

protecting the water quality in the vicinity of the mine, the Crandon Mining Company 

altered its proposal and requested state approval to pump 600 gallons per minute 

of treated wastewater some 38 miles to the Wisconsin River. The Corps determined 

the transfer of water from the Great Lakes basin to the Mississippi River watershed 

would not be illegal because the federal diversion law applied only to surface waters.22

Although the Corps’ ruling was soon superseded by other developments, it served as 

a catalyst for an exchange of issue papers between the Corps and the tribes about the 

Corps’ trust responsibilities.

Tribal attorneys accused the Corps of failing to consider its trust responsibilities 

adequately. In answer to these charges, the St. Paul District developed an issue paper 

about the Corps’ trust responsibilities toward Indian tribes in the regulatory permitting 

process. Prepared by District Counsel Edwin C. Bankston, the issue paper was reviewed 

by attorneys in Corps’ headquarters, who concurred in its analysis.23 On September 29, 

1997, District Engineer Colonel J. M. Wonsik transmitted the issue paper to the tribes, 

proposing the Corps meet with tribal representatives sixty days later for consultation.24

This meeting never took place.25

Bankston’s eleven-page paper addressed a number of issues, citing federal case law. 

Fundamentally, the Corps had a responsibility, explicitly recognized in Northwest Sea 

Farms, Inc. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (1996) to protect Indian treaty rights. In 

other words, the Corps could not issue a Section 404 or Section 10 permit that would 

cause a treaty right to be impinged or abrogated.26 This much was unambiguous.

Most Indian treaties in Minnesota and Wisconsin conditionally secured “usufructuary 

rights” to hunt, fi sh and gather wild foods on lands off the reservation. These rights 

were limited to “ceded lands,” or demarcated areas that each tribe had once occupied 

and ceded to the United States during the nineteenth century. Bankston held that the 
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Indians’ usufructuary rights to resources such as game and fi sh invested the federal 

government with a trust responsibility toward those same resources; thus, the Corps 

had to consider Indian treaty rights both on and off reservations. However, Bankston 

noted, the usufructuary rights were extinguished when the land passed into private 

ownership. In contrast, Indian treaties in the Pacifi c Northwest made usufructuary 

rights perpetual. Bankston argued the difference was signifi cant, that it affected the 

federal government’s obligation to determine some form of mitigation when treaty 

rights were involved. The Corps, he wrote, should apply the same criteria to permit 

applications for activities on or off reservations; however, it was “very likely” that an 

activity located off reservation would have a lesser impact on tribal resources.27

Since the Corps’ regulatory program required that it conduct a public interest review 

for all individual permit applications, Bankston asked: did the Corps’ tribal trust 

responsibilities take precedence over public interests? Bankston argued that tribal 

resources should be “considered in the public interest review just as any other similarly 

sized community would be.” But, he added, adverse impacts to natural resources could 

have a greater effect on Indians than on non-Indians, since the “individual Indian may 

be more closely tied to the defi ned land area than his non-Indian counterpart.”28

One-and-a-half years later, 

the Great Lakes Indian Fish 

and Wildlife Commission, 

representing several tribes 

in Minnesota, Wisconsin 

and Michigan; the Sokaogon 

Chippewa Community; and the 

Menominee Indian Nation jointly 

prepared a detailed response 

to the Bankston’s issue paper 

entitled “Tribal Rights and Trust 

Responsibility.”29 The nineteen 

page paper explained the legal 

basis for tribal rights in natural 

resources for each of the affected 

tribes, and then it opined on 

federal trust responsibilities. M. 

Catherine Condon, an attorney representing the 

Indian groups, transmitted the paper to the St. 

Paul District on April 15, 1999.30

Tribal representatives and Corps’ offi cials 

met in St. Paul on April 23, 1999, to discuss 

the two papers. Although the papers were 

close on many points, two critical differences 

emerged. First, the tribes held that the federal 

government’s trust responsibility required the 

Corps choose the regulatory alternative that 

Native American relations: A 

consultation between District 

Engineer Colonel Robert L. Ball 

(right) and the Menominee 

Tribe was conducted at the 

Menominee Indian Reservation. 

Ken Fish, Menominee Treaty Rights 

Offi ce, a representative from the 

Bureau of Indian Affairs, is on the 

left. (Photo by Jon Ahness, courtesy of St. 

Paul District, Corps of Engineers)
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would be in the best interests of the tribes; the Corps, on the other hand, insisted that 

it need only consider tribal interests alongside others. The second difference was a 

procedural issue that followed from the fi rst point: the tribes believed that the Corps’ 

consideration of trust resources must be decoupled from the public interest review 

process; the Corps maintained that the two could be handled at once.31

Tribal representatives and the Corps had two follow-up meetings in an attempt to 

resolve differences raised by the issue papers – the fi rst on May 26 in St. Paul, and 

the second on June 23 in Keshena, Wisconsin. The tribes continued to argue that trust 

responsibilities required separate consideration. Indeed, representatives of the Mole 

Lake Band refused to participate in meetings with representatives of the Crandon 

Mining Company. When the Corps allowed company representatives to attend one 

of these meetings – because the company was concerned as well about whether tribal 

interests would be separated out of the public interest review – the Mole Lake Band 

walked out of the meeting. Henceforth, the Corps initiated dual monthly telephone 

conference calls: one with the company and one with the tribes.32 Government-togovernment meetings continued between the district engineer and tribal chairpersons 

in 2001 and 2002.33

There was no clear resolution of the question: do trust responsibilities take precedence 

over public interest review? In terms of process, the tribes appeared to have won their 

point: the Corps initiated its own EIS rather than team with the state Department of 

Natural Resources on this mammoth study owing to the federal government’s trust 

responsibilities to the tribes, and its consultation with the tribes took the form of 

government-to-government talks. But in terms of product, the Corps would not allow 

its hands to be tied. As the massive environmental impact study neared completion, it 

remained unclear how trust resources would be defi ned and what level of protection 

they would be afforded.

Ultimately, the Forest County Potawatomi and Mole Lake Band concluded the federal 

government’s trust responsibility would not necessarily preclude development of the 

mine. To assure the mine would not be developed, the two tribes decided to purchase 

the property with tribal funds. On October 28, 2003, the tribes acquired 5,770 acres in 

Forest County and 169 acres in Shawano and Oconto counties for $1.6 million. A few 

days later, the tribes withdrew the application to open the mine, ending twenty-fi ve 

years of controversy over impending environmental impacts. The Mole Lake Band’s 

chairwoman, Sandra Rachal, stated, “We made this decision to protect our people 

and our resources.” Whether the Corps would have denied a Section 404 permit for 

the Crandon Mine in the fi nal analysis anyway would never be known, but certainly 

the controversy forced the St. Paul District to explore facets of the Corps’ federal trust 

responsibility to Indian tribes as no other district had. The district’s government-togovernment relations with these Indian tribes established a positive foundation for 

further engagement with tribal governments in the future.
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Conclusion

Regional planning and interagency cooperation have become increasingly vital 

concerns to the Corps in the last quarter century. As land managers seek to balance 

competing interests and to accomplish tasks with fi nite resources, they must ensure 

that one agency’s actions do not confl ict with another’s, and that resources are shared 

whenever possible. For the St. Paul District, managing the Upper Mississippi River is 

the most complicated interagency effort it has ever undertaken. Yet, other demands 

on the district highlighted the trend toward greater government-to-government 

consultation as well as interagency cooperation. Situated on the boundary with Canada, 

the Corps consulted with land managers across the border. And, it dealt with the 

unique relationship between the federal government and Indian tribes, consulting with 

tribal governments on issues affecting Indian trust resources.

Chapter Nine Endnotes

 1 Star Tribune (Minneapolis), 8 June 1991 and 3 July 1991.

 2 Congressional visits are described in Memoranda for Record. Memoranda for 

1989-1997 were provided courtesy of J. A. Stadelman, Chief, Programs Management 

Branch.

 3 George W. Griebenow, “A Team Called GREAT,” Water Spectrum 9, No. 1 

(Winter 1976-77): pp. 20-21.

 4 Courier Press (Prairie du Chien), 25 April 1984.

 5 Richard C. Nelson, fi eld supervisor, to John R. Brown, District Engineer, 10 

June 1991, File 1110 Fish and Wildlife Transfer Fund, Box 4466, SPDAR

 6 EMP Status Report, 11 August 1994, File 1105 Environmental Management 

Program Status Report, Box 4467, SPDAR.

 7 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Upper Mississippi River System Environmental 

Management Program: Sixth Annual Addendum, (Chicago: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

1991), p. 4.

 8 International Joint Commission, “1980 Annual Report,” Box 3539, SPDAR, pp. 4-6.

 9 Kenneth Kasprisin, Memorandum 10-1-1, 26 January 2001, <http://mvpiis/

RMOffi ce/ docs/Mission Statement> (September 2002).

 10 Annual Report to the International Joint Commission by the International 

Souris-Red Rivers Engineering Board for the period October 23, 1990 to October 23, 

1991, File 15-1e International Joint Commission, Box 4338, SPDAR.

 11 Katherine Weist, “For the Public Good: Native Americans, Hydroelectric 

Dams, and the Iron Triangle,” in Trusteeship in Change: Toward Tribal Autonomy 

in Resource Management, edited by Richmond L. Clow and Imre Sutton (Boulder: 

University Press of Colorado, 2001), pp. 55-72. Some Corps dealings with Indian tribes 
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233

date to the 19th century. Dams in the headwaters of the Mississippi River adversely 

affected lands belonging to Minnesota Chippewa bands in the late 19th and early 20th 

centuries. See Jane Lamm-Carroll, “Dams and Damages,” Minnesota History (Spring 

1990): pp. 4-15.

 12 Janet McDonnell, “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Native American 

Tribes,” in Native American Intergovernmental Relations Task Force, Assessment of 

Corps/Tribal Intergovernmental Relations, Vol. 2, IWR Report 96-R-6a (Washington: 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1996), p. 4.

 13 McDonnell, “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Native American Tribes,” 

pp. 17-18.

 14 Native American Intergovernmental Relations Task Force, Assessment of 

Corps/Tribal Intergovernmental Relations, Vol. 1, IWR Report 96-R-6 (Washington: 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1996), p. 1.

 15 Native American Intergovernmental Relations Task Force, Assessment of 

Corps/Tribal Intergovernmental Relations, p. vii.

 16 After Action Report Tribal Assessment Workshop, 2 May 1995, and 9 May 

1995, in Native American Intergovernmental Relations Task Force, Assessment of 

Corps/Tribal Intergovernmental Relations, pp. 260, 292.

 17 After Action Report Tribal Assessment Workshop, 2 May 1995, in Native 

American Intergovernmental Relations Task Force, Assessment of Corps/Tribal 

Intergovernmental Relations, pp. 266-279.

 18 M. Catherine Condon to Ben A. Wopat, Assistant Chief, 21 June 1999, John 

Ahlness Tribal Trust (Crandon Project) fi le, SPDAR.

 19 Charles Cleland, Larry Nesper, and Joshua Cleland, “The Potential Cultural 

Impact of the Development of the Crandon Mine on the Indian Communities of 

Northeastern Wisconsin,” report prepared under contract with the Sokaogon Band of 

Chippewa, The Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin, and the Forest County Potawatomi in 

cooperation with The Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission in behalf of the 

Lake Superior Chippewa, 15 February 1995, Matt Pearcy Crandon Mine fi le, SPDAR.

 20 After Action Report Tribal Assessment Workshop, 2 May 1995, in Native 

American Intergovernmental Relations Task Force, Assessment of Corps/Tribal 

Intergovernmental Relations, Vol. 2, IWR Report 96-R-6a (Washington: U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers, 1996), p. 268.

 21 Ben Wopat, interview by Matthew Godfrey, St. Paul, 24 October 2002, p. 18.

 22 Antigo Journal, 13 August 1997.

 23 Lester Edelman, Chief Counsel, to District Counsel, 9 July 1997, John Ahlness 

Tribal Trust (Crandon Project) fi le, SPDAR.
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234

 24 J. M. Wonsik, District Engineer, to James Schlender, Executive Administrator, 

Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, 29 September 1997, John Ahlness 

Tribal Trust (Crandon Project) fi le, SPDAR.

 25 James E. Zorn to Ben Wopat, Assistant Chief, 16 July 1999, John Alhness Tribal 

Trust (Crandon Project) fi le, SPDAR.

 26 Edwin C. Bankston, “Issue Paper and District Recommendation: The Agency’s 

Trust Responsibilities toward Indian Tribes in the Regulatory Permitting Process,” no 

date, John Ahlness Tribal Trust (Crandon Project) fi le, SPDAR.

 27 Edwin C. Bankston, “Issue Paper and District Recommendation: The Agency’s 

Trust Responsibilities toward Indian Tribes in the Regulatory Permitting Process,” no 

date, John Ahlness Tribal Trust (Crandon Project) fi le, SPDAR.

 28 Edwin C. Bankston, “Issue Paper and District Recommendation: The Agency’s 

Trust Responsibilities toward Indian Tribes in the Regulatory Permitting Process,” no 

date, John Ahlness Tribal Trust (Crandon Project) fi le, SPDAR.

 29 “Tribal Rights and Trust Responsibility,” no date, John Alhness Tribal Trust 

(Crandon Project) fi le, SPDAR.

 30 M. Catherine Condon to Char Hauger, Regulatory Branch, 15 April 1999, John 

Ahlness Tribal Trust (Crandon Project) fi le, SPDAR.

 31 “Tribal Rights and Trust Responsibility,” no date, John Alhness Tribal Trust 

(Crandon Project) fi le, SPDAR.

 32 Kenneth S. Kasprisin, District Engineer, to Chairman Apesanakwat, undated, 

John Ahlness Tribal Trust (Crandon Project) fi le, SPDAR; Wopat Interview, p. 22.

 33 Information Paper, September 2002, provided to authors by John Ahlness.
External Relationships 9

235
Flooding on Sheppard Road in St. Paul, Minn., 

at the end of the twentieth century.
237

In the last quarter century, few public agencies could match the 

record of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for reinvention as it 

transformed itself from the nation’s leading dam builder to the 

nation’s leading water resources steward. Some observers admired 

the agency’s commitment and fi nesse, while others maintained that 

despite the Corps’ best effort to adapt to the environmental era, it still 

had outlived its usefulness. Regardless, the St. Paul District proved to be one of the 

Corps’ most forward looking districts in its approach to civil works design, protection 

of wetlands and other Corps’ missions. In addition, mirroring the experience of 

other administrative units of the Corps, the St. Paul District underwent signifi cant 

organizational change and adopted new ways of doing business in the last quarter of 

the twentieth century.

In its civil works program, the district worked energetically with commissions such 

as the Great River Environmental Action Team and the Upper Mississippi River 

Basin Commission to improve management of the Upper Mississippi River. The 

Corps demonstrated sensitivity to the environment, albeit with prodding from 

environmental groups, in its implementation of the Upper Mississippi River System 

Environmental Management Program, as well as its efforts to preserve the Higgins’ 

eye mussel. Even as the district pointed to these accomplishments, however, the 

Corps as a whole faced new questions about its commitment to environmental values 

following the Inspector General’s investigation of the Corps’ Upper Mississippi RiverIllinois Waterway Navigation Study.

Outside of the Upper Mississippi River Environmental Management Program, the 

St. Paul District faced a decline in workload for civil works as large dam projects 

were curtailed – indeed, interrupted in mid-construction in the case of the La Farge 

Dam – due to environmental concerns. The district adjusted to the environmental 

era by developing a workload that involved smaller, more numerous, and less 

10 Conclusion
Conclusion 10

238

environmentally destructive projects. Communities continued to look to the Corps for 

assistance in fl ood control, but the district responded with measures that were more 

modest in scale. It also touted nonstructural solutions such as moving buildings out 

of the fl ood plain and modifying land uses so that communities were less exposed 

to fl ood damages. In the case of the La Farge Dam, the St. Paul District mothballed a 

project that had already cost $18 million and was forty percent complete. After several 

years of litigation, the Corps fi nally offi cially abandoned the project and mitigated 

its effects by assisting the State of Wisconsin and the Ho-Chunk Indian Nation in the 

development of a nature reserve on that section of the Kickapoo River.

Although the St. Paul District no longer proposed large dam and reservoir projects for 

fl ood control, it continued to respond to communities’ requests for fl ood protection. 

Adapting to new cost-sharing approaches mandated by WRDA-86, the district worked 

successfully with cities such as Rochester, Minnesota, and Grand Forks/East Grand 

Forks on the North Dakota-Minnesota state line to construct fl ood control projects 

under elaborate cooperative agreements. Indeed, new federal guidelines required local 

communities to take greater initiative, and the district’s protracted negotiations with 

the neighboring communities of Grand Forks/East Grand Forks demonstrated the 

increased level of public review and political coalition building that the Corps had to 

undertake in order to secure large civil works projects in this new era.

The environmental era posed new opportunities for the Corps, as well as challenges 

to its traditional mission of waterway improvements for navigation and fl ood control. 

The St. Paul District implemented new Corps’ responsibilities with zeal, in part to 

take the place of civil works projects. After the Corps received the duty of regulating 

the nation’s wetlands, for example, the St. Paul District pioneered a major innovation 

in the Section 404 program by revising regulatory boundaries to conform to state 

lines. This enabled the Corps to work in close cooperation with the Wisconsin and 

Minnesota DNRs on wetlands protection. With the aid of the states, the district 

improved public compliance with the regulatory program.

But the public did not readily associate the Corps with the protection of wetlands. 

Section 404 permitting was somewhat of a thankless task, for it incurred the irritation 

of many landowners and developers who saw excessive government red tape in the 

Corps’ handling of tens of thousands of permits annually. Given the large number 

of wetlands under its jurisdiction and the strong inclination of farming communities 

to accept agricultural practices that harmed wetlands, the St. Paul District had an 

exceptional responsibility for environmental protection. Increasingly, the St. Paul 

District had to mediate differences between urban dwellers who valued biodiversity 

in the surrounding countryside and rural residents who wanted farmers to prosper 

even at the cost of destroying wetlands. The St. Paul District sought to balance these 

competing interests, or in Colonel Badger’s telling phrase, to “swim in the middle 

of the river.” In that way, the St. Paul District gained the public’s respect, which 

ultimately helped the Corps win the public’s support of a more regulatory environment.

Under the mandate of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the St. 

Paul District vigorously implemented a cultural resources program and worked 
239

assiduously to maintain the district’s own history. Using visitor centers, oral history 

programs and public outreach, the St. Paul District preserved its past and shared 

it with others. Even as the Corps struggled with the Advisory Council on Historic 

Preservation over Section 106 compliance on regulatory projects, the St. Paul District 

maintained a positive relationship with the Minnesota State Historic Preservation 

Offi ce. At the same time, district archeologists effectively implemented the Section 

106 program on civil works projects and worked with Native American groups to 

preserve their history and cultural resources.

Recreational use of reservoirs and other waterways 

under the Corps’ management increased signifi cantly 

in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Water 

sports gained popularity, boosting demand for 

public access to these areas even beyond the 

increases in recreational use that stemmed from 

population growth and rising affl uence. Managing 

civil works projects for recreational use was not 

new to the St. Paul District, but it acquired more 

emphasis in the period since 1975. The recreation 

program was distinctive because it involved so 

much interaction with the general public. It entailed 

issues of public access and visitor safety, as well as 

outreach programs aimed at encouraging public 

enjoyment of Corps-built facilities. Public recreation 

was not as central to the Corps’ mission as it was 

to an agency such as the National Park Service; 

yet with the amount of water resources under its 

control, the Corps had to respond to growing public 

demand for recreational opportunities. The St. Paul 

District maintained a number of parks connected 

with dams and reservoirs, and it cooperated with the 

National Park Service in the management of public 

recreational use in the Mississippi National River and 

Recreation Area.

The region covered by the St. Paul District is susceptible to drought and fl ood, 

and the Corps participated in numerous disaster response actions. Notable fl ood 

fi ghts included efforts to protect communities along the Red River in 1978, 1979, 

1989 and 1997, and the response to the epic Midwest fl ood of 1993. St. Paul District 

personnel participated in disaster relief operations outside the district as well, notably 

in connection with war-stricken areas in the Middle East and in New York City, 

following the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. During the past three decades, 

federal disaster relief efforts as a whole grew more costly and complex, raising issues 

about the role of the federal government in prevention and response. The Midwest 

fl oods in particular led to reevaluation of fl oodplain management.

Navigation: Kevin Reesie 

and James Marquardt test 

the ice thickness on the 

Mississippi River at Lake 

Pepin. (Photo by Mark Edlund, 

courtesy of St. Paul District, Corps 

of Engineers)

10 Conclusion
Conclusion 10

240

Like other districts, the St. Paul District reorganized itself and adopted new 

methods of operations, both internally and in its relations with other entities, in 

order to improve effi ciency. Cost-sharing and project management were two salient 

programs. The uncertainty and confusion surrounding the reorganization of the 

Corps took a human toll, but it also produced bursts of creativity – as evidenced 

by several award-winning designs produced by the St. Paul District staff – and a 

stronger organization. In the area of human resources, a noteworthy accomplishment 

of the district was the number of women who had attained senior staff positions at 

the end of the twentieth century.

This recent history of the St. Paul District has emphasized two themes: the relative 

success of the Corps of Engineers in responding to environmentalism and the 

pressure on the Corps to adopt new business practices as part of a wider effort to 

reform federal government. Looking ahead, it appears likely that both the public 

concern for the environment and the search for effi ciencies in government will 

continue to dominate Corps’ administration in the next few decades of the twentyfi rst century. The Corps will be involved with two key environmental concerns in the 

future: climate change resulting from global warming and pressures on land use from 

continuing population growth. Long-range projections of the national debt suggest 

there will be a continuing struggle over the federal budget. The St. Paul District will 

no doubt face challenges, but these are challenges that it has capably handled during 

the past twenty-fi ve years.
Acronyms

241

BRAC Base Realignment and Closure

CARP Concerned About River People

DNR Department of Natural Resources

EIS Environmental Impact Statement

EMP Upper Mississippi River System Environmental Management Program

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Administration

FTE Full-time Equivalent

GREAT Great River Environmental Action Team

HQUSACE Headquarters Division, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers

IJC International Joint Commission

NEPA National Environmental Policy Act

ROPE Reservoir Operating Plan Evaluation

SHPO Minnesota State Historic Preservation Offi ce

TCPs Traditional Cultural Properties

Acronyms
District Commanders

242

District Commanders

1976 - 2007

NAME YEARS OF COMMAND

Colonel Michael J. Price 2010 - 

Colonel Jon L. Christensen 2007 - 2010

Colonel Michael F. Pfenning 2004 - 2007

Lt. Colonel Thomas E. O’Hara 2004

Colonel Robert L. Ball 2001 - 2004

Colonel Kenneth S. Kasprisin 1998 - 2001

Lt. Colonel William J. Breyfogle 1998

Colonel J. M. Wonsik 1995 - 1998

Colonel James T. Scott 1993 - 1995

Colonel Richard W. Craig 1991 - 1993

Colonel Roger L. Baldwin 1988 - 1991

Colonel Joseph Briggs 1985 - 1988

Colonel Edward G. Rapp 1982 - 1985

Colonel William W. Badger 1979 - 1982

Colonel Forrest T. Gay III 1976 - 1979
243
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Index

260

Anoka, Minnesota, 210

Antiquities Act of 1906, 152

Appendix C of the National Historic 

Preservation Act of 1966, See National 

Historic Preservation Act of 1966

Archeological and Historic Preservation Act 

(aka Moss-Bennett Act), 153

Archeological Resources Protection Act of 

1979, 155

Archaeological Resource Services, 155

Argusville, North Dakota, 203

Armstrong, Michael J., 84

Aspin, Les, 22

Assiniboine River, 85

Association of Minnesota Counties, 133

Atomic Energy Commission, 25

Audubon, 28, 61

Audubon Society, 90

Available Storage Acreage Program 

(ASAP), 84, 87

Awards of Excellence, 6, 101

Axworthy, Lloyd, 85

 B

Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 

158, 228

4-H, 185

51-51 policy, 135

9-11-01, See World Trade Center Attacks

 A

Ada, Minnesota, 209

Advisory Council of Historic Preservation, 

152, 153, 154, 158, 159, 160, 239

Afghanistan, 212

Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation 

Service, 132

Air Force, See U.S. Air Force

Alameda Dam, 86

Alberta, Canada, 116

Alberts, Dale, 144

Ali Al-Salem Air Base, 213

Alton, Illinois, 53

American Red Cross, 206

Anderson, Alan, 79

Anderson, Dennis D., 65

Anderson, Phillip R., 61, 88, 89

Anderson, Wendell, 210

Andrus, Cecil D., 226

Anfi nson, John O., 46, 80, 152, 153, 157, 158, 

160, 161, 162, 163, 166

Anfi nson Scott, 160

Index
Index

261

Bowesmont, North Dakota, 203

Bowman, Dan, 152

Braatz, James, 64, 76

Brainerd, Minnesota, 30

Breaux, John, 121

Breckenridge, Minnesota, 91, 102, 201, 204, 

208, 209

Breyfogle, William J., 89, 95, 242

Briggs, Joseph, 34, 135, 175, 180, 242

Brookings Institution, 11

Brownsville, Minnesota, 189

Brule River, 142

Buffalo District, 14

Buffalo, New York, 19

Burdick, Quentin, 202

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), 226

Bureau of Land Management, 183

Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, 49

Bureau of Reclamation, 32, 82, 151, 225

Burlington, North Dakota, 85

Bush, George H. W., 19, 130, 181, 182, 212, 

221

Business Week, 29

Butz, Earl, 120

C

Cairo, Illinois, 49

Calcareous fens, 118, 129, 130

Calton, J. Robert, 27

Campground host program, 182 

Canada, 12, 81, 82, 85, 86, 87, 91, 116, 201, 

224, 225, 232

Badger, William W., 16, 27, 28, 32, 33, 35, 36, 

51, 66, 78, 126, 78, 126, 160, 161, 214, 242

Bailen, John J., 57

Baldhill Dam, 13, 154

Baldwin, Roger L., 34, 56, 136, 138, 210, 211, 

242

Ball, Robert L., 213, 222, 230, 242

Bankston, Edwin C., 229, 230

Baram, Michael S., 62

Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC 

Commission), 17, 18, 19, 21

Bassett Creek Flood Control Commission, 

26, 37

Bassett Creek Flood Control Project, 26, 32, 

34

Bayley III, Fred H., 17

Bayley Report, 17

Bear Creek, 96, 99

Becker County, Minnesota, 133

Bemidji, Minnesota, 30

Berg, Kevin F., 186

Bertrand, Bill, 58

Berwick, David, 152, 153, 161, 166

Bevill, Tom, 19

Blackhawk Park, 178, 181, 185

Blackhawk Retrievers Club, 79

Blatnik, John, 14

Blizzard Hannah, 208

Bond, Christopher, 86

Bosse, Henry P., 161, 162

Boundary Waters Treaty Act of 1909, 82, 86, 

87, 224

Bowen, Michael, 139
Index

262

Canadian Department of Agriculture, 225

Canadian Department of Environment, 225

Canfi eld, Chuck, 100

Carlson, Arne H., 19

Carroll, Jane, 162

Carter, Jimmy, 13, 14, 27, 28, 31, 32, 34, 52, 

63, 77, 97, 121, 200, 221, 226

Carter, Rosslyn, 27, 28

Cascade Creek, 96, 99, 100

Chanhassen, Minnesota, 160

Channel Maintenance Forum, 55

Channel Maintenance Management Plan, 52

Cheney, Dick, 17, 19

Chequamegon Bay, 158

Chicago District, 14, 125, 213

Chicago, Illinois, 14, 135, 213

Chicago River, 213

Chief of Engineers Award of Excellence, 6, 

101

Chief of Engineers Design and 

Environmental Awards Program, 90, 101

China, 16

Chippewa Indians, 156, 157, 158, 210, 228, 

230

Chrétien, Raymond, 87

Christenson, David S., 209

Cin, Dennis, 50

Citizens for Kickapoo, 76

Clean Water Act of 1977, 121, 124, 125, 126, 

127, 128, 133, 141, 158, 227; See Nationwide 

Permit 26; See Section 404

Clinton, Bill, 21, 22, 23, 24, 31, 37, 85, 89, 139, 

143, 208, 221, 227

Coast Guard, See U.S. Coast Guard

Cold War, 11, 16, 17

Concerned About River People (CARP), 

189, 190

Condon, M. Catherine, 230

Congress, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 

23, 25, 28, 29, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 47, 48, 49, 50, 

51, 53, 54, 56, 59, 63, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 81, 82, 

85, 86, 87, 95, 96, 97, 99, 118, 119, 120, 121, 

125, 127, 130, 131, 132, 133, 137, 138, 140, 

153, 155, 156, 163, 175, 179, 181, 182, 188, 

190, 199, 203, 209, 221, 222, 223, 224, 226 

Conrad, Kent, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89

Construction Branch, 213

Construction-Operations Division, 20, 30, 

175, 200

cost-sharing, 11, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 

45, 91, 92, 93, 99, 101, 102, 161, 179, 238, 240

Council on Environmental Equality, 87, 226

Cox, Rodney, 27

Crabb, Barbara, 78

Craig, Richard W., 21, 22, 34, 35, 56, 58, 82, 

206, 242

Crandon, Wisconsin, 141, 142

Crandon Mine, 141, 142, 143, 144, 220, 228, 

229, 231

Crandon Mining Company, 142, 229, 231

Cress, Joshua R., 205

Crookston, Minnesota, 202

Crosslake, Minnesota, 177, 181

Cross Lake Dam and Recreation Area, 177, 

181, 185, 186

Crow River, 178, 179

Cultural Resources Management Section, 

151, 152, 155, 160, 161, 162, 163

Curtis, John, 117
Index

263

Dorgan, Byron, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89

Dorn, Nancy, 21

Douglas, William O., 25

Doyle, Jr., John S., 1357

D-PAD Model, 18

Dredge Hauser, 47

Dredge Dubuque, 51

Dredge William A. Thompson, 50

Dredged Spoil Disposal Practices 

Committee, 49 

dredging, 8, 12, 15, 16, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 

52, 54, 55, 57, 63, 64, 132, 166, 209, 223 

Dredging and Structures Section, 57

Driscoll, Martha Rose, 78

Driscoll, Pat, 78

Driscoll, Ronald, 78

drought, 82, 116, 118, 116, 161, 199, 209, 210, 

211, 214

Drought Management Team, 211

Duluth, Minnesota, 9, 14, 15, 16, 30

Durenberger, Dave, 222

Dyhouse, Gary L., 58

E

East Grand Forks, Minnesota, 73, 91, 92, 93, 

94, 95, 101, 102, 154, 178, 202, 203, 204, 208, 

209, 238

Eaton, Edward G., 210

Eau Galle Lake (Wisconsin), 181

Eco-Expoz, 185

Edmore, North Dakota, 210

Eggers, Steve D., 116, 117, 129, 130

Ehorn, Doug, 134, 135

Curtis, Kyle, 174

Cushman, David W., 157

D

Dahlquist, Michael S., 10, 35

Dakota Prairie Audubon Society, 87

Dayton, Minnesota, 224

Defense Base Realignment and Closure Act, 

17

Delta Queen, 27

Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, 9,

Department of Natural Resources 

(Minnesota), See Minnesota Department of 

Natural Resources 

Department of Natural Resources 

(Wisconsin), See Wisconsin Department of 

Natural Resources

Department of the Army, 119

Desert Shield/Desert Storm, See Persian 

Gulf War

DesHarnais, Judith L., 213, 222

DesMoines, Iowa, 57

Detroit District, 14, 15, 16, 125, 227

Devendorf, Randall D., 90

Devils Lake Basin Interagency Task Force 

(DLBITF), 84, 87

Devils Lake Basin, 81, 84, 88

Devils Lake Journal, 81

Devils Lake, North Dakota, 73, 80, 81, 82, 83, 

84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 101

Dickey, G. Edward, 17

Dille, Steve, 129

Disaster Relief Act, 1974, See Robert T. 

Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 

Assistance Act
Index

264

Ela, Jonathan, 53

Emergency Operations Center, 201

Emergency Outlet Plan (EOP), 84

Emergency Support Function #3 (ESF-3), 

200

Emergency Support Team (EST), 214

Endangered Species Act, 63, 64

Energy and Water Development 

Appropriations Act of 1990, 17

Engineering and Planning Division, 200

Engineering Division, 26, 27, 35, 57, 166, 201

Engineering News Record, 57

Engler, John, 143

ENGLINK, 201

English Coulee, 93

Environmental Advisory Board, 74

Environmental Branch, 26, 27

Environmental Defense Fund, 58

Environmental Management Program 

(EMP); See Upper Mississippi River 

Environmental Management Program 

Environmental Protection Agency; See U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Resources Branch, 27, 152

Exxon Coal and Minerals Company, 142, 

143

 F

Fargo Forum, 32

Fargo, North Dakota, 9, 32, 201, 203, 204, 

208

Fast, Roger, 27

Federal Emergency Management 

Administration (FEMA), 84, 200, 206, 212, 

213, 214, 221

Federal Interagency Committee for Wetland 

Delineation, 130

Federal Power Commission, 48

Federal Register, 120

Federal Response Plan, 200

Federal Swamp Lands Act of 1849-50, 118

Federal Water Pollution Control Act 

Amendments of 1972 (FWPCA), 119; See

Federal Water Pollutions Control Act of 

1972 and Clean Water Act

Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 

(Clean Water Act of 1972), 29, 115, 119, 120, 

158; See Clean Water Act of 1977

Federal Water Project Recreation Act of 

1965, 175

Federal Workforce Restructuring Act of 

1994, 22

Feingold, Russell D., 79

Ferguson, Gary, 204

Florida Everglades, 130

Filmon, Gary, 85

Finance and Accounting Offi cer, 34

First Priority Program, 51, 52

Fischer, Peter, 92

Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act, 223

Fish and Wildlife Service; See U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service

Fish, Ken, 230

Fishel, Clint, 186

Fisher, John P., 166

Flood Control Act of 1936, 28

Flood Control Act of 1944, 175
Index

265

Flood Control Act of 1948, 92

Flood Control Act of 1950, 92

Flood Emergency Response Team, 199

Flood of 1993; See Midwest Flood of 1993

Flowers, Robert B., 90, 212

Foley, Deborah, 99, 101, 177

Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade 

Act, 132

Food Security Act of 1985, 130, 131

Forbes, 61

Forest County Potawatomi Tribe, 144, 231

Forest County, Wisconsin, 141, 142, 143, 231

Forest Service; See U.S. Forest Service

Fort Totten Indian Reservation, 84

Fort Trotten, North Dakota, 81

Fort Worth District, 184

Fortune, George V., 101

Fountain City, Wisconsin, 60

Fox River, 30, 125

Fuhrman, Russell L., 61, 88

G

Gabon, 16

Gagnon, James, 99

Gamble, Gene, 58

Gardner, Ken, 213

Garrison Dam, 82

Garrison Diversion, 82

Gay, Forrest T., 188, 189, 209, 242

Geological Survey; See U.S. Geological 

Survey

General Motors, 191

General Permit 17, 140

Genetti, Jr., Albert J., 21

Geotechnical and Geology Section, 162

Gephardt, Dick, 19

Germany, 118

Gianelli, William R., 126

Giaquinto, Clyde, 212

Gimmestad, Dennis, 159

Gjerde, Jon, 162, 163

Globe Paper Box Manufacturing Company, 

20

Gnabasik, Virginia R., 154, 155

Golden Age Passport, 183

Gordon & Fergeson Company, 20

Gordon, Charles, 20

Gordon, Richards, 20

Gore, Albert, 22

Government Performance and Results Act 

(GPRA) of 1993, 37

Grand Portage Band of the Chippewa, 157, 

158

Grafton, North Dakota, 203

Grahams Island State Park (North Dakota), 

86

Grand Forks, North Dakota, 73, 91, 92, 93, 

94, 95, 154, 201, 202, 203, 204, 208, 209, 238

Grand Forks/East Grand Forks Flood 

Control Project, 73, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 101, 

102, 154, 178, 208

Grand Portage Bay, 150, 157, 158

Grand Rapids, Minnesota, 174

Granite Falls, Minnesota, 205
Index

266

Grann, John, 84

Great Chicago Flood, 213

Great Depression, 162

Great Dismal Swamp, 130

Great Flood of 1993; See Midwest Flood of 

1993

Great River Environmental Action Team 

(GREAT), 47, 49, 55, 63, 66, 178, 237

GREAT I, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 63, 178, 179, 182

GREAT II, 49

 GREAT III, 49

Great Lakes, 7, 14, 15, 16, 64, 143, 158, 224, 

229

Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife 

Commission (GLIFWC), 155, 226, 230

Green Bay Packers, 24

Green Bay, Wisconsin, 30

Greenleaf, Bonnie K., 205

Griebenow, George W., 48

Gudmandson, Barbara, 27

Gulf of Mexico, 45, 185

Gull Lake Recreation Area, 181, 184

Gull Lake (Minnesota), 156, 181, 184

Gunderson, Steven, 78

Guttenberg, Iowa, 12, 44, 45, 49, 51, 59

 H

Halstad, Minnesota, 202

Hancock, Minnesota, 129

Hancock Record, 129

Hannah, Blizzard; See Blizzard Hannah

Hanson, Darold and Loretta, 78

Harriet Island (St. Paul, Minnesota), 185

Harris, Richard, 14, 16

Harrison, Christine, 155

Hastings, Minnesota, 224

Hatch, Henry, 17, 21, 36

Haumerson, Dave, 205

Haveman, Robert H., 61

Havlik, Marian, 63, 64

Headquarters Division, U. S. Army Corps 

of Engineers (HQUSACE), 11, 19, 22, 26, 32, 

35, 36, 37, 87, 89, 125, 161, 162, 163, 212, 214, 

221, 222, 229

Hedin, Lisa, 95, 208

Heisler, Tim, 84

Helberg, Davis, 15

Hendrickson, Jon S., 55

Hendrum, Minnesota, 201, 202

Heritage Conservation and Recreation 

Service, 179

Higgins’ eye pearly mussel, 63, 64, 65, 66, 

237

Hill, James J., 166

Hinton, Craig, 57, 204

Historic American Engineering Record, 163

Historic Sites Act of 1935, 152

Ho-Chunk Indian Nation, 79, 156, 238

Hodapp, Corrine K., 185, 186

Homme Lake (North Dakota), 181

House Agriculture Committee, 131

House Committee on Public Works and 

Transportation, 14, 92

Hunt, Neil R., 185

Hurricane Andrew, 213
Index

267

Hurricane Hugo, 212

Hydraulics Section, 213

I

Illinois River, 14, 60

Illinois Waterway Navigation Study; See 

Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway 

System Navigation Study

Indian Claims Commission, 227

Indian Self-Determination and Education 

Assistance Act (1975), 226

Initiative 88, 36

Inland Waterway Authorization Act, 52

Inland Waterway’s Trust Fund, 34

Inspector General of the Army, 61, 62, 237

Institute for Water Resources (IWR), 87, 227

Inter-Agency Archaeological Salvage 

Program, 152

Interagency Floodplain Management 

Review Committee (IFMRC), 59

International Garrison Diversion Study 

Board, 225

International Joint Commission (IJC), 87, 

161, 224, 225

International Lake of the Woods Control 

Board, 225

International Pembina River Engineering 

Board, 225

International Prairie Portage River Board of 

Control, 225

International Rainy Lake Board of Control, 

225

International Roseau River Engineering 

Board, 225

International Souris-Red Rivers Engineering 

Board, 225

Ipsen, William, 189

Iraq, 213

Ireland, 118 

Isle Royale, 12, 14

 J

Johannesburg, South Africa, 144

Johannessen, Sissel, 156, 157

Johnson, Brad A., 153, 160

Johnson, Jane, 77

Johnston, Clarence, 20

Joint Four Agency Wetland Delineation 

Manual, 130

Jones, Joann, 79

 K

Kaplin, John J., 20

Kasprisin, Kenneth, 37, 62, 93, 102, 242

Keller Wildlife Management Area, 100

Kelly, Patrick J., 137

Kelner, Daniel E., 65

Keshena, Wisconsin, 231

Kickapoo Reserve Management Board, 79

Kickapoo River, 73, 74, 76, 77, 79, 155, 238

Kickapoo Valley State Reserve, 79

Kind, Ron, 213

King, Thomas, 158

Knott, Wayne, 50

Kohl, Herbert H., 79

Kohlman Lake (Minnesota), 124

Koenig, Mark E., 212

Kowalski, Louis E., 21, 27, 86
Index

268

Lampsilis higginsii; See Higgins’ eye pearly 

mussel

Land Use Allocation Plan (LUAP), 189, 190

Larson, Keith B., 27

Leech Lake Band, 155, 210

Leech Lake Dam and Recreation Area, 181, 

182, 186

Library of Congress, 163

Life Cycle Project Management, 37, 161

Lightfoot, Jim, 58

Lindbergh, Charles, 20

Lochner, Tom, 138

Lock and Dam 1, 12, 56, 57, 101, 178, 210

Lock and Dam 3, 4, 161, 162, 163, 185

Lock and Dam 4, 55, 161, 162, 163

Lock and Dam 5, 55, 161, 162, 163

Lock and Dam 5A, 56, 161, 162, 163

Lock and Dam 6, 27, 161, 162, 163

Lock and Dam 7, 161, 162, 163, 185

Lock and Dam 8, 55, 161, 162, 163

Lock and Dam 9, 161, 162, 163, 185

Lock and Dam 10, 12, 44, 59, 161, 162, 163

Lock and Dam 26, 53

Lock and Dam Major Rehabilitation, 56

Loma Prieta Earthquake, 212

Long Term Resource Monitoring Program, 

187

Lord, Miles, 124

Loss, David, 59, 91

Louisville, Kentucky, 18

Loukota, Ted, 189

Kupietz, Joe, 60

Kuwait City, Kuwait, 213

 L

La Crosse, Wisconsin, 30, 32, 74, 77, 184

La Farge Dam, 74, 76, 78, 237, 238

La Farge, Wisconsin, 73, 74, 76, 77, 79, 80, 

102, 155

Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior 

Chippewa, 228

Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior 

Chippewa, 228

Lac Qui Parle Dam, 181

Ladd, Terry L., 155

Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 

1965, 182

Lake Agassiz, 7, 201

Lake Ashtabula (North Dakota), 153, 154, 

156, 181, 185, 186, 206

Lake Darling Dam, 85, 86

Lake Darling, North Dakota, 32

Lake Itasca (Minnesota), 45, 185

Lake Michigan, 14, 125, 143

Lake of the Woods (Minnesota), 209

Lake Pepin (Mississippi River), 239

Lake Sakakawea (North Dakota), 82

Lake Superior, 12, 14, 15, 16, 157, 158

Lake Traverse (Minnesota), 181

Lake Winnibigoshish Dam and Recreation 

Area, 181

Lake Winnibigoshish (Minnesota), 198, 210, 

211

Lake Winnipeg (Canada), 91
Index

269

Midwest Flood of 1993, 57, 58, 66, 206, 207, 

222, 239

Mighty Mississippi Junior Ranger Badge 

and Certifi cate, 180

Mighty Mississippi Passport Program, 180

Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, 155

Miller, Mark, 213

Millersville University (Pennsylvania), 61

Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, 117

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 77

Minneapolis, Minnesota, 7, 12, 26, 32, 34, 51, 

60, 165, 180, 209

Minneapolis Star Tribune, 61

Minnesota Council on Developmental 

Disabilities, 20

Minnesota Department of Administration, 

20

Minnesota Department of Human Rights, 20

Minnesota Department of Natural 

Resources (MNDNR), 96, 100, 124, 126, 127, 

133, 134, 139, 140, 180, 181, 187, 210, 238

Minnesota Environmental Control Citizens 

Association (MECCA), 27

Minnesota National Guard, 203, 204, 205

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 

(MPCA), 51, 126, 135

Minnesota River, 64, 205, 206, 209

Minnesota Society of Professional 

Engineers’ Seven Wonders of Engineering, 

55, 101

Minnesota State Historic Preservation Offi ce 

(SHPO), 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 159, 160, 

163, 165, 166, 239

Minnesota Vikings, 24

Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act, 140, 

141

Lovas, Herman, 201

Lowe, Chloris, 79

Lower Mississippi Valley Division, 14, 17

Lower St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, 7, 

60, 180, 210

Lucey, Patrick, 76

M

Madison Capital Times, 76

Madison, Wisconsin, 76, 77

Mahoney, Mike, 213

Maintenance and Repair Unit, 60

Manitoba, Canada, 85, 87, 116

Mankato, Minnesota, 115

Maplewood, Minnesota, 124

Marquardt, James R., 239

Marshall, Minnesota, 206

McAllister, Rose, 160

McCleery, Martin, 92

McDaniels, Ron, 124

McIntyre, Kenneth, 121

McLeod County, Minnesota, 129

McNally, Edward L., 93, 94, 95, 155

Meeker County, Minnestoa, 128

Menominee Treaty Rights Offi ce, 230

Menominee Tribe, 156, 228, 229, 230

Merritt, Raymond H., 160

Mesabi Range, 7

Metro Permit Section, 30

Metro Waste Commission, 189

Michels, Bobby, 84
Index

270

Minnesota/Wisconsin Boundary Area 

Commission, 48, 49

Minnewaukan, North Dakota, 81, 82, 84

Minot, North Dakota, 85, 86, 225

Mississippi National River and Recreation 

Area, 178, 179, 224, 239

Mississippi River, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, 18, 23, 45, 

46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 

59, 60, 66, 73, 74, 96, 118, 121, 143, 156, 161, 

162, 163, 176, 178, 179, 180, 181, 185, 186, 

187, 188, 189, 190, 206, 209, 210, 211, 223, 

224, 229, 232, 237, 239

Mississippi River Coordinating 

Commission, 180

Mississippi River Maintenance Section, 50

Mississippi Valley Division, 5, 23, 60, 61, 88, 

89

Mississippi Whitewater Park Development 

Corporation (MWPDC), 180, 181

Missouri River, 49, 82, 86

Mister McGruff Safety Program, 185

mitigation banks, 137, 139, 140

Mole Lake Band, 144, 228, 229, 231; See 

Sokaogan Chippewa Community

Mole Lake Indian Reservation, 220, 228

Mondale, Walter, 14

Montevideo, Minnesota, 205

Montgomery Watson Harza, 144

Moorhead, Minnesota, 204

Morris, John W., 163

Morris, Minnesota, 129

Moss-Bennett Act of 1974; See Archeological 

and Historic Preservation Act

Ms. magazine, 29

Mudd, James V., 61

Murphy, Joe, 189

mussels, 63, 64, 65, 66

 N

Narrows State Park (North Dakota), 86

Nation, The, 29

National Academy of Sciences (NAS), 130, 

131

National Academy of Sciences’ National 

Research Council (NRC), 62

National Association of Conservation 

Districts, 131

National Association of Interpreters, 186

National Civil Engineering Landmark, 166

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

of 1969, 25, 26, 45, 47, 74, 80, 86, 87, 102, 119, 

224, 226 

National Fishing Week, 185

National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), 

58, 59

National Guard; See Minnesota National 

Guard; See North Dakota National Guard

National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 

(NHPA), 45, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 158, 

159, 160, 162, 163, 166, 224, 238; See Section 

106, National Historic Preservation Act; See

Section C, National Historic Preservation 

Act.

National Inholders Association (NIA), 190

National Park Service (NPS), 77, 152, 157, 

163, 180, 183, 224, 239

National Performance Review (NPR), 22, 24, 

37

National Recreation and Parks Association, 

186

National Recreation Reservation System, 

183

National Register Bulletin 38, 157
Index

271

National Register of Historic Places, 152, 

153, 154, 155, 157, 158, 160, 162, 163, 165

National Society for Park Resources, 186

National Weather Service, 94, 203, 204, 208, 

209

National Wildlife Federation, 132

Nationwide Permit 26 (NWP 26), 125, 126, 

127, 128, 133, 135, 136, 141

Native American Graves Protection and 

Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 154, 156

Native American Intergovernmental 

Relations Task Force, 227

Natural Resources Conservation Service, 96; 

See Soil Conservation Service

Natural Resources Management Program, 

176

Natural Resources Section, 176

Natural Resources Defense Council V. 

Callaway, 120, 121

Nelson County, North Dakota, 132

Nelson, Gary D., 211

Nelson, Gaylord, 76, 77

New Deal, 31, 162

New York, New York, 19, 213, 214, 239

New York Times, 120

News Tribune, 21

Nicolet Minerals, 143, 144

Nigeria, 16

Nine-Foot Navigation Channel, 5, 6, 48, 65, 

163, 179, 181, 188

Nixon, Richard, 13, 48, 226

Noah, Max, 76

Nonpartisan League, 9

Norman County, Minnesota, 201

North Central Division, 12, 14, 16, 18, 23, 48, 

49, 55, 59, 60, 74, 161, 211, 224

North Dakota Game and Fish Department, 

186

North Dakota Intertribal Reinternment 

Committee, 156

North Dakota National Guard, 203, 204

North Dakota Safety Council, 186

North Dakota State Historic Preservation 

Offi ce, 154

North Dakota State Water Commission 

(NDSWC), 84, 87, 90

Northwest Division, 12

Northwest Sea Farms, Inc., 229

O

Oakland, California, 212

Oberstar, James, 14, 19

Oconto County, Wisconsin, 231

Offi ce of Assistant Secretary of Army - Civil 

Works, 221, 222

Offi ce of History, 161

Offi ce of Management and Budget (OMB), 

37

Offi ce of Project Management, 36

Ogaard, Don, 133

Ohio River, 14, 49

Oklahoma State Prison, 184

Omaha District, 125, 211

Omaha, Nebraska, 23

Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, 

182

Oneida County, Wisconsin, 143
Index

272

Podesta, John, 89

Pokegama Dam and Recreation Area, 174, 

181

Pol-E-Charkhi Army Air Force Base, 

Afghanistan, 212

Pomeroy, Earl, 84, 87, 88, 89, 222

Pool 8 Islands Habitat Project, 55, 101

Portland, Oregon, 23

Porycky, Greg, 213

Post, Robert F., 27, 152, 199, 209

Potawatomi Band, 144, 228, 229

Powell, Donald L., 56, 179

Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, 28, 30, 63, 102

Princko, Richard, 60

Program and Project Management Division, 

36

project management, 16, 31, 35, 36, 37, 38, 

240

Proxmire, William, 77

Public Affairs Offi ce, 120, 213

Public Law 82-97, 199, 209

Q-R

Quad Cities, 57, 206

Quie, Albert H., 48, 97

Quincy, Illinois, 188

Rachal, Sandra, 231

Rafferty Dam, 86

Rainbow Family, 79

Rainy River, 12, 224

Ramsey County, North Dakota, 84, 87

Ontario, Canada, 224

Operations Branch, 214

Orwell Lake (Minnesota), 181

Oslo, Minnesota, 91, 201

Otto, Richard, 178, 184, 185, 187, 188, 190

Outstanding Planning Achievement Award, 

95

P

Page Lake, 129

Page, Robert W., 137, 210

Palesh, Gary, 55, 56

Pearcy, Matthew T., 162

Pearson, Gary, 87, 90

Pearson, William R., 49

Pelican Lake (North Dakota), 88, 90

Pembina, North Dakota, 210

Pembina River, 210

Permit Evaluation Section, 122

Perpich, Rudy, 210

Persian Gulf War, 213

Peshtigo River, 142

Peterson Coulee, 86, 88, 90

Petri, Thomas, 79

Pig’s Eye Lake (Minnesota), 27

Pine River (Wisconsin), 142

Pine River Dam; See Cross Lake Dam and 

Recreation Area 

Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937, 118

Planning Branch, 27, 152

Planning Division, 21, 26, 27, 86, 199

Plummer, Anne, 100
Index

273

Research and Analysis Section, 122

ReserveAmerica, 183

Reservoir Operating Plan Evaluation 

(ROPE), 188

Reuss, Martin, 74

Rhinelander, Wisconsin, 143

Rice Lake (Wisconsin), 220, 228, 229

Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, 119, 123

Rivers and Harbors Act of 1930, 48

Rivers and Harbors Act of 1960, 15

Rivers and Harbors and Flood Control Act 

of 1970, 226

River Resources Forum, 55, 187

Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

Emergency Assistance Act, 200, 212

Robinson, Aubrey, 120

Rochester, Minnesota, 6, 9, 32, 33, 72, 96, 97, 

99, 100, 101, 176, 177, 238

Rochester, Minnesota, Flood Control 

Project, 6, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101, 176; See South 

Fork Zumbro River Flood Control Project

Rochester Post Bulletin, 100

Rock Island District, 14, 18, 19, 60, 61, 125, 

162, 163, 224

Rock River, 125

Rockton, Wisconsin, 155

Roosevelt, Franklin D., 162

Root River, 91

Rose, Ward, 77

Roseau County, Minnesota, 117

Roseau River, 209

Roseau, Minnesota, 202, 209

Ruyak, James, 213

Ramsey County Soil and Water 

Conservation District, 124

Ramsey, Alexander, 118

Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed 

District Board, 124

Rapp, Ed, 32, 81, 161, 242

Raster, Thomas, 84, 93

Readiness Branch, 199, 200, 209, 214

Reagan, Ronald, 31, 32, 33, 53, 97, 126, 130, 

131, 182, 221, 227

Real Estate Section, 189

Reclamation Act of 1902, 25

Reclamation Service, 25

Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 

158, 228

Red River of the North, 7, 12, 81, 82, 88, 91, 

92, 93, 94, 154, 201, 202, 203, 204, 207, 208, 

209, 210, 225, 239 

Red River of the North Flood of 1897, 92, 

203

Red River of the North Flood of 1978, 205

Red River of the North Flood of 1979, 92, 93, 

203, 205, 239

Red River of the North Flood of 1989, 93, 

239

Red River of the North Flood of 1997, 91, 93, 

94, 96, 199, 202, 208, 239

Redwood City, California, 212

Reed, Donald M., 117

Reesie, Kevin, 239

Reeves, Richard, 58

Regulatory Branch, 30, 122, 123, 124, 127, 

159, 160, 166

Reinartz, Dan, 213

Republican Party, 9, 14
Index

274

 S

Sacramento, California, 212

Salter, Peter, 81

San Francisco, California, 212

Sandy Lake Dam and Recreation Area, 153, 

155, 181, 185

Saskatchewan, Canada, 85, 86, 116

Savage, Minnesota, 129

Saverton, Missouri, 49

Scandinavia, 118

Schafer, Ed, 87, 88

Shawano County, Wisconsin, 231

Schroeder, Bernice, 77

Schubert, Frank, 161

Schwert Farms, 78 

Scott, James T., 89, 95, 96, 101, 242

Searle, Rod, 53

Section 10 of the River Harbor Act of 1899; 

See River and Harbor Act of 1899

Section 106 (of National Historic 

Preservation Act), 152, 153, 155, 156, 

158, 159, 162, 163, 166, 239; See National 

Preservation Act of 1966

Section 13, of the River Harbor Act of 1899; 

See River and Harbor Act of 1899

Section 404 (of Clean Water Act of 1972), 29, 

30, 32, 33, 115, 117, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 

124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 130, 131, 133, 136, 

137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 144, 158, 222, 227 

229, 231, 238

Section 1404 (of Water Resources 

Development Act of 1986), 34

Self-Determination and Education 

Assistance Act of 1975, 226

Senate Committee on Public Works, 47, 77, 

87

Sentz, James D., 10, 35

September 11, 2001; See World Trade Center 

Attacks

Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 144

Shabaz, John C., 79

Shafer, Michelle M., 214

Sheyenne River, 13, 81, 82, 85, 86, 88, 90

Sibley Building, 20

Sierra Club, 24, 27, 47, 53, 76

Silberman, Edward, 26

Silver Creek, 96

Skrede, J., 51

Skunk Lake (Wisconsin), 142

Slade, Steve, 62

Slayton, Leita, 78

Smithsonian Institute, 153

Snyder, Russel K., 101, 166

Sodbuster, 131

Soil Conservation Service, 49, 96, 99, 130, 

131, 132, 133, 134, 223

Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, 77

Sokaogon Chippewa Community, 230; See 

Mole Lake Band 

Souris River, 85, 86, 224, 225

South Fork Zumbro River Flood Control 

Project, 6, 9, 32, 33, 72, 73, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 

101, 102, 175, 177, 178

South Fork Zumbro River; See Zumbro 

River 

Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning 

Commission, 117
Index

275

Stollenwerk, Butch, 204

Stone Arch Bridge, 165, 166

Strangeland, Arlan, 92, 137, 203

Stump Lakes (North Dakota), 88, 90

Superior, Wisconsin, 15 

Supreme Court; See U.S. Supreme Court 

Surveillance and Enforcement Section, 30, 

122

Swampbuster, 131, 132, 133, 137

Sweeney, Donald, 60, 61

T

Take a Kid Fishing Day, 185

The Nation, 29

Thompson, Arne, 212

Thompson, Stephen A., 61

Thompson, Tommy G., 19, 77, 143

Thomson, Vernon, 48

Traditional Cultural Properties (TCPs), 157, 

158

Treasury Department, See U.S. Treasury 

Department

Trempeleau Wildlife Refuge, 179

Tripp, Jim, 58

Tulsa District, 152

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, 155

Twain, Mark, 45

Twin Cities, 7, 9, 49, 130, 178, 179, 206, 210; 

See Minneapolis, Minnesota; See St. Paul, 

Minnesota

Twin Lakes (North Dakota), 84

Twin Valley, Minnesota, 201

Special Recreation Use Funds, 183

Special Use Licenses, 188

Spirit Lake Indian Reservation, 81, 84, 85, 86

Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe, 81, 84, 85, 88

Spychalla, William, 82

St. Anthony Falls Heritage Interpretive 

Zone, 165, 166

St. Anthony Falls, 7, 164, 165, 166, 210

St. Cloud, Minnesota, 10, 35, 137

St. Croix Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 

228

St. Croix River, 63, 178, 179

St. Louis District, 14, 18, 19, 58, 60, 154, 156, 

163, 224

St. Louis, Missouri, 14, 19, 57, 58, 60, 206

St. Paul, Minnesota, 7, 12, 20, 27, 96, 101,185, 

209, 221

St. Paul Pioneer Press, 32

St. Peter, Minnesota, 57

Stangeland, Arlan, 92, 137, 203

Star, Frank, 100, 176, 177, 179, 182, 183, 184, 

186, 187, 188, 191

Stark, Wisconsin, 79

Stearns County, Minnesota, 133, 137

Steere, Jeffrey L., 155, 186

Stephen, Minnesota, 203

Stevens County, Minnesota, 129

Stevens Point, Wisconsin, 30

Stine, Jeffrey K., 29, 121

Stoa, Tom, 189

Stoddard, Charles, 74, 75

Stoddard, Wisconsin, 55
Index

276

132, 141, 178, 179, 180, 187, 188, 189, 190, 

221, 223, 224 

U.S. Forest Service, 25, 29, 183, 188

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 49, 55, 203, 

225

U.S. Offi ce of Special Counsel (OSC), 61

U.S. Supreme Court, 20, 144

U.S. Treasury Department, 183

University of Wisconsin, 61, 76, 79, 160

Upper Mississippi River Basin Association, 

55, 224

Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission 

(UMRBC), 13, 47, 48, 49, 52, 53, 54, 55, 66, 

223, 237

Upper Mississippi River Basin Coordinating 

Committee, 48

Upper Mississippi River Conservation 

Committee, 58

Upper Mississippi River Comprehensive 

Basin Study, 47, 48

Upper Mississippi River Comprehensive 

Master Plan, 52, 53 

Upper Mississippi River System 

Environmental Management Program 

(EMP), 45, 52, 54, 55, 56, 66, 179, 224, 237

Upper Mississippi River Waterway 

Association, 51

Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish 

Refuge, 48, 188

Upper Mississippi River-Illinois Waterway 

System Navigation Study (UMR-IWWSNS), 

46, 60, 61, 62, 63, 66, 186, 187, 237

Upper Mississippi Valley Division, 12

Upper Peninsula, Michigan, 12, 14, 125

Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge, 85

Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, 7, 

163, 164, 165, 166, 210

Two Harbors, Minnesota, 30

U

U.S. Air Force, 203, 204

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

Reorganization Study, 18

U.S. Coast Guard, 52, 203, 204, 206

U.S. Constitution, 120

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 48, 

96, 120, 131

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 

Forest Service; See U.S. Forest Service

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Soil 

Conservation Service; See Soil Conservation 

Service

U.S. Department of Commerce, 48, 120

U.S. Department of Defense, 11, 17, 20, 22, 

61

U.S. Department of Education, 48

U.S. Department of Health, 48

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, 48, 77

U.S. Department of Justice, 120, 137

U.S. Department of State, 87

U.S. Department of the Interior, 48, 77, 80, 

120, 224

U.S. Department of the Interior, National 

Park Service; See National Park Service

U.S. Department of Transportation, 48, 439, 

223

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA), 48, 49, 119, 120, 121, 130, 134, 135, 

137, 139, 141, 144, 221, 223, 227

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), 49, 52, 

55, 62, 63, 64, 65, 85, 87, 116, 118, 130, 131, 
Index

277

Urich, Randall R., 65

V

Valencia, Maria T., 158

Valley City, North Dakota, 154, 185, 206

Velva, North Dakota, 85

Vento, Bruce F., 18, 19, 21, 179, 180, 222

Vermillion Range, 7

Vernon County, Wisconsin, 178

Vicksburg District, 17

Vicksburg, Mississippi, 23, 211

Vietnam War, 31

Vileisis, Ann, 131

Vogel, Robert M., 153

Voyageurs National Park, 224

W

Wabasha, Minnesota, 52, 188

Wahpeton, North Dakota, 91, 102, 201, 204

Warren, Kemble, 12

Warren, Minnesota, 203

Warroad, Minnesota, 209

Washington, D.C., 19, 92, 120, 126, 129, 133, 

161, 185, 212, 214, 223

Washington Level Review Center, 37

Water Control Section, 210

Water Resources Development Act of 1974 

(WRDA 1974), 226

Water Resources Development Act of 1976 

(WRDA 1976), 49

Water Resources Development Act of 1986 

(WRDA 1986), 31, 33, 34, 36, 56, 91, 92, 97, 

102, 143, 190, 238

Water Resources Development Act of 1994 

(WRDA 1994), 104

Water Resources Development Act of 1996 

(WRDA 1996), 79

Water Resources Development Act of 1999 

(WRDA 1999), 56

Water Resources Development Act of 2000 

(WRDA 2000), 181

Watergate Scandal, 31

Waterways Experiment Station, 211

Watt, James, 126

Waukesha, Wisconsin, 30

Wayland III, Robert H., 139

Weaver Bottoms Rehabilitation Project, 6, 

52, 101

Wellstone, Paul, 222

West Fargo, North Dakota, 202

Westover, Allen, 155

Westphal, Joseph, 88, 89

wetlands delineation, 116, 127, 128, 130, 131

Whiting, Robert J., 30

Wilcher, Walter La Juana S., 137

Wild Rice River, 210

Wild Rice Watershed District, 133

Wildcat Mountain State Park, 79

Wildlife Management Institute, 223

Williams, Arthur E., 18, 21, 22, 34

Williams, Ted, 61, 62

Willow Creek Golf Course, 100

Winnipeg Free Press, 85
Index

278

Winona, Minnesota, 52, 189

Wisconsin Cranberry Growers Association, 

138

Wisconsin Department of Natural 

Resources, 63, 126, 127, 138, 139, 140, 141, 

142, 143, 144, 231, 238

Wisconsin River, 12, 73, 143, 229

Wojciak, A.J., 222

Wolf River, 143, 228, 229

Wonsik, J. M., 23, 24, 87, 208, 214, 229, 242

Wopat, Ben A., 30, 122, 123, 124, 125, 127, 

132, 134, 135, 137, 139, 141, 142

World Trade Center Attacks, 166, 213, 239

World War II, 12, 13, 24, 74

Wright, Jim, 121

X-Y-Z

Yellow Medicine River, 132

Zaleski, Jack, 81

zebra mussel, 63, 64, 65

Zirschky, John H., 23, 87, 227

Zorn, James, 155

Zumbro River, 32, 33, 72, 73, 96, 98, 99, 100, 

102, 176, 177, 178

Zumbro River Flood of 1978, 96, 97