According to a fisheries biologist in MS:
I will send you 3 chapters from a book on impacts to warmwater streams:
1. Dredging
2. Channelization
3. Clearing and Snagging
These present a good overview of the impacts to stream resources.
I guess what you are seeing is part of the Upper Yazoo Reformulation Project that the Corps is authorized to do. If the money was already allocated it is probably too late to do anything for this project. All three activities are very destructive to streams. I think Dr. Jackson found that channel catfish did pretty well in the channelized portion of the Yalobusha River below Grenada. The mussels will be severely impacted and the elimination of instream cover, undercut banks and bank cavities will be harmful for flathead catfish populations. Sorry, but I don't have any Safari Club contacts. Due to the richness of the mussel beds in the Sunflower, national conservation groups got involved (American Rivers, National Wildlife Federation etc.) and successfully fought that project but the project is not dead or cancelled yet.
Duckhunters, this should alarm you, too. The river will still flood, but I fear that thousands of acres of prime, flood-prone, Delta duck habitat will cease to exist as we know it. Land along these rivers and along their tributaries that naturally floods in the winter will be changed for years to come. The Delta will still flood, but the purpose of this project is to make water move downstream more quickly and to increase the amount of water that the river can hold. The Crowder to Tippo basin will be directly affected by this dredging.
Maybe someone from DU can tell us why there is no DU chapter in Marks, MS. Rumor has it that DU opposed the dredging of the river and as a result, area farmers and landowners turned their noses to DU and let the chapter collapse.
"The greatest benefit obviously is flood protection," said Sykes Sturdivant, YMD Levee Board President. "But area lakes also benefit, which makes fishermen and environmentalists happy."
Obviously, Mr. Sturdivant has not asked any fishermen and environmentalists what they think, only stated this contorted opinion for the newspapers to give the false impression we are all in agreement.
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I live in the Delta. I accept the fact that flooding is a natural part of living in an alluvial flood plain. If I was not able to cope with the fact that my life in the Delta would include flooding, I would move to the hills (a good 250-300 feet above any given Delta elevation.)
I say, instead of using Federal money to dredge the river every 30 years, why not stop disking up to the riverbank? Why not implement filter strips, buffer zones and streamside management practices on all Delta lands? Would it not be easier and less costly to put into place filter strips along field ditches and canals and put into CRP all highly-erodable lands in the Delta, instead of spending hundreds of millions of dollars to dredge out rivers that are constantly being re-filled with silt from area fields????? And in the process of dredging, channelizing and de-snagging these rivers, our native wildlife species suffer greatly.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, instead of waiting for the Goverment to turn a flood plain into a high-desert plateu..instead of holding your hand out to receive flood insurance payments, disaster relief and funds to suck the dirt off of the river bottom, why not change your farming practices or move to the hills? Better yet, accept the fact that the Delta is an alluvial flood plain and is subject to frequent, annual flooding and don't try to turn it into something that God didn't design it to be.
It's high-scale welfare and habitat loss all rolled into one neat little package.
All concerned should contact the Safari Club, the Mississippi Wildlife Federation, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, the National Wildlife Federation, DU, DW and your Senators and Congressmen.
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