A year or so ago, I talked to a park ranger in Yankton, South Dakota, while watching the Missouri River from an overlook near Yankton. I casually asked the ranger why the Corps was holding back so much water in the spring. “To protect the plover,” he replied--as if it were common knowledge. “The what?” I inquired. “The plover--it is a shore bird that nests along the Missouri. If they let out too much water in the spring, it drowns out their nests and kills the baby birds. So the Corps holds it back to allow the birds to hatch.” How noble, I thought--we hold back mighty waters to protect bird life.
