FLOOD-CONTROL PROJECT QUESTIONED

A $65 million flood-control project in the Missouri Bootheel could damage Mississippi River wildlife habitat, the state Conservation Department says.

But supporters say it would be an economic boon that would protect East Prairie and the surrounding region from devastating floods.

Under the plan, 10,000 acres of mostly farmland would be bought and converted into woodlands to provide habitat for wildlife, said project manager Eddie Belk of the Corps of Engineers office in Memphis, Tenn.

East Prairie civic leader Dr. Martha Ellen Black said the acreage amounts to a tradeoff for the 200 acres needed for the flood-control improvements. Black said the project would help East Prairie avoid being swamped by periodic flooding.

In 1989, flooding brought about by heavy rains closed schools and collapsed sewers in the city. Black helped East Prairie secure a federal "enterprise community" designation because of the high level of poverty in the area.

The designation allowed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide grant money that would help fund the local share of the project. The local levee district would come up with 5 percent of the project cost, and the Corps would pay the bulk of the costs.

The project involves construction of an improved levee that would be maintained by the local levee district.

"Everybody locally is for it. The only people who are not for it are the people who don't live here," said levee district secretary Lynn Bock of New Madrid.

The project has the backing of area lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson.

The St. Johns Bayou and New Madrid Floodway project affects Mississippi County and parts of New Madrid and Scott counties. The floodway begins just south of Cairo, Ill., and extends some 30 miles to New Madrid.

Under the project, backwater from a flooded Mississippi River would be prevented from entering the New Madrid Floodway by closing a 1,500-foot gap in the earthen levee.

When the river is high, floodwaters can cover some 17,000 acres, much of it farmland. The Corps wants to install floodgates and a pump to keep water out of the floodway. It also wants to install a pumping system and improve drainage channels to address flooding in the nearby St. Johns Bayou basin. Flooding there can cover as much as 13,000 acres.

Twan Robinson likes the plan. She lives in Pinhook, a village of about 60 people 10 miles southeast of East Prairie.

Floodwaters almost annually cut off the town, turning it into an island surrounded by backwater from the Mississippi.

Robinson said some people use boats to get to high ground. Others like Robinson depend on tractor-pulled trailers to travel over flooded Mississippi County roads.

"The only thing that saves our houses to a certain degree is they are sitting on an incline," said Robinson.

Robinson's parents and other relatives live in the village. Her parents' house used to be flooded every year.

Pinhook is populated by four or five families. "We are just very close knit," she said.

Robinson said the flood-control project would benefit Pinhook and the whole area. She can't understand those who oppose the project.

"I am not happy because I feel like they put wildlife ahead of human life."

Conservation Department Director Jerry Conley criticized the project in a seven-page letter Tuesday that was presented to the Conservation Commission.

Conley wrote that the project has become largely an "agriculture enhancement" project rather than one designed to alleviate flooding.

The commission said it wouldn't send the letter to the Corps of Engineers until it hears from project supporters.

Conservation Department officials said closing the levee gap would eliminate 25,000 acres of wetlands during floods that occur every two years. During bigger floods that occur sometimes every 10 years 75,000 acres of wetlands would vanish, it said.

The Conservation Commission is expected to discuss the issue during a telephone conference call on June 22.

Conley said Wednesday that the Conservation Department would like to see the Corps change the flood-control plan to cause less harm to fish, wildlife and habitat. Environmental groups also have expressed concern.

Alan Journet, a Southeast Missouri State University biology professor and a member of the Sierra Club, said wetlands are important for all kinds of aquatic life. Wetlands serve as spawning grounds for fish.

"We have lost so many wetlands throughout Missouri and throughout the United States," he said. "We simply cannot continue to place bio-diversity at the bottom of the list of priorities all the time."

Journet said closing the levee would pose a problem in Big Oak Tree State Park, a 1,000 acre preserve near East Prairie. Periodic flooding is crucial to a healthy swamp forest, he said.

The state has a $1.2 million plan to build a berm around the park to retain water. The Corps has proposed to dig 20 relief wells in the park. The wells would be used to pump water into the park to keep the trees wet and imitate spring flooding.

The flood-control project primarily would benefit farmers, he said.

"It seems in large measure we are using vast sums of federal taxpayer dollars to bale out a small number of people," said Journet.

But Liz Anderson, a Charleston newspaper editor, views it differently.

"Backwater flooding is not a beautiful, natural event,' she wrote in a recent newspaper opinion piece. She said it is destructive to local wildlife, roads, bridges and buildings."

Emerson hopes the Missouri Conservation Department will see the benefits of the project. "Our people deserve a safe and healthy environment," the congresswoman said.