Enhanced Stage Variability on the Lower Missouri River as Benchmarked by Lewis and Clark: Implications for Ecosystem Restoration

Because lower Missouri River management began in the early 1800s, a challenge for present-day ecosystem restoration efforts is a lack of quantitative data on pre-management river hydrology and long-term (100+ yr.) river response to changing management practice and intensity. We address this challenge and report new results from a study spanning 200 years of lower Missouri River hydrology, encompassing natural, channelization-only, and channelization with reservoir release regimes (Ehlmann & Criss, Geology, forthcoming, Nov/Dec 2006).