A river runs through it: morphological and landowner sensitivities along the Upper Missouri River, Montana, USA

Landowners along the Missouri River in Montana believe that the operation o f Fort Peck Dam has initiated bank erosion, thus threatening agricultural d evelopment within the region. Their concerns have been heightened by propos als to increase discharge in order to enhance fisheries and wildlife intere sts. Geomorphological evaluation indicates that bed degradation and bank er osion have declined since construction of the dam, and the channel is now a pproaching dynamic equilibrium; public sensitivity to the proposed change i s greater than the morphological sensitivity of the river. Sustainable mana gement of the Missouri is now based on strategies that place more emphasis on partnership with local citizens.