Corps plans more Montana dam releases to help sturgeon spawn

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A plan has been approved to test if releasing more water from Montana’s Fort Peck Dam in the spring could help endangered pallid sturgeon spawn. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials says that when reservoir water levels allow, the Corps would request increased water releases. The goal is to see if mimicking spring runoff will attract pallid sturgeon into the Missouri River. The financial impacts could be in the millions of dollars due in part to a loss of irrigation water for farmers. The tests would fluctuate dam releases between April and July.