After winning a fight to close the uppermost lock on the Mississippi River by next June, advocates are now pressing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to further limit operations at the next two locks downstream to block invasive carp from spreading upstream.
The corps has proposed reducing hours at the two Twin Cities locks from the current 19 hours a day during the navigation season to 10. The two locks are Lock and Dam No. 1, or the Ford dam, and the Lower St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam.
The corps is planning to reduce hours because the congressionally mandated closure of the Upper St. Anthony Falls lock is expected to eliminate shipping traffic at the next two locks downstream. But restrictions at those two locks will hamper recreational boaters and tour operators.
"I fear we will lose the opportunity to protect a unique reach of the river for this and future generations," John Anfinson, superintendent of the National Park Service unit for the Mississippi in the Twin Cities area, wrote in a public comment period that ended this week.
The Stop Carp Coalition of 10 environmental and conservation groups is pushing for the Ford lock to be open to commercial vessels by appointment only. It wants the lower St. Anthony lock limited to opening only at set times.
Besides blocking carp from migrating into the Mississippi's northern waters, advocates for stricter hours say keeping the carp out of the Mississippi gorge above the Ford dam is critical to boater safety. Rowers practice out of college or recreational boathouses in the gorge between the locks. Schoolchildren paddle voyageur canoes there, but that program has stopped using the locks due to the threat of the jumping carp, known for their ability to leap several feet into the air.
"If one child is hit by a silver carp in this pool, the entire program will end," Anfinson wrote. He called the issue "of paramount concern" to his agency.
But further lock restrictions are opposed by tour operators.
