April 2002

Missouri Chapter - American Fisheries Society           Page 2

Web Assistants:

John Fantz

April 5, 2002

Dear Mr. Hogg,

The Missouri Chapter of the American Fisheries Society recently entered the Bagnell Dam FERC re-licensing process as a stakeholder.  Over the intervening months, we have held several discussions among our members about the specific outcomes we expect from the process.  Those outcomes include:

• a continued focus on lake level management in Lake of the Ozarks (LOZ) to support tourism, recreation, property protection, and the complex of valuable fisheries and associated habitats.

• a flow regime from Bagnell Dam that mimics the pre-dam natural hydrograph, where flow entering LOZ from Truman Dam plus flow entering from all tributaries between Truman Dam and Bagnell Dam equals the flow to be released from Bagnell Dam.  Native species in the Osage River below Bagnell Dam are adapted to the pre-dam flow regime, hence the need for a flow regime that mimics as closely as possible the flow regime present before both dams were constructed.  This approach may necessitate the installation of real-time stream gages on ungaged tributaries.  This is not a request for removal of Bagnell Dam.  (This outcome ties closely with the following one.)

• minimum flows that closely mimic those of the natural hydrograph as long as the level of LOZ is 657 feet above mean sea level.

• a dissolved oxygen concentration below Bagnell Dam of 5 parts per million (the Environmental Protection Agency standard).

If you have any questions about our expectations, please respond to me at the following address.  Thank you very much for this consideration.

Sincerely,

c:  Magalie R. Salas, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Jerry M. Conley, Director, Missouri Department of Conservation; Stephen Mahfood, Director, Missouri Department of Natural Resources