For the first time in recent memory, the Corps of Engineers' Annual Operating Plan draft is "… a hell-of-lot more optimistic than it's been in years."

That was North Dakota Game and Fish Department director Terry Steinwand's assessment Thursday as the Corps hosted a public meeting in Bismarck outlining the draft of the 2009 AOP.

The meeting, held at the Radisson, was the fifth of six scheduled meetings up and down the river this week.

Pierre, S.D., is the last stop today.

The meeting was a full house with people from various agencies to fishermen all wanting to get a preview of what's in store for river and reservoir users in the coming year and the future.

The answer, like the muddy waters of the Missouri River itself, is a good news, bad news scenario.

The good news is that the river itself and both Lake Sakakawea and Lake Oahe should be in pretty good shape for the the coming year.

With 18 feet of new water running into Sakakawea last summer, water on both North Dakota reservoirs should be at levels not seen for about eight years.

The forecast for next year is for Oahe to peak at about 1,598 feet and Sakakawea at about 1,835.

While that's good news for the most part, Steinwand said he's still worried.

"While Lake Oahe and the Garrison Reach fishery remains excellent, the same is not true for Lake Sakakawea," he said.

The water that came to Sakakawea came late - too late for the spawn of forage fish - leaving eggs of rainbow smelt, the main forage fish, and most game fish like walleye high and dry.

"Water levels actually declined during the critical later April, early May period and reproduction of walleye, smelt and most other forage species was poor."

That said, Steinwand said he knows that most of what transpired this past summer was beyond the control of the Corps.

For the most part, access in the way of boat ramps should be about the same as it was this past summer.

Another positive is that was Lake Sakakawea's turn in the cycle of the three upper mainstem dams - Ft. Peck and Oahe being the other two - to hold back water in storage.

It looks now as though that will be the case again for next year.

Larry Murphy of the Corps said releases from dam and subsequent water levels are dictated by the total water in storage in the system.

He said both Ft. Randall and Gavins Point dams will have two spring pulses, one in March and the second coming in May.

The March pulse will coincide with the beginning of the normal navigation season and the May pulse is timed to coincide with the nesting season for the two endangered species of birds on the river, the least interior tern and the piping plover.

Both pulses will affect water levels more in the downstream areas than in North Dakota.

Lance Gabe of Gov. John Hoeven's office made a statement on behalf of the the governor.

He said although the navigation season downstream has been shortened by a month (Oct. 31 is the end), water must be conserved here and released only when and where it is needed to support navigation.

"The Corps is definitely doing better," he said.

While the news for river and lake users here is better than it has been in years, the issue of sedimentation could be, and already is, a concern for some.

Andy Mork has been a self-described river rat since 1925. He said that because the river here has silted in over the years, it used to take 70,000 cubic feet of water per second released though Garrison Dam to see flooding in Bismarck and Mandan.

The number now is 57,000 cubic feet per second.

Steinwand said the upside to the 2009 AOP is that it favors the spring rise of Lake Sakakawea, the Corps must continue to conserve water and support downstream navigation when and where needed.

"It will be extremely important in keeping the momentum in reservoir filling and provide the much-needed turnaround in Lake Sakakawea, which has historically been North Dakota's most utilized fishery."