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County schedules more study after heated public debate over proposed Madera Township dike
Summary
Brookings County’s Drainage Board heard hours of technical presentations and public testimony Feb. 3 on a plan to reestablish a dike that would redirect low flows from a western diversion back into the Big Sioux River main channel. Engineers will finish an environmental review and cultural survey and the county plans an open house in May.
The Brookings County Drainage Board paused a long-running plan to rebuild a dike near Madera Township and will continue environmental and cultural studies before deciding whether to move forward. Kelly Buescher, project manager for Banner Associates, told the board the firm had completed scoping letters and was preparing an environmental review that will be shared with the NRCS and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of any federal easement or permitting process.
Banner Associates and East Dakota Water Development District representatives framed the work as a technical scoping step. "We sent out letters to a list of interested parties that we thought would be interested stakeholders and that's who we sent it to," said Kelly Buescher, describing the public-notification and scoping process. Engineers explained that reestablishing the dike would restore more low-bank flow into the main Big Sioux River channel up to the bank elevation but would not prevent overtopping during major floods, when water spreads across both channels.
The meeting included extended public comment from nearby landowners who raised concerns about downstream impacts, notification gaps and historic changes in river behavior. "I'm concerned, obviously, that there's gonna be a lot more flooding on my land," said landowner Sean Lesnar, who lives a few hundred yards downstream of the proposed dike, and urged more study of downstream effects. By contrast, township representatives argued the diversion has left hundreds of acres unusable and said restoring prior flows would reduce recurring damage to township roads and recapture farmland.
After hearing technical answers and more than half-a-dozen public speakers, the board instructed staff and Banner Associates to continue the environmental review (including a cultural/archaeological field study when ground conditions permit) and to hold a public open house, tentatively in early May at the Brookings County OAC. The consultant said the cultural work was delayed by weather and a federal shutdown but is scheduled for spring if the board wants the study completed. The Drainage Board said it will expand notifications (using county property/address data and newspaper notices) and include meeting minutes and submitted comments in the official scoping record.
