The Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, formerly called the Missouri River Basin Project, was initially authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944

Flood Control Act of 1944

The Pick-Sloan Flood Control Act of 1944 , enacted in the 2nd session of the 78th Congress, is U.S. legislation that authorized the construction of numerous dams and modifications to previously existing dams, as well as levees across the United States...

, which approved the general comprehensive plan for the conservation, control, and use of water resources

Water resources

Water resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful. Uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities. Virtually all of these human uses require fresh water....

 in the entire Missouri River Basin

Missouri River

The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...

.

The intended beneficial uses of these water resources include flood control, aids to navigation, irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

, supplemental water supply

Water supply

Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavours or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes...

, power generation

Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...

, municipal and industrial water supplies, stream-pollution

Water pollution

Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies . Water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds....

 abatement, sediment control

Sediment control

A sediment control is a practice or device designed to keep eroded soil on a construction site, so that it does not wash off and cause water pollution to a nearby stream, river, lake, or bay...

, preservation

Conservation biology

Conservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction...

 and enhancement of fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 and wildlife

Wildlife

Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....

, and creation of recreation opportunities.

It derives its name from the authors of the program -- Lewis A. Pick

Lewis A. Pick

Lewis Andrew Pick was born in Brookneal, Virginia, and graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1914. He received his Regular Army commission in the United States Army Corps of Engineers on July 1, 1920....

, director of the Missouri River office of the United States Army Corps of Engineers

United States Army Corps of Engineers

The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...

, and William Glenn Sloan

William Glenn Sloan

William Glenn Sloan was an inventor and scientist who was co-author of Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program to dam the upper Missouri River....

, director of the Billings, Montana

Billings, Montana

Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, and is the principal city of the Billings Metropolitan Area, the largest metropolitan area in over...

 office of the United States Bureau of Reclamation

United States Bureau of Reclamation

The United States Bureau of Reclamation , and formerly the United States Reclamation Service , is an agency under the U.S...

.

Interventions

Several water-control measures were introduced through this legislation that variously affected the Missouri River Valley

Missouri River Valley

The Missouri River Valley outlines the journey of the Missouri River from its headwaters where the Madison, Jefferson and Gallatin Rivers flow together in Montana to its confluence with the Mississippi River in the State of Missouri. At long the valley drains one-sixth of the United States, and is...

 and its environs. They include:

• Fort Peck Dam
  Fort Peck Dam
  The Fort Peck Dam is the highest of six major dams along the Missouri River, located in northeast Montana in the United States, near Glasgow, and adjacent to the community of Fort Peck...
  
  
• Garrison Dam
  Garrison Dam
  Garrison Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Missouri River in central North Dakota. At over two miles in length, it is the fifth-largest earthen dam in the world, constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1947-53...
  
   and Lake Sakakawea
  Lake Sakakawea
  Lake Sakakawea is a reservoir in the Missouri River basin in central North Dakota. Named for the Shoshone-Hidatsa woman Sakakawea, it is the third largest man-made lake in the United States, after Lake Mead and Lake Powell. The lake lies in parts of six counties in western North Dakota: Dunn,...
  
  
• Oahe Dam
  Oahe Dam
  The Oahe Dam is a large dam along the Missouri River, just north of Pierre, South Dakota in the United States. It creates Lake Oahe, the fourth largest artificial reservoir in the United States, which stretches up the course of the Missouri to Bismarck, North Dakota. The dam's powerplant provides...
  
  
• Big Bend Dam
  Big Bend Dam
  Big Bend Dam is a major rolled earth dam along the Missouri River in central South Dakota.The dam, 95 feet high and 10,570 feet in length, was constructed as part of the Pick-Sloan Plan for Missouri watershed development authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944. Construction began in 1959 and...
  
  
• Fort Randall Dam
  Fort Randall Dam
  The Fort Randall Dam is an earth embankment dam impounding the Missouri River in South Dakota, United States and forming Lake Francis Case. It is one of six Missouri River dams, four being located in South Dakota....
  
  
• Gavins Point Dam
  Gavins Point Dam
  Gavins Point Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Missouri River in the U.S. states of Nebraska and South Dakota. Built from 1952 to 1957, it impounds Lewis and Clark Lake. The dam is on the Nebraska-South Dakota border, west of Yankton, South Dakota....
  
   and Lewis and Clark Lake
  Lewis and Clark Lake
  Lewis and Clark Lake is an impoundment on the Missouri River above Gavins Point Dam, near Yankton, South Dakota. It is located on the border of South Dakota and Nebraska. The reservoir is approximately long, with a surface area of 31,000 acres ; it has a maximum depth of . It is the smallest of...
  
  
• Pick-Sloan Legislation