The Bureau of Reclamation recently celebrated the completion of the Lower Yellowstone Intake Diversion Dam Fish Passage Project with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The event, held July 26 on Joe's Island in Glendive, Mont., was co-sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to a July 21 news release. The event was a continuation of the Bureau's 120th-anniversary celebration.

"We are excited to celebrate the success of this interagency project and recognize Reclamation’s major contributions to reclaiming America’s 17 Western states over the last 120 years," Brent Esplin, Missouri Basin and Arkansas-Rio Grande-Texas Regional Director, said in the release. “In addition to bolstering conservation efforts of the prehistoric pallid sturgeon, Reclamation is committed to continuing the effective operation of the Lower Yellowstone Project for local irrigators who help feed the nation.”

According to therelease, the success of the project was due to the collaboration between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation.

"This is a momentous occasion more than ten years in the making,” Col. Geoff Van Epps, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Northwestern Division, said in the release. “The collaboration on this project presented unique challenges and opportunities to meet conservation and recovery responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act while continuing to serve the needs of stakeholders that use the river.

The Longview News-Journal reported the three-year, $44 million fish bypass construction project has re-established a passage for the pallid sturgeon and other native species in the Lower Yellowstone area to swim around the barrier, enabling them to migrate farther upstream and reproduce successfully.

The construction of the bypass channel began in April 2019 and was finished April 9 following the removal of the cofferdams, the news release reported. Although this section of the project is finished, construction is still ongoing in the surrounding region.