Least tern should be least of concerns

The lesson for today is balance. We, each in our own way, try to balance our lives daily. We balance demands with available time and resources. We balance obligations and responsibilities. And we balance changing priorities because we are not always in control.

And like each of us, our government, too, balances issues hour-by-hour.

But sometimes in life - for each of us or our government - we have to make changes to achieve that balance. My case in point is the pallid sturgeon, an endangered fish, and two shorebirds - the interior least tern and the piping plover.

I would assume that few readers of this column know much about these endangered animals. All we know is that someone who studies such things tells us that we have less pallid sturgeon today than we once did. And I also assume that's not necessarily a good thing.

But this week the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced they will spend $54 million this year to protect the sturgeon, least tern and piping plover by constructing sand bars and dikes along the Missouri River. This expenditure of precious tax dollars, we're told, will provide a chance for these creatures to repopulate.

But the headlines scream that levees in New Orleans still are in need of massive funding and that thousands remain homeless along the Gulf Coast. The Corps of Engineers is squarely in the middle of this massive rebuilding project, as well they should be.

Now we get back to balance. Perhaps it's time for someone in our federal government to tell the Corps of Engineers that the pallid sturgeon can wait another year. People along the Mississippi need that money more than the piping plover. Maybe it's time we consider a balance in the government where we funnel resources to address the greater problem.

I don't know what a world would be like without the pallid sturgeon. And shame on me, but I don't really care. What I do know is that right about now the Corps of Engineers - whom I hold in deep respect - should consider focusing every ounce of their efforts to protecting the people along the waterways of this nation. In some ways, we too are endangered. People in Washington, D.C., seem to ignore that perspective.

We may not plan on a health crisis in our personal lives but when one surfaces, we change our balance and move our resources to address that issue. The government needs to follow that example.

The sturgeon, the least tern and the piping plover are important, I assume, in the great scheme of things. But those displaced and endangered in the midlands of this nation deserve all of our attention too. Maybe it's time for the Corps of Engineers to consider a new balance.