YANKTON, S.D. (AP) - The Dakotas played host to members of the Mississippi River Commission earlier this month as part of their journey along the upstream reaches of the Missouri River.

The tour started Aug. 11 in Helena, Mont., and included meetings with tribal officials. The commission members met with North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven on Monday and with South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds on Tuesday in Pierre. They also toured the Oahe Dam.

In Yankton, the group met with local officials, toured the Gavins Point Fish Hatchery and took boats down the river.

"They really want to hear what the issues are on the Missouri and sort out how those conflicts within the Missouri affect the Mississippi," said Paul Johnston, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Omaha District. "They really are in the listening mode."

"Our goal is to get your interests heard," said Brig. Gen. Robert Crear, MRC president. "This is one huge river basin, and we want to get the entire basin's views on the basin so that we can develop solutions and programs that benefit the basin as a whole."

Congress set up the commission in 1879 to develop ways to improve the Mississippi River, foster navigation, promote commerce and prevent floods. Its headquarters is in Vicksburg, Miss.

Yankton's mayor, Curt Bernard, said sedimentation is his area's biggest worry.

"We have too much in the lake and too little below the dam," he said. "(The city) continues to spend substantial money laying pipes and lower pump houses because river bed (below the dam) is eroding away."

Howard Paul, executive director of Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition, said his group wants to get sediment under control.

"We are appealing to the Corps of Engineers to help us devise a solution because I believe the corps has the best technical engineering capabilities to accomplish that goal if they are given the authority, the direction and the dollars to do it," he said.

The MRC's Crear said sedimentation also is an issue on the Mississippi, but not on as large a scale as on the Missouri.

"We need to look at the big picture and find holistic solutions," he said. "This whole watershed system is important. The times when we looked at each individual piece - the Missouri River, the Ohio River and the Mississippi River - with blinders on to the others are past.

"I do believe that with all the people involved we should be able to put our heads together and come up with an answer. Getting the federal folks involved and looking at what each area does individually and how those projects work could provide an answer."

Crear said he thinks Rounds understands that upper Missouri not only affects the lower portion but also the Mississippi River. The commission has invited Rounds to an MRC meeting to discuss upper Missouri River issues, he said.

"What that does is create a public record of those issues," Crear said. "That record will be dispersed to the (corps) chief of engineers, Congress and the White House. It's a vehicle to get your interests heard."