Photo By Melanie Peterson | Sara Rother, forester, teaches Corps and partner agency representatives how to plant a...... read more read more
he U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, and agency partners celebrated Earth Day, April 22, with a tree planting at McGregor Lake Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Project, near Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Members of USACE, the Wisconsin and Iowa departments of natural resources, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, gathered on one of the islands that was built as part of the McGregor Lake restoration project to plant over 250 Swamp White Oak bareroot seedlings.
“This is the culmination of many years of work on the day we’re supposed to be celebrating the Earth; we’re seeing the fruits of our labor. Everyone here made this project happen,” said John Henderson, project manager.
McGregor Lake is a 200-acre backwater lake in Pool 10 of the Mississippi River. The lake lies within the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The project aims to improve lake habitat for backwater fish species, increase emergent and submergent vegetation growth, increase age and species diversity of self-sustaining floodplain forest and protect aquatic and terrestrial habitat by reducing erosion.
The project includes the beneficial use of river sand dredged from the navigation channel to create islands. The project has used more than 500,000 cubic yards of river sand that would otherwise have been moved to an upland placement site. The project will be completed in 2026.
This project is part of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration, or UMRR, program. The program ensures the coordinated development and enhancement of the Upper Mississippi River system with a primary emphasis on habitat restoration projects and resource monitoring. In the 36-year history of the program, more than 55 habitat projects benefiting approximately 100,000 acres from Minneapolis to St. Louis, have been completed.
UMRR is a federally-funded and multi-agency partnership with both state and federal partners between a multitude of Upper Mississippi River agencies spanning from St. Paul, Minnesota, to the delta at the southern tip of Illinois. The program targets the Upper Mississippi River wildlife refuge and other areas across the region to rebuild, restore, study and implement better practices and rehabilitate some of the islands that have seen change based on climate change, flooding and invasive species.
-30-
| Date Taken: | 04.22.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 05.10.2024 14:56 |
| Story ID: | 470971 |
| Location: | PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, WI, US |
| Web Views: | 17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, USACE celebrates Earth Day with tree planting at restoration project, by Melanie Peterson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT