November 7, 2002

Habitat Project Along Missouri River at Tobacco Island Dedicated 

1,800-acre area of Missouri River floodplain in Cass County, just south of Plattsmouth Nebraska, has been dedicated as the Gilmour Widlife Management Area. The $3 million habitat restoration project is located along a bend on the right-bank of the Missouri River known as Tobacco Island, between mile markers 586 to 589.

A shallow, secondary channel has been created in the management area that biologists hope will encourage a variety of habitats for fish and wildlife. This side channel (chute) inlet is located on the right bank of Upper Tobacco Bend near river mile marker 589. The chute bisects the Tobacco Island floodplain, creating an island of wetlands for such species as mollusks, muskrats and mallards. The chute outlet is on Lower Tobacco Bend near river mile marker 586.

A bit of Lewis and Clark history...
After having camped to the south on Goose Island the previous night, the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery passed by Rock Bluff and Tobacco Island on Saturday, July 21 1804. 
"...we had a breeze from the southeast, by the aid of which we passed, at about ten miles, a willow island on the south, near highlands, covered with timber at the bank, and formed of limestone with cemented shells. On the opposite bank is a bad sand-bar, and the land near it is cut through at high water by small channels, forming a number of islands..." 
That night they camped on what is believed to the Iowa side near river mile marker 605 just to the south of Long's Landing on Lower Manawa Bend. This historic location became known as "Camp White Catfish".

Next year OmahaRiverFront.com will be publishing a series of articles which will retrace the Corps of Discovery's journey up the Missouri River in order to celebrate the Bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery journey. 

The Army Corps of Engineers, which manages the river's flows, funded the Gilmour Widlife Management Area as a part of the Missouri River Mitigation Project. The Project is designed to mitigate, or compensate, for fish and wildlife habitat losses that resulted from past channelization efforts on the Missouri River. The Project extends from Sioux City, Iowa to the mouth of the Missouri River near St. Louis, a length of 735 river miles. 

The Water Resources Development Act of 1986 made the Missouri River Mitigation Projects possible. The act authorized about $80 million for regional Corps of Engineers projects to restore river habitat in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. 

Once a meandering prairie river that cut new courses and flooded lowlands as it swelled with heavy rains and snow, the Missouri River has been tamed and channeled by dams and dikes. In the process, Nebraska lost an estimated 97,000 acres of wildlife habitat and miles of stream surface. Some of that is being reclaimed along the river, including the 1,800-acre Gilmour Widlife Management Area which will be maintained as public land by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission after the Corps has completed restoration work.

The current area large-scale restoration project also includes Hamburg Bend (river mile marker area 552-665), which is 1,544 acres south of Nebraska City that was completed in 1996, and 921 acres at the Langdon Bend (river mile marker area 528-532) in Nemaha County. 

Several other projects are in development to achieve a goal of 7,200 restored acres.