Corps hopes to make July 1st deadline for new river habitats

June 10, 2004

Corps hopes to make July 1st deadline for new river habitats

By NANCY NEUROHR

he U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are working diligently at their task of creating 1,200 new acres of shallow water habitat on the Missouri River by July 1st of this year. The project is a compromise deal made with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to assist with the preservation of endangered bird and fish species.

If the corps is unable to meet their deadline, they may be forced into cutting dam releases during

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the month of July, allowing for only minimum navigation on the river. According to one corps project manager, more than half of the 1,200 acres has already been created.

Several projects are currently underway between Ponca, NE and St. Louis, MO. They are the first installment of the corps' pledge to eventually create 20,000 acres of river habitat over the next 20 years.

A dredging project at Ponca Bend, just north of Ponca State Park, will create 80 acres of new backwater. Crews are working around the clock to clear out an old oxbow that will be opened to the river's main channel.

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Similar projects are under way further south on the Iowa side of the river at Soldier's Bend, Tyson Bend and California Bend. Together they will provide for an additional 65 acres of shallow water.

An additional 1,000 acres will come from major dike modifications, purposeful band erosions and the removal or alteration of some wing dams.

The costs for these projects when completed should be around $12 million.

The new water channels will be open for off-river canoeing, fishing and waterfowl hunting in season.