The Lock and Dam 5A embankment is located along the Mississippi River about 3.5 river miles above Winona, Minnesota, and about 3 river miles below Fountain City, Wis. FEMA is verifying that all levees recognized as providing protection from the base flood meet the requirements outlined in 44 CFR 65.10. This code requires that specific structural requirements must be certified by a registered professional engineer or a federal agency with responsibility for levee design. The city of Winona is performing this certification for the flood risk management project with the Corps providing an analysis of the Lock and Dam 5A embankment in support of that certification.
Published: 10/1/2018
Fish migration up the Little Minnesota River has ceased, which is of great concern to the Sisseton band of the Dakota. This study aims to determine the cause of the lack of migration and identify potential solutions. The study area for this project is the Little Minnesota River between Big Stone Lake and the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Lake Traverse Reservation, which is approximately 200 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and 158 miles north of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The primary area of concern is located in Roberts County, South Dakota, and just outside of Browns Valley, Minnesota, in Traverse County and Big Stone County, Minnesota.
Published: 10/1/2018
Located in Sawyer County, Wisconsin, Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) is a series of lakes that was once a highly productive wild rice water with copious amounts of fish. Within LCO, Musky Bay produced the most wild rice and served as the primary spawning habitat for muskellunge, which are native to LCO. The lake has been known for producing trophy-size fish, including a world record. Presently, due to eutrophication, the wild rice has almost completely disappeared and fish are disappearing within the boundaries of the LCO Reservation. Eutrophication, which occurs when a body of water becomes overly enriched with nutrients, has caused a dense growth of undesirable plant life and fish kills.
Published: 10/1/2018
Pokegama Lake Dam has undergone a series of modifications, repairs and periodic inspections over its 138-year history. The purpose of the project is to develop a Value Engineering Study, Design Charette and Preliminary Engineering Report to inform budget proposals to maintain and improve safe operation of the Pokegama Lake Dam.
Published: 3/16/2017
An area of County Highway M along the east bank of the Red Cedar River northeast of Colfax, Wisconsin is being threatened by erosion. The erosion is occurring along the outside bend of the river. Based on surveys, a stretch of river bank that is approximately 500 feet long is actively eroding where the top of bank has encroached on the right of way for County Highway M. Currently the top of bank is within 10-15 feet of the shoulder at the center of the site. Further erosion would lead to a significant safety concern as the bank drops off approximately 50 feet to the water surface below.
Published: 9/12/2016
The Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam is part of the Inland Waterway Navigation System of the Upper Mississippi River Basin. The Tainter gate’s electrical control system has not been upgraded for many decades. Attempts to operate the gate have failed on various occasions and reliability is a concern. There is also question over the condition of the system’s hydraulics because the ram cylinder rooms and operating machinery rooms are constantly wet.
Published: 3/14/2016
Guidewalls are integral to each of the Mississippi River Locks and Dams 2 through 10. Guidewalls are long extensions of the lock walls, in either the upstream or downstream direction, that are parallel to the lock wall. These walls serve primarily to guide the long tows into the lock and to provide mooring facilities for tows too long to be accommodated in a single lockage. The guidewalls are constructed of multiple 35 to 40 feet length concrete monoliths with rock filled timber cribs beneath and behind them.
Published: 10/2/2015
The Upper Mississippi River corridor is a popular vacation and retirement area and is experiencing continued growth. Much of the area has not been previously studied, and flood risks have not been adequately defined. The Upper Mississippi River Regional Discharge-Frequency Study is conducting hydrologic analyses for development of a consistent set of frequency distributions for discharge and elevation for the Upper Mississippi River from the headwaters area of Lake Bemidji downstream to St. Paul, Minnesota. This study will directly inform floodplain management decisions in 13 counties in Minnesota.
Published: 2/27/2015
The Souris River flows from Saskatchewan, Canada into North Dakota and then back into Canada. Minot is a city located in north central North Dakota with a population of approximately 46,000 residents. Above normal precipitation during the summer and fall of 2010 left much of the eastern portion of Saskatchewan saturated. The winter of 2010 and 2011 then saw snowfall significantly above normal throughout the basin. The Souris River in the Minot area started to rise in April 2011 and continued to rise throughout May 2011.
Published: 2/27/2015
To continue to meet the appropriate combination of levee and dam safety standards, it was necessary to raise the existing embankments protecting the city of Devils Lake, North Dakota and extend the embankments to high ground. Previously, the embankments had been constructed to an elevation of 1,460 feet.
Published: 2/27/2015
Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in the Upper Mississippi River are a significant threat to the endangered Higgins eye pearlymussel (Lampsilis higginsii) and winged mapleleaf (Quadrula fragosa). The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District and Engineer Research and Development Center are conducting a study in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; the National Park Service; the Departments of Natural Resources from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa; and the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission. Recommended management alternatives outside the Corps’ existing authorities would need to be implemented by others.
Published: 2/27/2015
Roseau is located in the northwestern corner of Minnesota in Roseau County about 10 miles south of the Canadian border and about 65 miles east of the North Dakota border. Roseau’s population is about 2,800. It is home to Polaris Industries, Inc., which employs more than 2,000 people and along with agriculture, provides a solid economic base for the community. Roseau County has 16,000 residents.
Published: 2/27/2015
The Red River of the North basin is an international, multi-jurisdictional watershed of 45,000 square miles, with 80 percent of the basin lying in the United States and 20 percent in Manitoba, Canada. Eighteen Minnesota counties and 22 North Dakota counties lie wholly or partially in the basin. The river flows to the north, bringing water and nutrients to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. Flooding and loss of native habitat are significant issues in the Red River basin.
Published: 2/27/2015
The Red River of the North basin covers 45,000 square miles and occupies substantial portions of North Dakota, northwestern Minnesota, southern Manitoba and a small portion of northeastern South Dakota. Land use in the basin is primarily agricultural, but several urban centers are located along the Red River main stem and tributaries. While extensive drainage systems have resulted in extremely rich agricultural areas, portions of the basin still support the ecologically abundant prairie-pothole region. Flooding is a major concern for residents in the basin; frequent floods have impacts on urban and rural infrastructure and agricultural production.
Published: 2/27/2015
The Minnesota River had been recognized as highly degraded and a significant sediment source filling Lake Pepin on the Mississippi River and delivering nutrients to the Gulf of Mexico. The Minnesota River Basin Reconnaissance Study, Section 905(b) Analysis recommended an “Integrated watershed, water quality management, and ecosystem restoration analysis, leading to the development of a basin scale watershed management plan” for the Minnesota River Basin. The purpose of this Minnesota River Basin Interagency Study (MRBI Study) was to implement that recommendation by engaging agency partners and using advanced hydrologic modeling and environmental benefit analysis. The intent was to understand water, sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus transport across large landscapes to evaluate hydrologic, sediment and nutrient runoff response to historic, existing and probable future conditions.
Published: 2/27/2015
The purpose of this project is to reduce the risk of flooding to the residents of Breckenridge Minnesota. Breckenridge is in Wilkin County in western Minnesota, approximately 200 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and 55 miles south of Fargo, North Dakota. The Red River of the North and the Bois de Sioux River border the city on the west. The Otter Tail River flows from the east, bisecting the city. Wahpeton, North Dakota, is located to the west across the Red River from Breckenridge. The devastating flood of 1997 in the Red River basin generated a strong response at all levels of government to implement permanent flood risk management projects for urban communities along the Red River of the North.
Published: 2/27/2015
The St. Paul District is authorized to maintain a 9-foot navigation channel on the St. Croix River from the mouth at the confluence with the Mississippi River near Prescott, Wisconsin, to river mile 24.5 near Stillwater, Minnesota. The authorized width is 200 feet. A 3-foot channel is authorized from river mile 24.5 to river mile 51.8 near Taylors Falls, Minnesota. The authorized width for this reach is 25 feet, and the controlling depth is 1 foot at extreme low water.
Published: 2/27/2015
Pool 2 is the navigation pool created by the construction of Lock and Dam 2 at Hastings, Minnesota, at river mile 815.2. The pool is approximately 32.4 miles long and stretches upstream to Lock and Dam 1 in Minneapolis at river mile 847.6 (often referred to as the Ford Dam). Between river miles 818 and 820, the navigation channel switches from one bank of the river to the other and back again creating a near 90-degree bend in the river at mile 819.
Published: 2/27/2015
The Souris (Mouse) River is located in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada, and North Dakota. The headwaters of the basin comprise several rivers in Saskatchewan that meet near the international border and flow into North Dakota. The Des Lacs River joins the Souris upstream of Minot near Burlington, North Dakota. The Souris River then flows through Sawyer and Velva, North Dakota, before turning back to the north and flowing into Manitoba.
Published: 2/26/2015
Part of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program, the Harpers Slough area is a 4,150-acre backwater area located primarily on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River in Pool 9, about 3 miles upstream of Lock and Dam 9. The site is in the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The area is used heavily by tundra swans, Canada geese, puddle and diving ducks, black terns, nesting eagles, bitterns and cormorants and is also significant as a fish nursery area. Many of the islands in the area have been eroded or lost because of wave action and ice movement. The loss of islands allows more turbulence in the backwater area, resulting in less productive habitat for fish and wildlife.
Published: 2/26/2015
Part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program, the site is a side channel/island complex located on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River navigation channel in Pool 9, about five miles downstream of Lansing, Iowa. The site is in the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. Many of the natural islands bordering the navigation channel and extending into the backwater have eroded and many are disappearing. Erosion from wave action and main channel flows is reducing the size of the wetland complex, resulting in the loss of aquatic vegetation and the shallow protected habitats important for the survival of many species of fish and wildlife.
Published: 2/26/2015
Wahpeton is in Richland County in eastern North Dakota, approximately 55 miles south of Fargo, North Dakota. The Red River of the North and the Bois de Sioux River border the city on the east. The confluence of the Otter Tail River with the Red River of the North is located at Wahpeton. The city of Breckenridge, Minnesota, lies east across the Red River of the North from Wahpeton.
Published: 2/26/2015
The study area is located in a rural setting in Polk County, Minnesota, 275 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Sand Hill River basin is centrally located in the Red River Valley watershed. A major reach of the river downstream of Fertile, Minnesota, was the subject of a flood control project constructed by the Corps of Engineers from 1955 to 1958. It involved straightening the river and constructing several drop structures and served as a drainage improvement to local agriculture. Overall, more than 18 miles of the Sand Hill River was straightened or abandoned.
Published: 2/26/2015