• September

    Tribal Partnership Program: Red Lake Fish Passage & Wetland Restoration, Red Lake River, Minnesota

    The study will address the degradation of culturally significant habitat being faced by the Red Lake Nation on their tribal lands along the Red Lake River and the Zah Gheeng Marsh. The study will assess and make recommendations related to fish passage through a low-head dam and wetland restoration opportunities along the Red Lake River.
  • October

    Tribal Partnership Program: Section 203, Big Sand Lake Shoreline Stabilization

    The purpose of the project is to arrest erosion along tribal lands on the southeast side of the lake while enhancing access to the water for cultural practices. Fed by groundwater, Big Sand Lake is a clear, soft water lake that has varying levels of algae growth within the year, affecting lake health. The lake, located in Burnett County, Wisconsin, is typically 1,434 surface acres with a maximum depth of 55 feet.
  • Tribal Partnership Program: Section 203, Little Minnesota River Assessment of Fish Migration

    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.
  • March

    Tribal Partnership Program: Sturgeon Lake

    The purpose of the project is to address sedimentation, erosion and degradation of culturally significant habitat on Prairie Island Indian Community’s tribal land in Sturgeon Lake. Priority objectives identified in the feasibility study, which will be carried forward in the design and implementation phase are to: (1) reduce shoreline erosion on the Buffalo Slough Island; and (2) improve/restore floodplain forest habitat on Buffalo Slough Island.
  • April

    Tribal Partnership Program: Upper Sioux Community, Minnesota River

    The study will assess the problems and opportunities being faced by the Upper Sioux Community on their tribal lands and make recommendations related to erosion along the Minnesota River adjacent to and impacting those lands. The Upper Sioux Community is located south of the Minnesota River in Yellow Medicine County, approximately four miles south of the city of Granite Falls, Minnesota.
  • December

    Upper Mississippi River - Illinois Waterway System Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP)

    Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP) is a long-term program of ecosystem restoration and navigation improvements for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). NESP will improve system capacity and reduce commercial traffic delays through construction of seven new 1,200-foot locks, mooring cells, and switchboat implementation.
  • February

    Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Navigation Project Locks and Dams, Minnesota/Wisconsin/Iowa

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District is responsible for maintaining 244 miles of the Upper Mississippi River 9-foot channel navigation system from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Guttenberg, Iowa. The Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Navigation Project is located in or contiguous to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The navigation project within the St. Paul District includes 13 locks and dams that are operated and maintained by the Corps. In addition to the locks and dams, the project includes channel maintenance, recreation and natural resource activities.
  • Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Navigation Project Maintenance Minnesota/Wisconsin/Iowa

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for maintaining a 9-foot navigation channel as an important component to the inland navigation system. The St. Paul District (MVP) is responsible for maintaining 244 miles of the Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel Navigation Project from the head of navigation at Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Guttenberg, Iowa. The navigation project also includes the lower navigable portions of the Minnesota, St. Croix, and Black Rivers.
  • April

    Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program: Lake Winneshiek

    Lake Winneshiek is a 6,000 acre backwater lake on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River navigation channel in lower Pool 9 about 4 miles downstream from Lansing, Iowa. The proposed project would create two islands, each about 8,000 feet long, in the center of Lake Winneshiek to reduce wave action in this large, open water area. If suitable construction material can be found in the backwater area, dredging would provide up to 20 acres of additional deepwater habitat.
  • Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program: Lower Pool 10 Islands, Guttenberg, Iowa Habitat Restoration

    The Lower Pool 10 Islands are part of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program. The site is a 1,000-acre side channel and island complex located on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River navigation channel in Pool 10, about one mile upstream from Lock and Dam 10 in Guttenberg, Iowa. The site lies within the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.
  • Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program: McGregor Lake, Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin Habitat Restoration

    McGregor Lake is a 200-acre backwater lake in Pool 10 of the Mississippi River. The McGregor Lake project is located on the Wisconsin side of the Upper Mississippi River in the middle of Pool 10, near Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin. The site lies within the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.
  • March

    Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program: Minnesota/Wisconsin/Iowa Habitat Restoration

    This program, authorized by Congress in 1986, emphasizes habitat rehabilitation and enhancement projects (HREPs) and long-term resource monitoring. The HREP component includes dredging backwater areas and channels, constructing dikes, creating and stabilizing islands, controlling side channel flows and water levels, and creating floodplain forest habitat.
  • Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program: Reno Bottoms, Pool 9, Upper Mississippi River

    The primary objective of this project is to protect, restore, or create resilient and diverse bottomland forests. The quality and extent of the unique forest and aquatic habitat in the Reno Bottoms project area has been declining over the past several decades. Human caused changes in hydrology, land use, and climate have increased water levels within the project area. Without action, the project area will continue to degrade. The quality of forest and aquatic habitat will decrease. Invasive grasses would expand into forests, limiting opportunities for smaller trees to grow and reducing habitat value. Additional loss of wetland habitat would adversely affect migrating waterbirds and songbirds who require the floodplain forest to stop and rest.
  • April

    Upper Mississippi River Restoration Project Big Lake, Pool 4, Wisconsin

    As with the much of the upper Mississippi River, sedimentation of backwater areas is an ongoing issue. The project area is greatly influenced by the input of sand from the Chippewa River that enters Pool 4 at about river mile 764. Other potential sources of sand are the historic channel maintenance dredging side-cast islands and the four active temporary placement sites within the study area. Big Lake has lost much of its island complex and bottomland forest to wind and wave erosion. The barrier islands between the lake and Catfish Slough have been degraded and/or eliminated over the past several years.
  • March

    Upper St. Anthony Falls Tainter Gate Rehabilitation

    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.