Corps to host environmental restoration open house for Mississippi River Pool 4

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, is hosting an open house in Red Wing, Minnesota, April 4, to discuss a habitat improvement study in and around Pierce County Islands and the Head of Lake Pepin in Upper Pool 4 of the Mississippi River.  

The open house will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. with a short presentation at 5:30 p.m., in the Laurentine Room at the St. James Hotel, located at 406 Main St., Red Wing. Corps and Wisconsin DNR officials and staff from other resource agencies will be available during the open house to answer questions and listen to feedback.  

This study will explore opportunities to use Pool 4 dredged material to improve the ecosystem. Potential opportunities include using dredged material to build islands, dredging backwater areas, creating and/or improving wetlands, stabilizing the shoreline and planting floodplain forest. The Corps and Wisconsin DNR will present alternative restoration concepts for public input.  

The nearly 600 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the St. Paul District Fiscal Year 2016 $78 million budget, nearly 1,250 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $120 million to the national economy. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.

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