ST. PAUL, Minn. -- ST. PAUL, Minn. –The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, awarded an $8.8 million contract to Dubuque Barge & Fleeting Service Company doing business as Newt Marine Service, of Dubuque, Iowa, Sept. 28, to begin constructing a habitat restoration project in the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge located near Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
The completed project will restore eroding peninsulas around McGregor Lake, dredge backwater habitat for overwintering fish and enhance floodplain forest habitat. The forests in the Mississippi River corridor provide critical habitat for migrating songbirds, nesting bald eagles, herons, kingfishers and other birds.
The project was planned in coordination with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Iowa and Wisconsin departments of natural resources and the local communities. Most site work is not expected to begin until the spring of 2021.
“The interagency team worked hard to design a plan to stabilize fragile shorelines that would have otherwise disappeared, said Angela Deen, the Upper Mississippi River Program Manager at the Corps’ St. Paul District. “This project will benefit the local environment and the community for years to come.”
This project is funded under the authority of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program. This program is intended to ensure the coordinated development and enhancement of the Upper Mississippi River system with primary emphasis on habitat restoration projects and resource monitoring. In the more than 30-year history of the program, more than 55 habitat projects benefiting approximately 100,000 acres on the Upper Mississippi River, from Minneapolis to St. Louis, have been completed.
– 30 –
Release no. 20-141