Corps to update public on plan for North, Sturgeon lakes

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is hosting an open house in Red Wing, Minnesota, to discuss ways of improving habitat in and around North and Sturgeon lakes Sept. 9.  

The open house will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. with a short presentation at 6 p.m., at the Red Wing Public Library Community Room., located at 225 East Ave., Red Wing, MN, 55066. Corps of Engineers officials and staff from other agencies will be available during the open house.  

The Corps is proposing several options to improve fish and wildlife habitat in and around the two lakes. These features include a water level drawdown within Pool 3, constructing up to four islands in North Lake, two islands in Sturgeon Lake and dredging to increase the water depth for fish over winter. Construction would start no earlier than summer 2016.

The study is part of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program. The program is a cooperative effort of federal, state and local governments focused on habitat restoration projects and resource monitoring. More than 55 projects and 100,000 acres of habitat restoration have been completed since the program was created in 1986.

The nearly 650 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 Corps’ Fiscal Year 2014 $100 million budget, nearly 1,600 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $155 million to the national economy. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.

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