Missouri River Mitigation Projects Provide New Wildbirds Habitat

Mitigation wetland along the Missouri River. All pictures courtesy of the Army Corps of Engineers.

By James Ed. Ducey

Ongoing habitat projects being carried out in conjunction with the Missouri River Mitigation Project are providing new habitat for a variety of wild birds.

"The primary focus of the mitigation project is to establish slower flowing and shallower water along the Missouri river," said Michael Sandine, natural resources manager for the Missouri River mitigation project, in the Omaha district of the Army Corps of Engineers. "The goal is to provide a corridor of habitat for various native species, including amphibians, birds, fish and mammals."

The habitat development practices being implemented at numerous mitigation sites include:

* "Create native and diverse habitats

* Preserve and improve riverine habitats and processes

* Preserve and restore wetland habitats

* Preserve and restore upland terrestrial habitats

* Create opportunities to reconnect the floodplain to the river

* Create areas that will require mostly passive management," according to the 2006 annual report for the project.

There were 46,555 acres of mitigation lands acquired as of September 30, 2006. A variety of habitat types have resulted, with a return to native type vegetation the most extensive, followed by grassland and forest.

Water conditions at Saint Marys Island mitigation project site.

Project lands are purchased only from willing sellers.

New shorebird habitat created at Copeland Bend in 2006 has been used by shorebirds.

"Two depressional wetlands were built on the protected side of the river levee which seem to be attractive to shorebirds and serve as a water hole for other species," Sandine said.

This bend project was developed by the Corps, and is now managed by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Bank Swallows have established a breeding colony at Kansas Bend, near Peru, Nebraska.

After two new water chutes were established in 2006, the effects of erosional activity of the river water in one chute created earthen banks 12-14 feet in height, Sandine said. The swallows dug nesting burrows this season.

Additional chute creation work occurred at Schilling WMA northeast of Plattsmouth last season, and is currently undergoing the erosional affects of the river flows.

Examples of sites where work has been underway this season include: excavations of backwater areas at Hole in the Rock, finishing excavation of a mile-long chute at Council Bend on the Iowa side of the river northwest of Council Bluffs, and wetland construction at Langdon Bend, Nebraska.

Digging a mitigation wetland.

Dig work at mitigation wetland.

A particular emphasis this current fiscal year is to acquire strips of land along the river channel, to allow the completion of "structural modifications to the existing bank protection and navigation dikes. The changes will encourage the river to widen and create more shallow water habitat in the dike fields," the annual report said.

Map of restoration project at Langdon Bend, Missouri River. Courtesy of ACE.

Sandine enjoys seeing the changes in habitat as mitigation sites evolve from their former land use. "It is interesting and gratifying to see smaller species on the successional ground, such as the profusion of native sunflowers that are used as a seed source for small wild birds."

"The Missouri River Mitigation Project (Project) is designed to mitigate, or compensate, for fish and wildlife habitat losses that resulted from past channelization efforts on the Missouri River. The Project extends from Sioux City, Iowa to the mouth of the Missouri River near St. Louis, a length of 735 river miles," according to the project website.

Congress authorized construction of the mitigation project in 1986.

Implementation of the project started in 1991, with the first project the re-opening of a riverine chute near Marshall, Missouri at the Grand Pass Conservation Area.

There was $132,792,000 of federal funds expended on mitigation efforts in the Corps' Kansas City and Omaha districts, from fiscal year 1992 through fiscal year 2006, according to the projects' December 2006 Annual Implementation Report. An additional $23 million was provided for the 2007 fiscal year. Cost of the overall, authorized project is expected to exceed $1 billion with additional activities in the next few years.

The Corps typically licenses mitigation sites to state agencies which then manage the tracts for uses such as bird watching, fishing, hunting, and other outdoor recreation. The Omaha Nation manages the Hole in the Rock site.

 

This alternative version of the map has a link to the site webpage, if available.

Missouri River Mitigation Project Website