Site Management for Missouri River Wildlands to Revert to Corps

Mitigation lands along the Missouri river are being returned to management by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Following the Corps purchase of five areas along the Missouri River, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission agreed to be responsible for active management. The sites include William Gilmour/Tobacco Island south of Plattsmouth, Hamburg Bend in Otoe County as well as Kansas Bend, Upper Brownville Bend and Langdon Bend in Nemaha County.

Staff at the Corps Missouri River Project Office north of Omaha will be responsible for area management on October 1, 2019. The Corps has established many additional mitigation areas associated with the Missouri River.

“We plan to make the management change as transparent as possible,” said Larry Janis, recreation and natural resource branch chief with the Corps. There may be some difference in the area roadways and grassland management practices. A significant item prompting the change was that current Nebraska agricultural agreements would not allow “trade services to be done with local entities,” he said.

NGPC has managed some of these sites for more than 20 years, or since the 1990s, according to Pat Molini, assistant division administrator for the agency. The agency also owns other properties, including the Peru Bottoms WMA. “These sites are special places for birds along the river.”

There are currently no planned changes in management responsibilities at the five areas including no expected dramatic change in the outdoor activities available – including bird watching, fishing, hiking, hunting and nature study – on these public lands. Similar areas are owned and managed on the Iowa side of the river by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Camping will continued to not be allowed. Collecting of any flora and fauna is also not allowed.

Further information on Omaha District mitigation areas associated with the Missouri River is available at the Missouri River Recovery Program website.

Mitigation Progress Continues Along Missouri River

During the past two years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has continued to purchase additional land tracts for mitigation purposes along the Missouri River.

In the Omaha District, the agency - as of early February - has bought from willing sellers, 20,114.87 acres for the Missouri River Recovery (Mitigation) Program, said Sean M. Keating, a senior realty specialist, civil branch. "We have also acquired an additional 5,438.73 acres of land use through fish and wildlife mitigation easements granted to the United States by our partners in the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission."

Thus far in fiscal year 2012, 137.66 acres in two tracts have been acquired, Keating said.

A small tract of 45.41 acres is at Tobacco Island, southeast of Plattsmouth, in Cass County, Nebraska. This area is also known as the William Gilmore WMA, and is managed by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, through a partnership agreement with the Corps of Engineers.

"This parcel is a little smaller than we would normally acquire, but it will help improve access to Tobacco Island off of Horning Road through Plattsmouth," Keating said. "The previous owner had a tendency to close and lock the gate across the road. A second tract of 92.25 acres is at Brownville Bend in Nemaha County, Nebraska."

There were 454.45 acres acquired during FY 2011 in the Omaha District, which includes Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota. The fiscal year ended on October 31st, 2011.

The parcels were all in Nemaha County, Nebraska, according to Keating. Two were associated with the Langdon Bend site (95.07 acres and 265.26 acres).

Langdon Bend now includes 1283 acres, and has been a focus site for additional habitat management work, including the installation of water pumps and creating areas where water conditions can be actively managed to improve conditions for migratory fowl.

A tract of 94.02 acres was bought at Brownville Bend.

"The two smaller tracts were recreational land, encumbered by Wetland Reserve Program easements, while the larger tract was technically agricultural land, although it had not been farmed in almost two years as a result of high groundwater making it too wet to farm," Keating said.

The Missouri River flood of 2011 influenced acquisition of additional property.

"When acquiring real estate, the Corps of Engineers is first required to have the property appraised," Keating said. "Once the water came up, it became very difficult to appraise anything. Even before the flood, our appraisers were having a difficult time attempting to pin down prices in a market where prices for land - particularly agricultural land - were rising daily."

This year the Corps is "looking at the possibility of using more outside appraisers to help carry some of the workload left over from last year in addition to the new willing sellers we have had contact us so far this year."

"We are looking at trying to add to existing Corps-owned projects at Langdon Bend and St. Mary's Island, but there are also exciting new possibilities at Sonora Bend, Civil Bend and even something a little closer to Omaha at Papillion Bend," Keating said. Since this "is a willing seller program, any or all of these potential sites could fall through at any time."

It is uncertain if the flood has had any influence on an increased interest in selling flood-prone land in the river valley.

"We were contacted by a number of landowners between approximately October and January and it did seem at that time as if there was a fairly definite increase in interest," Keating said. "There is a good chance that a number of those landowners are merely exploring all of their options. I don't believe there have been any landowners who have suddenly changed their opinions regarding the Missouri River Recovery Program or the Corps of Engineers, but if the Corps is able to offer them a price that works for them, I think there are some who will be willing to sell their property."

"We are thankful that these landowners are even exploring the possibility and are hopeful to reach agreements that are agreeable and beneficial to all parties," Keating said.

Regarding future property purchases, "a lot will depend on what appraisers say about the market for land in the Missouri River valley in the wake of the flooding, and whether or not landowners agree with their analysis."

Completion of Planning Approaching for the Sandy Point Bend Project

Aerial view of the Sandy Point Bend project area. Image from the Draft Project Implementation Report for Sandy Point Bend Shallow Water Habitat.

The Sandy Point Bend aquatic habitat restoration project will soon be constructed along the Missouri River. It will feature a distinctive new chute design to provide shallow water habitat for the benefit of the endangered pallid sturgeon and other native aquatic species, and also provide a natural setting of wetlands and woods beneficial to other species of flora and fauna.

There will be a network of several riverine chutes created on the floodplain within the 251.6 acres that make up the Sandy Point Bend project area. These chutes will be connected to the Missouri River to provide shallow, slow moving, off-channel aquatic habitat beneficial to fish and wildlife, said Luke Wallace, an environmental resource specialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The chutes will be connected to the Missouri River and provide shallow water habitat with increased channel complexity, depth diversity, and flow diversity, all of which is currently lacking in the channelized Missouri River, Wallace said. This type of habitat is more biologically productive than what is currently available in the main channel, and is thought to provide feeding and nursery areas for young pallid sturgeon.

"Tie-back" channels will connect each primary chute with the primary river channel, with three of these features directly connected to the Missouri River channel, and one connecting the two primary chutes, according to the project diagram available with the online Section 404 permit application. These channels will have a constructed bottom width of 60 feet, but they will have the ability to eventually erode to an ultimate bottom width of 150 to 200 feet, Wallace said.

The longest chute is 7,410 feet in length, according to the draft project implementation report, also available online. The other chute, closer to the current channel of the Missouri River, is 5,606 feet long. Once the four tie channels are added in, the project would result in the construction of almost three miles of chute habitat that will initially provide 25 acres of shallow water habitat with the potential of providing up to 63 acres once the channels erode to their projected ultimate widths of 150 to 200 feet.

Features of the Sandy Point Bend Project area. Image from the draft project implementation report.

To construct the project, approximately 800,000 cubic yards of material would be excavated by a hydraulic dredge. The material - basically sand - would be discharged into the Missouri River, as allowed by state and federal permits.

Water will be present in the constructed chutes during the navigation season, which typically runs from April 1 to November 30. They may or may not have water in them during the winter (non-navigation season) depending on the releases from Gavins Point Dam, Wallace said.

In addition to creating seasonal fisheries habitat, the channels are expected to be beneficial to other typical fauna which occur in this area of the Missouri River valley.

The chutes would be conducive to Bald Eagles, which prefer to forage along river channels, and with the chutes being associated with lowland cottonwood forest, it may also promote use by this species during the breeding season.

As the river water scours the channels, trees are expected to fall into the water, Wallace noted. The deadfall would be suitable for use by turtles, and roosting waterfowl, and provide substrate for macroinvertebrates which provide food for a wide variety of aquatic species. The fallen trees would also create depositional areas and scour holes, which would increase the depth and flow diversity in the chutes.

The Sandy Point Bend tract is on the west bank of the Missouri River, north of Blair, on property formerly owned by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, since it is within the boundaries of the state of Iowa, though on the current Nebraska side of the river. The Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District bought the acres from the Iowa DNR, and then subsequently sold it to the Army Corps of Engineers, which closed on the site purchase on November 18, 2009, at a cost of $263,861.

It will cost about $3.2 million to create the shallow water habitat, according to cost estimates.

This project is being constructed as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Missouri River Recovery Program which seeks to mitigate for fish and wildlife habitat lost as a result of channelization of the Missouri River, and recover three federally listed threatened and endangered species (interior least tern, piping plover, and pallid sturgeon).

Historic features of the Sandy Point Bend project area. The Sandy Point Bend Ferry Landing was on the left side of the map. Image from the 1890 Missouri River Commission Maps.

Construction is expected to start in 2011 subject to availability of funds, and be completed in approximately 12 months, Wallace said.

This project was first suggested by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, "during one of the Corps' quarterly coordination meetings" with the agency.

The Sandy Point Bend name is derived from the historic Sandy Point ferry landing, as shown on the 1890 Missouri River Commission map.

The public comment period for the Section 404 permit application closed in early July.

The site is open for public use, though this is currently limited to riverine access, as there are no roads into the place.

The Tyson Bend mitigation site is just down river, on the eastern side of the river channel, northeast of Blair.

Purchase of St. Helena Island to Benefit Many Species

A key tract of land recently purchased by the Corps of Engineers will provide multiple benefits for a variety of flora and fauna along the Missouri National Recreation River along Nebraska's northeast boundary.

The St. Helena Island tract - comprising 2400 acres and seven miles of river frontage - was purchased in July by the Conservation Fund, with ownership transferred to the Corps in November.

The tract was purchased for $10.6 million, according to Mike George, a program manager with the Corps. This is a bit more than $4400 per acre.

This is the first tract of Missouri River property purchased through a cooperative effort with a land trust, and was "a real successful partnership," George said.

The property consists of cottonwood and cedar forest, grassland and cropland. It sits between the Missouri River and a steep bluff and may have been host to an Omaha Indian village in the early 1800s, according to information from the Conservation Fund.

Several prominent features make this an especially important purchase, George said. These include:

1) The property is adjacent to three islands where Least Terns and Piping Plovers nest. Ownership will protect the river bank, and prevent and development adjacent to the habitat of these threatened and endangered species.

2) Their property was historically an island, so the former riverside oxbow and chute setting provide an opportunity for recreating shallow water habitat, which would be beneficial for the endangered Pallid Sturgeon.

3) The riverine cottonwood forest will be conserved for use by Bald Eagles, and a wide variety of other bird species, including neotropic migrants.

4) This tract had been identified as a priority acquisition by the National Park Service due to its visual aesthetics and the extent of forest present.

Area map of the St. Helena Island tract.
Image courtesy of the Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District Office.

In the next few months, a group will be established to make management decisions for the property, said George. Representatives from the National Park Service (which oversees management of the Missouri National Recreation River), the state of Nebraska, the area natural resources district, and local/county agencies are expected to be involved. The group will prepare a master plan for the site which will maximize the benefits which can be derived from the site's ecosystem.

St. Helena Island is expected to be open for public use in the autumn of 2010, as the current landowner will be growing crops for one additional season.

Historic view of the St. Helena Island area. From the 1893 Missouri River Commission map.

An area map and related information will be provided on the Corps' website in coming months, to help the public get further information.

Birder's can readily assist with the management of the property by conducting bird surveys to help site managers realize what species are present, which could be helpful in determining management efforts to improve habitat.

In the immediate vicinity in September 1806, the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition mention the Wild Turkey and Greater Prairie-Chicken. In May 1834, Prince Maximilian noted the Whip-poor-will and White-throated Sparrow during his boat travels down the river.

Some species known to occur - based on a survey more than 25 years ago at St. Helena Bend - include the American Goldfinch, Baltimore Oriole, Bell's Vireo, Belted Kingfisher, Brown Thrasher, Brown-headed Cowbird, Eastern Kingbird, Gray Catbird, Mourning Dove, Orchard Oriole, Ring-necked Pheasant, Song Sparrow and Yellow Warbler.

Funding for the acquisition was included in the Fiscal Year 2010 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, which was recently approved by Congress and provides funding for Corps' programs, including the Missouri River Mitigation Program, through which this property was purchased.

Partnerships Continue to Complete Habitat Projects Along the Missouri River

Cooperative partnerships continue to create a variety of habitat beneficial for fish and wildlife along the Missouri River in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

Project results were dramatically evident during a look at projects at Middle Decatur Chute and Bullard Bend where wetland and shallow water habitat has been created from what had been upland habitat just a few months ago.

Middle Decatur Bend, southeast of Decatur, Burt County in Nebraska

This just completed project - designed to primarily benefit river fish - was carried out by the Nebraska office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Omaha District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE), and Papio-Missouri Natural Resources District (NRD). Additional funding was provided by the Nebraska Environmental Trust.

Officials at the project site.

View of the completed chute.

This project entailed the following, according to the NRCS: "The NRD purchased a 200' wide strip of land along the river where the COE conducted revetment lowering in an attempt to regain additional channel meandering by sloughing the slopes through normal river flow action. The NRCS obtained a perpetual easement – through the Wetland Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP) - from the edge of this strip landward on an additional 98 acres. This is the area where the NRCS allowed the COE to construct the chute through a compatible use agreement. The new chute – a former river channel that had been filled with silt from a 1952 flood - is over one mile long and created an additional 20 plus acres of new aquatic habitat on the site. Activity allowed the old river channel to be reconnected to the river which will increase the use of the area by fisheries as well as aquatic, upland and threatened and endangered species. Water will be present for longer periods of time thus increasing the use of the area for shorebirds, migratory waterfowl and other wildlife species. Activity will increase the diversity of the site and improve the area creating biological/ecological benefits for both upland and wetland dependent species.

"In addition the NRD purchased 200' wide strips along the river downstream of this site from two other landowners and was donated another parcel from the Iowa DNR where additional bank sloughing was conducted by the COE along with another small chute that was constructed. In all approximately four river miles of bank had shallow water areas constructed adjacent to this site. The entire area encompasses about 900 acres of land under easement and fee title ownership that has been devoted entirely to wildlife habitat. Two other owners have WREP easements in this complex - one site being ca. 300 acres and the other being 118 acres. The remainder of the area is currently owned by the Papio Missouri River NRD."

Don Doty, Wetland Team Leader at the Syracuse NRCS Field Office, was especially pleased to see the completion of this project, as there had been about a dozen years of planning to get the project underway. The NRCS has been actively involved in projects along the Missouri River since 2004.

Western Contracting Corporation, of Sioux City, Iowa, did the dredging and site preparation work, which required removal of trees during the winter and early spring season, so no trees were removed from April 15 to July 15, to ensure compliance with provisions of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

The $1.3 million project was approved by ACE and NRCS officials at an on-site meeting and project review on August 14.

The chute will provide shallow water beneficial for the Pallid Sturgeon, according to Luke Wallace, a Corps' biologist. Other native fish including chubs, and the paddlefish are also expected to benefit. A sandy side-slope created on a newly created riverine island, may also provide nesting habitat for turtles, he said.

Bullard Bend, Harrison County in Iowa

Bullard Bend is a "cooperative project between the NRCS and the COE with funding from NRCS, COE and the Nebraska Environmental Trust Fund in cooperation with the Papio-Missouri River NRD and The Nature Conservancy. The site under the WREP easement is 194 acres and the work consists of a backwater reconnection to the river that is approximately 5600' long and varies in width from 200 to 600 feet. There are several deeper areas of approximately 15' to help sustain the fishery throughout the year which also increases the potential use by threatened and endangered species due to water being present on the site for longer periods of time."

A dredge operating 24-hours-a-day since the first of April has been removing the sediment to create the backwater. Other heavy equipment is being used to move the earth to form the banks and create the setting detailed in project plans. The initial project effort was opening the river bank, done in October 2008. Big River Construction is the contractor for this project, planned to be completed by the end of September.

This tract is Iowa land on the western side of the river, and is accessible via land only from Nebraska because meanderings of the river mean the Iowa property is actually on the Nebraska side of the primary river channel, which is the obvious, though not legal boundary between the two states.

A project approval meeting is planned for later in August at the Tyson Bend Project, which is the third major project being completed this year in this section of the Missouri River.

"Cooperation among agencies is vital to get projects of this magnitude funded and completed," Doty said. "Each agency brings a different level of expertise to the table which is needed to get through all of the issues on sites and projects this large. Benefits from the projects influence the need of all agencies to reach some type of common goal in habitat restoration. But the real important link in all of this is the landowner. If the landowners were not involved the projects simply would not happen!"

Representative Late-summer Birds

During the day's outing along the river, notes were kept on the bird species present along the river. The 23 species noted - based on cursory observations - were: Canada Goose, Great Blue Heron, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper (obviously benefiting from a bit of sandy habitat along the edge of the channel), Mourning Dove, Chimney Swift (most notably at Beck Memorial Park at Decatur), Belted Kingfisher, Red-headed Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Eastern Kingbird, Blue Jay, American Crow, Bank Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, Field Sparrow, Dickcissel, Baltimore Oriole, American Goldfinch, and House Sparrow.

This list presents just a glimpse of the variety of birds which occur during the summer along the Missouri River. The notes made during the day's foray were kept in order to document the occurrence of some species because of the lack of information available for these places. There is an obvious lack of knowledge of bird species distribution and occurrence at different mitigation sites and other public habitats along the middle Missouri River.

Biological Opinion Mandates Mitigation

These three projects - and many others - have been done to comply with the legal requirements of a biological opinion issued in 2004 that required that the Army Corps of Engineers mitigate for habitat losses incurred from the channelization of the formerly meandering Missouri River.

The Missouri River Mitigation Program has been underway for a number of years, and numerous projects have been completed to provide a variety of habitats conducive for fish, wildlife and other native critters.

Other project partners have included the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Additional mitigation projects have also been completed in Missouri.

There will be a five-year evaluation of mitigation efforts conducted by the Omaha District in 2010, according to Michael Sandine, a natural resources specialist with the Corps. The evaluation will consider how efforts such as those at Middle Decatur Bend and Bullard Bend have achieved the acreage restoration goals stipulated in the biological opinion.

Efforts to Mitigate for Habitat Changes Continues Along the Missouri

Another new mitigation project along the Missouri River in Nebraska is currently underway on and near Boyer Chute NWR.

The Boyer Bend Billabong/Lower Calhoun Chute project is being done at a cost of $3.818 million dollars, using federal funds provided through a congressional allocation to the Army Corps of Engineers.

The project is for the benefit of the endangered Pallid Sturgeon, according to Matt Krajewski, Corps project manager.

This and other sites are selected through an extensive review and selection process, to include a review of historic maps and aerial photos showing the location of former riverine habitats. River engineers were also involved in the site selection process.

"This project meets the goals of mitigation without hindering the authorized uses of the river, including navigation and water supply," Krajewski said.

Project components include dredging an 11-acre chute and a 39-acre backwater along the west bank of the Missouri River at Boyer Chute Island, about 1.5 miles north of the south end of Boyer Chute along the west river bank.

The Lower Calhoun Chute project site north of Boyer Chute, has been designed to include multi water-levels of variable depths. The plan is to provide water habitat that will emulate conditions which occurred historically with the spring rise in the level of the water and the spreading of the channel into side channel backwaters and sloughs.

"This project will create habitat diversity by introducing historic water depths and velocities to the river channel," Krajewski said. "The Corps has been working with state and federal partners for years to develop viable projects, and this project is now underway after several years of planning and work with project partners. We worked closely with refuge staff to agree on a mutually acceptable project."

Krajewski explained that this project is one of many completed by the Corps as part of a biological opinion. It required creating a particular amount of habitat connected to the river, with water less than 5 feet deep and a flow less than 2 feet per second.

Projects have been done during the past two decades in order to mitigate for the ecosystem diversity prevalent along the Missouri River before it was channelized.

Clearing and grubbing - removing trees and getting rid of debris - is currently underway at the site of the billabong.

Equipment is being moved in via river barges rather than being transported across refuge lands. "This effectively minimizes disruption to habitats and wildlife," said Krajewski.

The project will be completed by March 2010.

"I look forward to finding Pallid Sturgeon in the new habitats," Krajewski said.

The Lower Calhoun Chute billabong project site is shown along the west river-bank on the right side of the aerial photograph. A billabong is known as a "a stagnant backwater or slough formed by receding floodwater."

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