Habitat Projects Along Central Missouri River to Benefit Terns and Plovers

Least Terns nesting on the Missouri National Recreational River.

By James Ed. Ducey

Work was initiated in August on habitat projects to benefit two federally listed bird species, the endangered interior Least Tern and threatened Piping Plover. This work will occur within the 59 mile long segment of the Missouri River designated as the Missouri National Recreational River. The projects are being carried out by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Contractors began work to create three emergent sandbar habitat complexes. One of the complexes will be constructed using hydraulic dredges and the other two will be constructed using mechanical earth moving equipment such as bull dozers, excavators, and scrapers, according to Luke Wallace, a biologist in the Corps' Omaha District, and project manager for the three emergent sandbar habitat projects below Gavins Point Dam..

"The sand used to construct the sandbars will be taken from the adjacent river bed at each location," according to a Corps press release. "Construction will last through fall and winter months with a scheduled completion date of April 15, 2008. Timely completion will ensure the habitat will be in place when terns and plovers return to nest next spring."

"These complexes will be constructed to provide nesting habitat for the least tern and piping plover, two bird species protected under the Endangered Species Act," according to Omaha District Commander Col. David C. Press.

Yearly populations of Terns and Plovers on the Missouri National Recreational River (Data courtesy of the Army Corps of Engineers).
Year	Least Tern	Piping Plover
1998	144	49
1999	161	141
2000	206	186
2001	232	218
2002	314	260
2003	366	286
2004	359	262
2005	476	340
2006	383	309
2007	410	300

"One ESH complex will be constructed at Missouri River Mile 791.5, near Wynot, Neb.," according to the press release. "The other two complexes will be constructed south of Vermillion, S.D., near the Highway 19 Bridge. One of those will be constructed near Missouri River Mile 774, about two miles downstream of the bridge. The other will be constructed at Missouri River mile 777.5, about 1.5 miles upstream of the bridge and adjacent to the Frost Wilderness Game Production Area in South Dakota.

The sandbars created will vary in size, according to Corps officials.

River Mile 791.5 complex = 40 acres of emergent sandbar

RM 777.7 complex = 74 acres of emergent sandbar and 15 acres of backwater.

RM 774 complex = 49 acres of emergent sandbar

The acreages of ESH listed above represent the amount of sandbar habitat that would be exposed above the water surface at a Gavins Point Dam discharge of 25,000 cubic feet per second.

The total cost of all three projects combined is approximately $8.8 million, The Corps said.

Once the project are completed next year, the response of the terns and plovers will be closely watched.

"The sandbars will be monitored weekly during the nesting season," according to Wallace. "Survey crews will locate nests and monitor the nests until the nests are terminated at which time a nest fate will be applied. Crews will monitor the chicks until they fledge. An adult census will be conducted during the nesting season. Vegetation will be monitored to determine species type and growth.

At river mile 777.5, some aquatic habitat will be constructed in conjunction with the sandbar project.

"Sediment from a historic river channel on the Frost property will be used as an alternative borrow source for the complex, resulting in the restoration of a 15-acre backwater connected to the Missouri River," according to the Corps press release. "The backwater will provide habitat for waterfowl, shorebirds, fish and mussels, and will provide new public fishing and hunting opportunities at the Frost Wilderness Game Production Area."

There has been a positive response of the terns and plovers to newly created sandbars that were the result of previous projects by the Corps.

Tern and plover use at previous sandbar habitat creation projects (Data courtesy of the Army Corps of Engineers).
Year	Tern Adults	Tern Fledglings	Plover Adults		Plover Fledglings
River Mile 755 Complex (Ponca)
2004	84	64		18	23
2005	68	12		32	6
2006	38	8		8	5
2007	68	5		11	0
RM 761
2005	58	67		42	56
2006	40	29		55	55
2007	48	20		57	20
RM 770 Complex
2005	80	102		62	76
2006	176	47		69	30
2007	94	10		73	10

"The first year of use for each of the created sandbars was very productive for both species," Wallace said. "Since then productivity has decreased though the sandbars still attract large numbers of adults. Generally the nest success has been very good at all three sites with 60-70% of the nests having at least one egg hatch. The poor productivity is probably due to predation by owls, hawks, minks, raccoons.

Newly created sandbar habitat at the Ponca Complex, 2004. Photos courtesy of the Corps of Engineers.

"The sandbar habitat has also been used by waterfowl and shorebirds and unfortunately the aforementioned raptors," Wallace said.

For safety purposes, public access to construction and staging areas will be restricted, eliminating recreation and hunting opportunities during the construction period, Sept. 1, 2007 through April 15, 2008.

These projects are part of the Corps effort to implement recommendations of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in its Biological Opinion on the Operation of the Missouri River Main Stem System.