The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, yesterday released a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for a project to restore backwater habitat on Pigs Eye Lake, near St. Paul.
The proposed project, planned in collaboration with Ramsey County, will enhance and restore backwater habitat by creating island and wetland features on Pigs Eye Lake using material dredged from the Mississippi River by the Corps of Engineers during routine maintenance of the navigation channel.
Under the project, a complex of seven islands will be constructed, benefiting the area by serving as wind barriers to reduce shoreline erosion, improving habitat for migratory birds, stabilizing the lake bottom and providing a beneficial use for more than 400,000 cubic yards of dredged material.
The proposed fill action also involves placing clean sand, topsoil and rock into Pigs Eye Lake with a total footprint of approximately 40 acres.
Work is scheduled to begin in 2019 and anticipated to take approximately two years for construction and planting, with additional monitoring and management to follow, said USACE.
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