The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, recently awarded a $5.2 million contract to Kaiyuh Services, LLC, of Anchorage, Alaska, to begin constructing a habitat restoration project in Conway Lake, near Lansing, Iowa.
The completed project will restore lost and diminished fish and wildlife habitat in Pool 9. A majority of the construction will include creating floodplain forests and berms to restore and improve the habitat within the river.
Construction is expected to begin in spring 2019. It is anticipated to be complete by the end of fall 2020 and final plantings should be completed by the fall of 2021, said USACE.
This project, funded under authority of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Environmental Management Program, is intended to ensure the coordinated development and enhancement of the Upper Mississippi River system with primary emphasis on habitat restoration projects and resource monitoring.
USACE partners on this project include the Iowa and Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In the 29-year history of the program, more than 55 habitat projects benefiting approximately 100,000 acres on the Upper Mississippi River, from Minneapolis to St. Louis, have been completed.