HURON, Iowa (AP) - A massive project aimed at restoring the quality and quantity of habitat for fishing and hunting around the Huron Island complex about 20 miles north of Burlington on the Mississippi River is set to begin in this fall.
Marvin Hubbell, regional manager for the Upper Mississippi Restoration Program, said recently Congress has appropriated approximately $17 million to fund the four-stage project expected to be completed by 2020.
“The goal of the project is to upgrade areas of the river (in far northeast Des Moines County) to enhance opportunities for fish and wildlife to flourish,” he told the Hawk Eye (https://bit.ly/1i95ylO).
“The research and planning are mostly completed, and we expect to begin awarding contracts later this year. I think people (along the river) will see work begin on the Huron Island complex this fall.”
Hubbell said when the project, being directed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is completed, it will increase the quality and quantity of aquatic and floodplain habitat in the area.
Corps officials have assured concerned citizens continued hunting and fishing on and near the Huron Island complex will not be directly affected during the duration of the project.
According to U.S. Army Col. Mark Deschenes, the project is designed to provide year-round aquatic habitat benefits to the surrounding 815-acre backwater complex near Huron Island.
“The goals of the project are to manage a diverse and dynamic pattern of habitats to support native biota; manage viable populations of native species within diverse plant and animal communities; and to shape a physically diverse and dynamic river-floodplain system,” he said.
The Huron Island Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Project is a small part of the larger Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program (UMRR) that began 28 years ago when Congress passed the 1986 Water Resources Development Act.
Since its creation, the UMRR program has had a major impact on the Upper Mississippi River System, Hubbell said.
“During that time, the program has restored approximately 100,700 acres of critical habitat through the completion of 55 habitat rehabilitation projects,” he said. “In addition, the program has collected data on key environmental attributes of the river in six key pools within the 1,200 miles of river served by the program.”
Hubbell said the foundation of the UMRR program has been its active and diverse partnership, which is made up of five federal agencies, five states - Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota and Wisconsin - and numerous non-governmental agencies.
According to documents released by the corps, the Mississippi River supports a “diverse mussel fauna, contains more than 25 percent of North America’s freshwater fish species and is an internationally recognized flyway for migrating birds.”
The Huron Island project encompasses 2,000 acres and includes Huron Island and Huron Chute located nine miles downstream from where the Iowa River enters the Mississippi River.
The main area of the Huron project is located along the right descending bank of the Upper Mississippi River on lands federally owned by the Army Corps of Engineers and are part of the Mark Twain National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, management of the Huron Island complex will be the responsibility of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Tim Hoschek, a former Des Moines County supervisor whose family has owned a cabin on the banks of the Mississippi River across from Huron Island for more than 50 years, said this week he couldn’t be more excited about the project.
“I think it is a wonderful project because it’s going to enhance the fishing and hunting along the river by improving many areas that are being affected by sediment coming into the river from several tributaries,” he said.
“Over the years, I’ve seen the places where my family used to fish disappearing because of the increased amount of silt in the river. There has been a lot of habitat loss because of siltation.”
According to information supplied by the corps, siltation is most often caused by soil erosion or sediment coming from farmland that spills into tributaries that flow into the Mississippi River.
Although the scope of the six-year Huron Island project can be difficult to describe, the main objectives can be boiled down into four pieces:
- Increase aquatic vegetation;
- Increase the habitat for native fish;
- Diversify the floodplain forest, specifically by increasing the number of nut-producing trees; and
- Maintain the side channel by deepening Huron Chute 6 to 9 feet, thus helping fish survive in severe winter conditions.
To do that, the corps will have to do plenty of dredging, excavating, planting and laying rock structures along Huron Island and Huron Chute.
Hubbell said materials taken from the river through dredging will be transported to two small islands along the south end of the chute and also onto Huron Island.
Experts have said without intervention, the Huron Island complex is likely to experience severe forest fragmentation and an influx of invasive species that eventually could severely impact “neotropical and other migratory birds, Indiana bats, and other floodplain species.”
Hoschek, who was a Des Moines County supervisor for 14 years, agreed the project is essential to the area he affectionately calls the “great wilderness” of Des Moines County.
“I call it that because Huron Island is so remote,” he said.
At an informational meeting conducted by the corps last year in Mediapolis, some citizens who live, hunt and fish in the area voiced concerns about any erosion the project could create along the river bank.
To resolve concerns about the restoration project’s effect on continuing erosion, the corps is planning several safety features, including putting riprap on the northern borders of two small islands to keep them in place as a rest area for fish navigating the rapid chute, according to documents released by the corps.
Hoschek said he is confident the project, when fully completed, will have a dramatic impact on the area for generations to come.
“After years of watching the habitat being degraded by the ever-changing river, having this project implemented will greatly improve and enhance fishing and hunting in the area,” he said.
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Information from: The Hawk Eye, https://www.thehawkeye.com
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