Posted on September 17, 2020
Story by Nayelli Guerrero
Recreational boaters may have noticed recent dredging activity in the McMillan Island area, just north of Guttenberg, Iowa. The McGregor Lake Habitat Rehabilitation
and Enhancement Project, or HREP, located in Pool 10 of the Upper Mississippi River, recently completed its dredging phase.
The 580-acre McGregor Lake HREP includes the mid-river McGregor
Lake and adjacent island and slough habitat between the main channel and east channel. The HREP will enhance fish and wildlife habitat using 70,000 cubic yards of dredged material.
“This project will improve habitat diversity by reducing shoreline erosion, sedimentation and wind-driven wave action,” said Zach Kimmel, project manager.
The dredged material wasn’t always intended for McGregor Lake. When the district navigation branch experienced a shortage of dredged material placement site capacity, the Corps combined its Upper Mississippi River Restoration, UMRR, authority and 9-Foot navigation channel authorityto place dredged material at McGregor Lake. This cost-saving solution not only provided critical placement site capacity for dredged material, it also elevated approximately 12 acres of floodplain forest and saved the UMRR program almost $1 million dollars.
The Corps’ maintenance and repair section from Fountain City, Wisconsin began dredging March 26, and finished July 2. Using district vessels, including the Dredge Wade and Motor Vessels Lyon, Wells and McNamara, the crew dredged the Mississippi River main channel near McMillan Island and transported the dredged material to the McGregor Lake HREP site. At McGregor Lake, the crew transferred the sand from material barges, which transited as far as 14 miles from the project site, to the upper end of McGregor Lake.
The McGregor Lake HREP bid opened August 11, and the Corps expects to award a contract before the end of the fiscal year. Project construction is scheduled to be completed within five years.
The $20 million HREP program is funded through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers UMMR program. It was planned and designed cooperatively with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Iowa and Wisconsin departments of natural resources and local interests.
