LPLA: Bay City restoration project delayed

Work of a habitat restoration project near Bay City, Wisconsin, has been pushed back to the spring of 2022, reports Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance (LPLA).

“This past August, Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance (LPLA) attended the River Resources Forum – an interagency meeting for the Upper Mississippi River – where our partners projected to start construction next summer (2021),” the Alliance said.

Over the last few months, a new timeline was put together to account for some unanticipated challenges.

“In short, our selection as 1 of 10 projects nationwide to be included in a federally funded pilot program has complicated planning efforts due to unclear implementation guidelines. The global pandemic has further reduced staff capacity within the Corps of Engineers.”

“The good news is that once the design and engineering work is finally complete, we will have more federal dollars funding local restoration.”

Assuming no further delays, the project is set to move forward in the spring of 2022.

The alliance has promoted the project, which, in addition to dredging pools and access channels near Bay City, will use dredged materials from Reeds Landing to construct islands and peninsulas in the upper areas of Lake Pepin to help reduce wind and wave actions and promote better water quality.

To date, they have raised $867,500 to help with the project.