The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, marked the completion of its $25 million McGregor Lake habitat rehabilitation and enhancement project yesterday.
McGregor Lake is a 200-acre backwater lake in Pool 10 of the Mississippi River near Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. The lake lies within the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.
Construction on the restoration project began in 2020. For this work, USACE used 500,000 cubic yards of clean river sand dredged from the Mississippi River to construct seven Islands.
Dredging the main channel ensures navigation continues on the Mississippi River. Thirty-five acres of backwater fisheries habitat were dredged, which created overwintering habitat for fish and the material was used on top of the islands for growing vegetation.
In addition to creating islands, USACE constructed five rock features, and stabilized over a mile of shoreline.
This project improved over 270 acres of aquatic habitat, enhanced over 45 acres of floodplain forest, and protected 22 acres of wetlands, USACE concluded.