OMAHA, NE – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Omaha District has awarded a $577,000 contract to Western Contracting of Sioux City, Iowa for adaptive management at the Sandy Point Bend chute complex in Harrison County, Iowa. Work will begin in late October with completion expected by the end of December 2015.
The chutes at Sandy Point Bend were originally constructed in 2012 to benefit the federally endangered pallid sturgeon and other native fish and wildlife species. Modifications to the chutes will be made to maximize the benefits of the chute to fish and wildlife while avoiding adverse impacts to any of the other authorized purposes of the Missouri River.
Upcoming construction work will include (1) constructing stone sills across the inlets of the three existing auxiliary chute entrances (tie channels) to prevent the tie channels from flowing during low flows, (2) modifying existing control structures at the two main chute inlets to allow all life stages of fish (particularly larvae and young-of-year fish) the ability to access the complex, and (3) modifying control structures downstream of the inlets to control the amount of flow entering the chutes.
These adaptive management activities will be conducted as part of the Corps’ Missouri River Recovery Program, which helps to fulfill the requirements of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2003 Amended Biological Opinion for the Operation of the Missouri River Main Stem Reservoir System, Operation and Maintenance of the Missouri River Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project, and Operation of the Kansas River Reservoir System.
More information about this project can be found at: http://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/Media/NewsReleases/tabid/1835/Article/610744/comments-sought-on-draft-supplemental-ea-for-adaptive-management-to-sandy-point.aspx.
Release no. 20151021-002