UMR_Content Page_Restoration Programs

Mississippi River Restoration Programs

Why Restore the Upper Mississippi River?

The Upper Mississippi was a free-flowing river until the locks and dams were constructed in the 1930s to provide a 9-foot shipping channel. When the system was completed, the river was transformed into a series of navigation pools, which formed a stairway of water from St. Paul to St. Louis. This change inundated vast amounts of the river valley, creating extensive backwater lakes, marshy meadows and deep sloughs. Initially, these pools provided abundant habitat for fish and wildlife, but the quality of this habitat gradually deteriorated over time, particularly in the lower portion of the pools.

There are essentially three different sections within each pool.

  • The upper one-third of each pool is a mosaic of channels and wooded islands and looks very much like it did before the locks and dams were built.
  • The middle one-third of each pool is a transition area with abundant backwater marshes and grassy islands.
  • The lower portion was extensively flooded after the dams were built, creating expanses of open water with numerous islands.

Changes in River Habitat

The dams maintained high and relatively stable water levels in the lower portion of the pools which made the islands vulnerable to erosion from waves, ice and river currents. Over time many of these natural islands eroded away which set a chain of events into motion. Island loss allows more wave action and river currents in the backwaters, which can uproot plants and keep sediment suspended. The re-suspended sediment increases turbidity levels in the water, thus reducing the amount of sunlight that penetrates the water and is available for plant growth.

The aquatic plants that grew in the shallow water bordering the islands were affected by these changes and many of the formerly lush beds diminished in size or disappeared. In addition, sand and silt carried by the river gradually filled in the channels and deep holes. As a result, critical fish and wildlife habitat in the lower portion of the pools was lost or destroyed.

The Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program

The Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program was the first environmental restoration and monitoring program undertaken on a large river system in the United States.

In 1986, with encouragement from citizens and stakeholders, Congress formerly recognized the Upper Mississippi River System as both a nationally significant ecosystem and a nationally significant commercial navigation system. Congress also recognized the need to balance these purposes and established the Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program to support the needs of the ecosystem.

The Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program is directed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and has two components: the Long-Term Resource Monitoring Program and Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Projects. Together, these two components are designed to monitor the river's health as well as restore habitats along the 1,250 miles of the commercially navigable portion of the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and lower sections of several major tributaries.

The program has pioneered many new and innovative planning and engineering techniques for ecosystem restoration in large river systems. In addition, the science element of the program has developed state-of-the-art techniques to monitor and conduct research on the river. Scientific monitoring, engineering design and environmental modeling techniques have been shared throughout the United States and in more than five countries.

Since its creation, the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program has become recognized as the single most important effort committed to ensuring the viability and vitality of the Upper Mississippi River System's diverse and significant fish and wildlife resources since establishment of the National Wildlife Refuges on the river system in the 1920s.

Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program Partnership

Program implementation is coordinated through a diverse partnership that includes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, the states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin, along with numerous non-governmental organizations and private citizens. This strong regional partnership helps guide and direct the program. Its vision is to build a healthier, more resilient Upper Mississippi River ecosystem that sustains the river's multiple uses.

The Upper Mississippi River Basin Association

The Upper Mississippi River Basin Association is the Governor-established forum for interstate water resource planning and management on the Upper Mississippi River, representing its member states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. The states work diligently with federal partners and stakeholders to advance multi-use management of the river, facilitating and fostering cooperative planning and coordinated management of the Upper Mississippi River basin’s water and related land resources.

Congress designated the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association as the caretaker of the Master Plan for the Upper Mississippi River System. As such, major program policy and budget issues are often addressed in this forum; and the Association has a longstanding commitment to the program’s successful implementation.

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Long-Term Resource Monitoring Program

The Long-Term Resource Monitoring Program is conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. It’s a component of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program.

Personnel at six field stations collect data on water quality, vegetation and fish. Monitoring results help researchers to better understand the system, forecast future conditions and provide early warning of potential problems. Additional information is provided by researchers that delve into specific questions about the river's ecology. Together, research and monitoring document habitat change over time and aid in the development and evaluation of management alternatives including the success of the habitat projects.

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Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Projects

The Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Projects benefit fish and wildlife by restoring lost habitat or protecting existing habitat within the floodplain of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. It’s a component of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program.

In the past 35 years, over 80 projects have been constructed affecting more than 100,000 acres of river and floodplain habitat. More projects are in various stages of planning, design and will be constructed as funding becomes available.

Teams of biologists, managers and engineers from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, five upper Mississippi River states, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service join with private citizens and organizations to select, design and complete the habitat projects.

Habitat projects use a variety of techniques or tools to restore or protect habitat for fish and wildlife including: island-building, backwater dredging, shoreline stabilization (both island and river banks) and building control structures to regulate flow and water level management facilities.

Upon completion, the projects are monitored to evaluate their performance. Project designs continue to evolve and improve and many innovative techniques for restoring habitat on large rivers have been developed. This process has resulted in the development of different restoration techniques and approaches to meet diverse environmental goals.

For example, recently completed projects in Pool 8 created 17 new islands to reduce erosive wave action and turbid water in the backwater areas. Habitat features included sandy areas for turtle nesting, mudflats for waterbirds and dynamic shorelines for shorebirds. Seed islands are also being used to harness the silt and sand carried by the river. The material deposits on and downstream from the seed islands which provides quiet areas for plant growth. As a result, there is more high-quality habitat for fish and wildlife.

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Mississippi River Water Level Management

To restore the fish and wildlife habitat that has been lost on the river, managers have been rebuilding islands, as well as restoring channels and deep-water habitat through Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program projects. Even with these restoration projects, important plant beds only partially recovered.

Emergent plants that grow in shallow water and provide important food and shelter for fish and wildlife have been particularly affected by changes in the river and slow to respond to improvements. Water level management provides a way to restore the necessary seasonal fluctuation in water levels that favors the conditions needed for the reestablishment of these plants.

Temporarily lowering water levels during the summer exposes the river bottom, allowing seeds to germinate and encouraging beds of perennial emergent aquatic plants, such as arrowhead and bulrush to expand.

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Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program

The Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program is a long-term program of navigation improvements and ecosystem restoration led by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers for the Upper Mississippi River System.

This program aims to improve the efficiency and capacity of the nationally significant Upper Mississippi River – Illinois Waterway navigation system – while also protecting, preserving and enhancing the structure, diversity and function of this nationally significant ecosystem. This multi-use resource supports an extensive navigation system made up of 1,200 miles of 9-foot channel and 37 lock and dam sites. It’s also a diverse ecosystem of 2.7 million acres of bottomland forest, islands, backwaters, side channels and wetlands supporting a vast array of species.

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