Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11681/36518
Title: Upper Mississippi River System Environmental Management Program Definite Project Report with Integrated Environmental Assessment (R-3) : Bertom and McCartney Lakes Rehabilitation and Enhancement, Pool 11, Upper Mississippi River, Grant County, Wisconsin
Authors: United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. Rock Island District
Keywords: Restoration ecology
Environmental protection
Environmental management
Wetlands
Mississippi River
Publisher: United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. Rock Island District.
Abstract: The Bertom and McCartney Lakes backwater complex is located on the east bank of Pool 11 approximately 3 river miles south of Cassville, Wisconsin. The proposed project features would lie entirely within an area of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge that is closed to hunting and trapping during the fall waterfowl migration. All project lands are owned by the United States. Some of the lands were acquired by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The remainder were acquired by the Corps of Engineers for the Mississippi River Nine-foot Channel project and are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the terms of a cooperative agreement between the Department of the Army and the Department of the Interior dated February 14, 1963. Sedimentation is occurring in this backwater complex due to normal fluvial processes of the river and erosion from adjacent upland drainage systems. Sedimentation is rapidly decreasing the extent and diversity of aquatic habitat in the project area. Physical changes such as shoaling and substrate burial combine with resultant turbidity and temperature elevations to produce less than optimal conditions for aquatic life. Three problems have been identified in the project areas affected by sedimentation: (1) winter oxygen demands brought on by decaying vegetation and low light conditions in shallow protected areas and low velocity habitats create fish kill situations; (2) wind and wave action on unprotected shoals results in sediment resuspension and turbidity which in turn prevents light penetration and establishment of aquatic vegetation during the growing season; and (3) fish attracted to the stable temperatures of anoxic spring-fed flows are trapped and killed in the spring areas by a combination of shoaling, ice cover, and a lack of inflow and circulation. Alternative locations for backwater rehabilitation within or adjacent to Pool 11 have been considered. Bluff encroachment on both sides of this pool results in a relatively narrow floodplain with limited potential for habitat improvement. Upper Pool 11 currently supports extensive quantities of bottomland hardwood terrestrial habitat, while lower Pool 11 is predominantly open water. A critical need for aquatic habitat diversification and off-channel deepwater restoration has been documented for this reach of the river (unpublished report, Fish and Wildlife Interagency Committee, 1987). Sites possessing the integrated emergent wetland environment that is most receptive to and provides the greatest benefits from rehabilitation and enhancement are found throughout Pool 11. The Bertom and McCartney Lakes backwater complex, located at mid-pool, is one site that incorporates the areal extent, habitat characteristics, and land-use status necessary to meet habitat improvement objectives for Pool 11. Project objectives for this backwater complex include: improving fish wintering habitat; establishing an aquatic vegetation bed for migratory waterfowl and fisheries benefits; reducing bedload sediment entry; and providing additional, diversified habitat for benthic and aquatic communities. The project objectives will be realized by dredging deepwater channels and connections to spring-fed sloughs; building a barrier island from the dredged material; constructing a rock partial closing structure; and installing rock substrate and protective cover structures. The alternative features selected for this habitat rehabilitation and enhancement project include: extensive dredging of McCartney Lake's adjacent side channels and sloughs; in-water confined placement of dredged material; construction of an underwater rock partial closing structure; and placement of rock substrate and protective cover structures in a side channel.
Description: Definite Project Report with Integrated Environmental Assessment
Rights: Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/11681/36518
Appears in Collections:Environmental Documents

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