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Title:	Upper Mississippi River System Environmental Management Program Definite Project Report/Environmental Assessment (SP-2) : Guttenberg Waterfowl Ponds Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Project, Pool 11, Upper Mississippi River, Clayton County, Iowa
Authors:	United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. St. Paul District.
Keywords:	Restoration ecology Environmental protection Environmental management Wetlands Mississippi River
Publisher:	United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. St. Paul District.
Abstract:	Three large fish rearing ponds totaling about 35 acres were formerly part of the Guttenberg National Fish Hatchery. In 1971, the hatchery was closed and the ponds were transferred to the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. At that time a water management plan for the ponds was implemented to enhance migratory bird habitat within the 12- Mile Island Closed Area by providing greater food resources to help meet the nutritional needs of migrating waterfowl. Due to an inefficient and ineffective means for managing water levels because of water supply and drainage problems, the water management plan for making food supplies in the ponds available to waterfowl was abandoned by the Refuge in 1973. However, it is still desirable to expend a minimal effort to renovate and operate the ponds as moist-soil units to obtain maximum waterfowl benefits. This opportunity was identified in 1980 by the Great River Environmental Action Team and a project had been conceptualized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. It is proposed to accomplish this objective by providing adequate water supply and drainage control facilities that are not presently available. The plan formulation process considered various alternatives for drainage and water supply. Drainage alternatives included providing from 1 to 3 outlet structures, discharging into various sloughs adjacent to the ponds, resloping or ditching the interior of the ponds, and several outlet structure designs. Water supply alternatives included gravity flow from the existing spillway of dam 10, siphoning water over the dam, gravity flow through the dam, pumping water from adjacent sloughs, and an open ditch. The selected plan includes ditching and breaching of dikes within the ponds to provide drainage to a simple corrugated metal pipe drop outlet structure on the east side of the pond complex. Discharge would be into Cassville Slough, just downstream of the dam 10 spillway. A gated water supply line, 1050 feet long, would be constructed from the dam 10 spillway to the ponds. This supply line would provide 80 acre-feet of water to the ponds in 6 days to raise the pond water 3 feet. An additional control structure would be constructed to provide a water supply to Big Pond Slough via the ponds. This would permit limited water level control in Big Pond for waterfowl food production in unison with the pond complex. Total direct construction cost of the selected project is $147,000. Indirect costs bring the total project cost to $203,000, $36,000 of the total project cost has been expended for the general design phase of the project. Average annual operation and maintenance costs of the project are estimated to be $2,000 and would be the responsibility of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. By renovating the existing ponds for operation as a moist-soil impoundment, .it is expected that vegetation coverage and plant species diversity would increase and that use of the area by migratory waterfowl would increase three- to five-fold. In addition to increases in waterfowl use, the ponds would provide attractive habitat to wading birds, rails, snipe, and passerines. Raptors such as bald eagles and hawks would be attracted by the abundant prey. Improved water level control of Big Pond could also provide greater fish management opportunities.
Description:	Definite Project Report with Integrated Environmental Assessment
URI:	https://hdl.handle.net/11681/36815
Size:	55 pages / 3.26 MB
Types of Materials:	PDF/A
Appears in Collections:	Environmental Documents