Engineers used 500,000 cubic yards of Mississippi River sand to build 7 islands and restore 270 acres

For years, sand dredged from the Mississippi River was removed to keep one of America's most important waterways navigable. At one restoration site, engineers found another use for that material, building islands. The US Army Corps of Engineers has completed a $25 million habitat restoration project at McGregor Lake in Wisconsin, where about 500,000 cubic yards of clean sand dredged from the Mississippi River were used to construct seven islands.The project, which began in 2020, has now improved more than 270 acres of aquatic habitat while also restoring floodplain forest and protecting wetlands.McGregor Lake is a 200-acre backwater lake located in Pool 10 of the Mississippi River near Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. It lies within the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, an area that supports a wide range of aquatic and terrestrial wildlife. The completed project was marked by the US Army Corps of Engineers' St Paul District on September 22, following six years of restoration work.Sand dredged from the river becomes new habitatThe project brought together two needs that might otherwise have been treated separately: maintaining the Mississippi River's navigation ...