Army Corps of Engineers seeks Missouri River sandbar project
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Army Corps of Engineers is proposing a $2 million sandbar project on the Missouri River in North Dakota to help threatened and endangered birds.
The Bismarck Tribune reports that the federal agency is starting the approval process for the project to increase breeding habitats for least tern and piping plover populations on the Missouri River. The Corps plans to dredge up sand to heighten and widen a submerged sandbar to make more open space for the birds to nest.
A similar project was done in South Dakota in 2009, and that area grew from one nest to more than 50.