ROCK ISLAND, Illinois - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District, in cooperation with its partners at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, is hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Rice Lake Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Project Thursday, Oct. 12 at 1:30 p.m.
The ceremony, which celebrates the completion of the habitat restoration project, will be held at the Rice Lake Pump Station near 18790 N Banner Dike Road, Banner, Illinois. The public is invited to attend the event.
The Rice Lake Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Project, which is part of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program, was developed, designed and constructed to restore wetland and aquatic habitat needed to support plant and waterfowl along the Illinois River. The Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program, which has projects on both the Mississippi River and Illinois Waterway, has restored more than 102,000 acres of habitat over the past 30 years.
The $9.3 million project has enhanced habitats within the Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area through the following features: natural spillway repairs, construction of an overflow spillway, a spillway access road, outlet structure, pump station, pump station control building, discharge channel with associated berms and water control stoplog structures. These features increase reliability and flexibility of water level management, improve habitat for migratory waterfowl, and protect aquatic habitat and maintain connectivity with deep water areas.
For more information regarding the ribbon cutting ceremony, call Allen Marshall at (309) 794-5204.
Release no. 17-044