Wilkinson Island Habitat Rehabilitation and Enhancement Project

St. Louis District

Upper Mississippi River, Miles 88.5-95.0, Perry County, Missouri

Partners

• US Fish and Wildlife Service 

Description

The Wilkinson Island Division is former cropland protected by a private levee that was breached during the 1993 flood. Wilkinson Island is open to Mississippi River flood pulses through existing levee breaches. Early successional species have taken over the former cropland with areas of grass/forbs/shrubs in higher elevation fields. Reed Creek flows through Wilkinson Island and connects with the drainage ditch of an adjacent levee district.

Wilkinson Island's primary habitat problems include: loss of historic  island and side channel habitats, existing forest habitat with low diversity, reduced sheet flow across the site due to old agricultural levees, invasive plant species, and accretion of the island to the mainland.

The proposed Project seeks to restore side channel/island habitat and improve quality of the existing side channels. The proposed Project also seeks to increase floodplain forest and improve the diversity of wetland habitats.

Quick Facts

• Approximate Acres: 2,700
• Congressional District: IL - 12
• State(s) Covered: MO
• Land Ownership: Federal
• Management Agency: USFWS
• Management Authority: Refuge

Potential features of the proposed Project may include, but not limited to:

• Sediment deflection berm
• Degradation of existing agricultural levees
• Reforestation

Milestones

• Revised Fact Sheet approved: 2010
• Feasibility study underway