Mississippi River Islands Get Restored Following Heavy Erosion Damage

State and federal officials are putting the finishing touches on a series of Mississippi River islands this summer that have been restored after getting eroded away.

The Capoli Slough Habitat Rehabilitation and Restoration Project has been under construction for three years. As the DNR’s Mississippi River Habitat Specialist, Jeff Janvrin said the new islands should create a healthier ecosystem for the fish, birds, and reptiles.

“A more diverse system is more resilient to stressors, whether that be invasion of exotic species, climate change, etc.” he said. “If you have a very simple system, a monotypic system, it’s more susceptible to any type of a change that then sets back or could destroy the ecosystem that’s there.”

Workers created the 22 acres of islands among the few remaining ones using sand, topsoil, and rocks. The project should be finished this fall, after workers spend the summer smoothing out the islands and planting prairie grass and trees.

Once construction is complete, the islands will become part of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

Wildlife biologist Wendy Woyczik said canvasbacks, mallards, and wood ducks are already settling on the islands.

“It provides protection for them so they can get out of the wind and the waves,” she said. “A place for food and a place for protection.”

The islands are open to fishing and hunting.