Project Title: Replace Maintenance Equipment Shed (FFS #R4HC)

State: Mississippi

Initial Project Description: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS, the Service) will use American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) funds to replace the equipment storage building at Dahomey National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) near Cleveland, Mississippi.

The Service awarded a $110,149 contract to Puente Construction Enterprises, Inc., for the new equipment storage building.

According to Deputy Project Leader, Travis Carpenter, “The previous storage building, which was on the property when the Service acquired [the] refuge in 1990, is wooden and falling apart, with a leaking roof. The old building will be torn down. The new building will be larger, made of prefabricated metal, and will be used to store the refuge’s heavy equipment.”

In 1990, the Nature Conservancy (TNC) purchased 9,269 acres of land and leased the land to the Service for FWS to manage. In 1993, the Service completed its acquisition of the TNC land, establishing Dahomey NWR. The refuge is the largest remaining tract of bottomland hardwood-forested wetlands in the northwest portion of Mississippi.

August 2011 Project Update: Puente Construction Enterprises, Inc. and its subcontractors completed the Recovery Act project in June 2011. In addition to replacing the shed, the companies added security lights to the facility. The subcontractors stayed in local hotels, and a local electrical company worked on the project, both of which helped the local economy.

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Originally posted 09/01/2010
Page Completed 08/25/2011