Project Title: Demolish 17 Miles of Levee to Restore Habitat (FFS #R4KG)

State: Louisiana

Project Description:The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) $2.1 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, Recovery Act) funds to demolish 17 miles of levee at the Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). The TVA completed this habitat restoration project in January 2010.

The previous land owners built the 17-mile ring levee to protect the agricultural fields from the Ouachita River. In 1997, the Service purchased the levee and surrounding property, and planted bottom land hardwood trees throughout the 10,000 acres of fields. The levee protected the newly replanted fields from the river, but it also held rain-water inside, creating a “bath tub” effect that exposed the newly planted trees to water for an unnaturally long time.

The Service decided to remove the levee, in order to reconnect the river with the flood plain. In order to do so, TVA created five 1,000-foot breaches in the Upper Ouachita NWR levee at strategic points to allow the Ouachita River to reconnect to the flood plain. Now, the river floods the trees and flood plain during backwater events.

According to Refuge Manager, Joe McGowan, “This project has re-established approximately 20,000 acres of bottomland hardwood flood plain to the Ouachita River. This will improve the forest conditions, providing habitat for migratory birds and waterfowl, fish, and all other native species. This project should also improve water quality and reduce sediment loads.”

The Service established the 43,500-acre Upper Ouachita NWR in 1978 to provide habitat for migratory birds and wintering waterfowl. The refuge is home to alligators, deer, turkey, squirrels, bald eagles, and beavers, in addition to the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker and threatened Louisiana black bear.

Photos:

Originally Posted 08/04/2011
Page Completed 08/04/2011