Dredging Requires Future Cooperation

From the WDNR

In 1986 the Environmental Management Program was an experiment. Never before had such a large undertaking of environmental monitoring or restoration been attempted in the world.

Today, the EMP is a model for this type of work. Tangible benefits of the program include the wealth of knowledge we have gained about the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, but perhaps the greatest benefit is the hardest to quantify: The EMP has fostered a previously unknown level of cooperation among the state and federal agencies responsible for the river's management.


The first Wisconsin-sponsored project, Lake Onalaska Islands and Dredge Cuts, began construction in 1989. Since then, 17 EMP habitat projects have been built along Wisconsin's portion of the Mississippi River, with 12 more planned for construction before the scheduled end of the program in 2002.

In all, more than 50 projects affecting more than 97,000 acres will have been built to restore fish and wildlife habitat along a thousand miles of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.