To enable the endangered interior least tern and the threatened Northern Great Plains piping plover to more easily nest along the Missouri River, the U.S. Corps of Engineers plans to mechanically create sandbars in the river between Fort Peck, Montana and Sioux City, Iowa. Both the least tern and the piping plover use sandbars with little or no vegetation to nest and raise their chicks. The Corps plans to create and improve sandbars with dredges, bulldozers, and/or excavators. Ideally, sandbar work would be done with the Lower Missouri CRM’s dredge that is currently used to clear pump site intakes. With more than 100 irrigation pump sites between the Fort Peck Dam and the North Dakota border, use of the dredge could be expanded to benefit both the producers in the area as well as the threatened and endangered bird species. Additional planning meetings will be held this fall. For more information, please contact the Council office.