![]() ![]() The first phase of Cat Island reconstruction began in 2012, with funding from a $1.5 million Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant. The funds have contributed to the restoration of 272 acres of island habitat, 2.5 miles of shoreline habitat, and 1,225 acres of backwater habitat. The total cost of the project is approximately $18.7 million. The project is already ahead of schedule one cell has now been partially filled. Dredged materials deposited in the Cat Island DMDF over the coming years will gradually build three islands, expected to foster vegetation and habitat for fish and wildlife.Ī gravel road on top of the dike enables truck transport and pipeline placement of the dredged material to the cells. Five perpendicular dikes, or “legs,” will separate three cells that will be used as a dredged material disposal facility (DMDF), with decades of capacity for the sediments from the lower portion of the navigation channel. The 4.3 miles of stone dike is eight feet high and acts as a stone wave barrier and mold for the new islands. The islands will be reconstructed over the next 20 to 30 years by the Corps of Engineers using clean dredge material from the maintenance of the Green Bay Harbor, a beneficial reuse of the material. The chain includes three islands with a connecting dike that serves as a wave barrier. ![]() Nearly 25 years of planning and securing funding allowed reconstruction to begin in 2012. In 1988, The Cat Island Chain Project was developed in the Lower Green Bay Remedial Action Plan, and was deemed the top priority project for habitat restoration. A few wetlands remained, but much of the habitat for aquatic animals, shorebirds, and 13 different species of colonial nesting birds was lost.Īfter the islands eroded away, the extensive coastal wetlands in the lower Green Bay weren’t protected from high-energy waves and storms. ![]() The Cat Islands, located in Lower Green Bay, eroded away in the mid-1970s due to severe storms and high water damage. ![]()
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