OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Iowa company has won a $1.75 million contract to repair habitat for an endangered fish in northeast Nebraska.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says Western Contracting Corporation of Sioux City will do the work in a backwater area near Ponca State Park.
The area provides space for the endangered pallid sturgeon to feed and spawn. But the backwater area was damaged in the massive 2011 flooding along the Missouri River.
The fish is considered to be critically endangered because of its small remaining wild population. Efforts to rebuild the population include stocking rivers with pallid sturgeon from government hatcheries and improving spawning habitat.
The repair work is expected to start in January and continue throughout 2016.
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