$1M awarded for wetland restoration in Ill., Mo.

VIENNA, Ill. -- A wetlands restoration project in Illinois and Missouri has received a grant to help improve habitat for waterfowl and migratory birds.

The Migratory Bird Conservation Commission approved $1 million in funding to Ducks Unlimited for Bottomlands of the Great Rivers, a project to protect and restore almost 2,900 acres of waterfowl and water bird breeding, migration and winter habitat in southwestern Illinois and St. Charles County, Mo.

Ducks Unlimited and its partners will provide more than $2 million in matching money.

The project will focus on the Big Muddy River Bottoms and Cache River Basin areas within the Shawnee National Forest and the Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge. They lie within the largest river corridor in the Midwest.

Development has hurt wetlands and caused erosion and runoff.

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Online: http://www.fws.gov/birdhabitat/Grants/NAWCA/Standard/US/2013--Sept.shtm