As the work continues to develop and construct the new Roy Blunt Reservoir in Sullivan County, the North Central Missouri Regional Water Commission will offset the destruction of habitat through mitigation.
This has included the recent announcement of the conservation easement of 1,236 acres for the Indiana Bat and Northern Long-eared bat.
Other mitigation is taking place in the region, including at Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge. Greg Pitchford is a project manager for Allstate Engineers. He says state and federal dollars will be used to improve habitat at the refuge.
Infrastructure that has been talked about for years and includes existing and new wetland areas.
Pitchford says the improvements should create three million additional duck-use-days at the refuge. That means more waterfowl will be able to use the wetlands for a longer period of time.
