Boyer Chute Restoration Project
Virtual Tour

To create the dynamic Refuge you see today, it was first necessary to readjust effects resulting from previous engineering projects. In 1937 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cut off the upstream end of Boyer Chute by constructing a river wall and shale dikes across the inlet, to enhance the river's main navigation channel. Culverts were installed in the upstream cutoff wall to allow some water to enter the chute, but sediments accumulated, vegetation began to grow, and a young forest gradually took hold in and along the chute.

The purpose of the Boyer Chute Restoration Project, first and foremost, was to restore essential wildlife habitat that became scarce when the Missouri River was "improved" for navigation half a century ago. The project restored the area to near pre-channelization condition, without affecting navigation on the main stem of the Missouri River. Boyer Chute is once again a functioning part of the river. Water flowing into the chute is generally less than 5 percent of the total river flow and does not affect the commercial or recreational value of the main river.

Construction features of the project included excavating the historic channel in 1994, building rock "girdles" to keep the chute in place, re-vegetating soybean and corn fields to grassland and natural habitat, planting native vegetation, and constructing a 121-foot concrete bridge to the "island".

The Boyer Chute Restoration Project was part of the region-wide Missouri River Streambank Stabilization and Navigation project. It was completed by our partners, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District. For a virtual tour of the restoration project, please click here