Kansas City Power & Light--Restoring Missouri River Wetlands

Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L), a subsidiary of Great Plains Energy, is working collaboratively with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the Missouri Conservation Department and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to restore a 106-acre tract of wetlands to their original natural habitat along the Missouri River bottom.  The project is taking place on the grounds of a KCP&L electric power plant northwest of Kansas City, Missouri. The multiple benefits of the habitat restoration not only add biodiversity to the mostly agricultural area but also include sediment control and other water quality enhancements.

The wetlands restoration project began with a “controlled burn” to remove invasive vegetation that had taken over the site over the past several years.  The burn also functioned to remove an excessive build up of thatch so native wetland plant species could be reintroduced into the bottomland.  Native vegetation will be transplanted from a nearby State Natural Area in order to preserve the biological integrity of the area.  Over the next year, water control structures will be strategically placed in the wetland to allow for management of the water levels to attract a wide variety of bird species.  At that time, water from a local creek will be diverted into the wetland and will provide the final element necessary for a successful wetland restoration effort.

This project builds on a longstanding tradition of environmental stewardship and carries forward a previous successful wetland restoration on a 55-acre site in Gardner, Kansas. Observers have identified 121 species of birds at the Gardner Wetland and it has become an outdoor laboratory for students studying wetlands and wildlife habitat.

When finished, the size of the wetland site will make it among the largest on the Missouri River floodplain.  And importantly, the site will look similar to what Lewis and Clark would have seen back in 1804.  For more information about the Kansas City Power & Light’s wetlands conservation project, please visit www.kcpl.com.

© 2008 Edison Electric Institute