Indiana's Eagle Marsh still part of fight against Asian carp

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers commander said Indiana officials will determine if a nearly 2-mile-long earthen berm at Eagle Marsh has enough protections to keep the Asian carp from the Great Lakes.

The Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee's 2017 strategy for monitoring and controlling the invasive species include possible changes to the wetland nature preserve near Fort Wayne, the (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette (http://bit.ly/2ip2GYF ) reported.

Crews that widened one part of the Graham-McCulloch Ditch in 2015, which cost $4.4 million in federal funding, left a notch in the berm because of flooding concerns around Eagle Marsh. The notch has a mesh screen that lets water through but not the Asian carp or other fish. Eagle Marsh, a crucial factor from stopping the migration of Asian carp, drains into both the Mississippi River Basin, which contains a lot of carp, and the Great Lakes.

Col. Christopher Drew, commander of the Chicago district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the Indiana Department of Natural Resources will determine if the notch will be filled.

Currently, he said Eagle Marsh is providing sufficient protection to "reduce the risk of transference across either basin."

The Army Corps has designated $40,000 this year for technical aid for Eagle Marsh.

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Information from: The Journal Gazette, http://www.journalgazette.net