The USACE St. Louis District Rivers Project Master Plan update was fully approved on July 16, 2025. This document supersedes the 2015 Rivers Project Master Plan and Supplements.
The final document, plates, and appendices in their entirety or individually can be downloaded in the 2025 Master Plan Section to your right.
Master plans for the Upper Mississippi River Nine-foot Channel Project were developed or updated in 1948, 1961, 1977, 2001, and 2015. The St. Louis District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) last updated the USACE Master Plan 9 years ago and since then, there have been many changes in public recreational perceptions and demands, in natural and man-made resources along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and in federal roles in the project area. These changes have necessitated the preparation of an updated master plan to serve as a meaningful guide for future federal management of these rivers.
The St. Louis District has prepared this master plan for the rivers with significant cooperation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), Missouri Department of Conservation, and Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Together these agencies along with USACE manage the Project’s 48,672 acres of federal public lands and 106,177 acres of Project waters along the Upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Because the USACE Master Plan has been cooperatively prepared, it has the combined support of the federal and state agencies.
The plan includes a classification of Project lands, discussion of special concerns and special programs and planning considerations, identification of facility needs, and management area descriptions and proposals. The updated land use classifications and related USACE, State and USFWS agreements will effectively meet current and future public use demand for federal lands while sustaining the inherent resource quality for fish and wildlife management and enhancement.
The navigation mission will continue to be supported as a program of national importance. Interpretive programming will be used to leverage limited funding to enable project resources to be sustained. Public use of project lands and waters will be safely and efficiently accommodated, with minimal impact on river resources.