Pierre, S.D. ? Federal and state officials are working on plans to protect four endangered or threatened species along Missouri River shoreline areas that are being transferred to the state from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Under a law passed by Congress, the corps already has transferred about 14,000 acres in recreation land to the state, and another 77,000 acres will eventually be transferred to state control.

Part of the transfer agreement requires the state to make sure the endangered and threatened species receive the same protection as when the shoreline was under corps management, said Carol Aron, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service official who is helping develop the state plans.

The management plans will cover the bald eagle, least tern, piping plover and pallid sturgeon, Aron told the state Game, Fish and Parks Commission recently.

Plans for the bald eagle, least tern and piping plover are nearly completed, and officials continue to work on a management plan for the pallid sturgeon, she said.

The Corps of Engineers, which manages the Missouri River and its reservoirs, still has primary responsibility for managing habitat for the threatened and endangered species, Aron said. The corps is seeking to mimic a natural spring rise to help the birds nest on sandbars, particularly in the lower stretches of the river in South Dakota.

The plan calls for developing nesting habitat and monitoring the bird’s populations and nesting success.

Plans also call for having an annual average of 25 active bald eagle nests, Aron said. The state will protect nesting sites and the roosting sites where many eagles spend the winter around open water below Missouri River dams, she said.

The first successful nest in South Dakota in about a century was recorded in 1993. Last year bald eagles had a total of 40 nests in the state, with at least 24 of them successfully producing fledglings, Aron said.

Part of the goal is to maintain cottonwood trees in the winter roosting areas. Cottonwoods have had trouble reproducing naturally in some areas because floods no longer disturb the soil, so trees will be planted in some state-managed areas along the Missouri River.