Washington ? The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will spend more than $54 million this year to protect endangered or threatened species along Missouri River, the agency announced Monday.

Most of those efforts will focus on restoring habitats for the pallid sturgeon, an endangered fish, and two shorebirds – the interior least tern and piping plover.

“This level of funding allows us to not just comply with the Endangered Species Act, but gives us a good start on the path to recovery for these species,” said Brig. Gen. Gregg Martin, northwestern division engineer for the corps.

Along the river above Sioux City, Iowa, the corps plans to build sandbar habitat for least terns and piping plovers in Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota and monitor adult populations and nesting success.

Below Sioux City, officials will dig dikes along the river in Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas to create shallow water habitat for the pallid sturgeon.

Officials also will upgrade federal and state hatcheries to counter the lack of natural sturgeon reproduction and begin a comprehensive study of the sturgeon population.

The corps will monitor the response of sturgeon to the “spring rise” – the plan to encourage spawning by releasing water this spring from upstream dams on the Missouri River. Environmental groups support the plan, but Missouri officials fear it will increase flood risks for farmers. Barge interests say it could lead to reduced water limits in the fall, shortening the navigation season.

The corps is expected to release its final plan for a spring rise within a few weeks.

The spring rise is supposed to mimic how the river swelled naturally for centuries with the melting of mountain snow before dams were built and a long drought brought the river to historically low levels.