Kansas City, Mo. ? City and federal officials are restoring a section of the south bank of the Missouri River to how it would have appeared to early settlers.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing the $1.2 million project, which will remove concrete and other debris from a 5 1/2-acre site and create a wetland with native trees and grasses.

An existing system of riverside walkways and bike paths will also be extended through the site.

The project is part of an overall effort to improve the city’s riverfront and help revitalize the city’s River Market area and all of downtown.

“You won’t recognize it,” said Vincent Gauthier, executive director of the Port Authority of Kansas City. “We’re reintroducing people to where the city started.”

Fleshman Excavating Co. of Liberty began work on the project before Thanksgiving, removing material from the site just west of the Heart of America Bridge.

A heritage trail will run through the site with looping pathways to allow visitors to go deeper into the natural area, which will extend to and be visible from the Grand Boulevard viaduct.

Soil water will create and sustain the wetland and will remain separated from the river except when the water is high. The site is on the river side of the city floodwall so it won’t interfere with the levee system.

Steve Rinne of the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City said he expects the site will become a draw for Kansas City-area bird watchers. He and Matt Gearheart, an architect and member of the Audubon Society of Missouri, have identified at least 85 bird species along the river, including the great blue heron, the white-throated sparrow and the bald eagle.

Project manager Christina Ostrander said the corps had to test the site for pollution and archaeological value. Local dollars and land contributions are covering 35 percent of the project’s cost while federal money is providing the rest.

Other projects in the area include a roughly $250,000 series of enhancements at the Town of Kansas Bridge, including a rain garden to catch water that typically flows down into railroad property, and a $3 million project to develop a quarter-mile series of zigzagging walkways to the waterfront on the Riverfront Heritage Trail beneath the ASB Bridge.

Gauthier said he expects the project to be done this summer.

He said the trail eventually will link the east side of the Paseo Bridge to the West Bottoms and eventually downtown Kansas City, Kan., with future sections extending to the Blue River corridor.

“This will be the coolest trail in town, no question,” Gauthier said.