Connect With Us Section 7 Consultation: Operation and
Maintenance of the Upper Mississippi River 9-Foot Channel
Interior Least Tern PDF version (57KB) -Small member of the tern
family that requires open expanses of sand or pebble beaches
along river banks and reservoirs for nesting. Foraging habitat
includes side channels, sloughs and shallow-water habitats
adjacent to sand islands and must be located within a short
distance of a colony for successful reproduction. -The interior
least tern historically bred along the Mississippi River as far
north as Lee County, Iowa. Currently, the breeding range along
the Mississippi River extends to St. Louis, Missouri. -The
species' decline is attributed to the large-scale transformation
of interior river systems for navigation, flood control,
hydropower and irrigation which has eliminated much of the least
terns' nesting habitat (e.g., sandbar habitat in the Lower
Mississippi River declined by 33% from 1948 to 1994). -Other
causes of decline include water level fluctuati