BROWNSVILLE, Minn. &#8212 On the Mississippi River below the verdant bluffs that mark the far southern Minnesota-Wisconsin line, the federal government is waging a multimillion dollar campaign against the elements.

For the last few weeks, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has transformed a 3-mile stretch of river into a floating construction zone, restoring and creating new river islands.

The goal: restore wildlife habitat lost to a half century of erosion and, in turn, bolstering fishing, waterfowl migration and the overall health of the river’s northern stretches.

No one has tried a restoration program of this size on such a large river, said Marvin Hubbell, regional manager for the project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

So far it’s gotten favorable reviews from the engineering community and river lovers. Officials are considering it as a model for restoration on the Rio Grande as well as the Parana River in Brazil and the Yangtze River in China, Hubbell said.

The work on the Mississippi is part of a larger effort to create dozens of islands between Cairo, Ill., and the Twin Cities that’s been going on for nearly two decades.

Gary Dillabar, 63, said he remembers when the Mississippi River near Stoddard, Wis., was an open expanse of brown water. Last year, the corps added three islands, and now the water is clearer and fish are spawning.

“It’s one of the few places today where government money is being used and shows a good, positive result,” Dillabar said. “Those projects are going to be the savior of the river.”

“It helps ensure we have a resource here we can pass on to our kids,” said corps biologist Randall Devendorf as he watched three young bald eagles perch on a corps-built sand island near Brownsville.

At first, the corps built the islands high to withstand floods and reinforced them to combat erosion. Now they sit lower, making them more stable and natural-looking. Some are meant to erode in patterns to form pockets of wildlife-friendly water and sand flats.

There’s no definite measure of whether the program is making a difference. But Nissen said aerial surveys show vegetation returning.

It’s not known for sure if the islands play a role, Johnson said, but other parts of river haven’t seen such increases.