The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded $2 million in stimulus funding to the Tennessee Valley Authority to repair a levee on Kentucky Lake.
The 11-mile dike was originally constructed in 1945 to protect the Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge. It helps manage water levels where 150,000 waterfowl winter each year.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar says rebuilding the levee will protect 5,000 acres of planted crops and naturally occurring food sources that attract the wintering birds.
Refuge manager John Taylor says the stimulus funding will restore the dike to its original elevation in places that have washed out from flooding.
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