FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) – An official says construction crews will be ready to resume work next spring on building a nearly 2 mile-long earthen berm through an Indiana marsh considered a possible pathway for Asian carp to reach the Great Lakes. 

Workers have mowed off vegetation and removed trees from the project area in Eagle Marsh just southeast of Fort Wayne.

Little River Wetlands Project manager Betsy Yankowiak tells The News-Sentinel crews also installed a fence to keep turtles, snakes and other wildlife from entering the work site.

The $2 million project aims to prevent Asian carp from crossing from the Wabash River watershed into the Maumee River, which enters Lake Erie at Toledo, Ohio. The project contract calls for the 9,100 feet of berm to be completed by next September.