GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - A year ago explosives breached the dikes built half a century ago to turn marshes on the northern end of Upper Klamath Lake into farmland to help feed a growing nation.

On Tuesday, backhoes were set to finish the job of allowing water to once again cover the Williamson River Delta.

The backhoes will cut breaks in six miles of dikes, allowing river and lake water to flow over 2,300 acres drained in the 1950s to grow potatoes, alfalfa and other crops.

It's part of a major project by the Nature Conservancy to restore habitat for the endangered shortnosed sucker and Lost River sucker.

It is part of a complex and extensive effort to restore the Klamath Basin to a naturally functioning ecosystem after a century of engineering that included dikes, dams and irrigation canals.

Another part is the future removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River to help struggling salmon runs.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.