The restoration of an endangered species habitat on Bird Island is expected to begin very soon. According to the project manager from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“I feel like we’re making good progress,” Adam Burnett, of the Corps’ New England District said. “We are not behind at all.”

In September, the Quincy-based Cashman Dredging and Marine Contracting Company was awarded a $3.12 million contract to repair a 1,000 foot stone seawall, import and fill 5,000 cubic yards of gravel and plant vegetation to expand the habitat of a federally endangered species.

Burnett said the island, located three miles from town wharf, is one of a handful of nesting habitats for roseate terns.

“The birds use the island for nesting and rearing their young,” Burnett said. “It’s one of three islands left that the north Atlantic population of these birds are still using, and it’s really critical to their survival.”

Cashman Dredging and Marine Contracting was awarded a notice to proceed on Oct. 13, but the company is still securing construction permits before work can begin.

Owned by the town of Marion, Bird Island is home to a working lighthouse. Voters at Annual Town Meeting last spring OK’d granting an easement on the tern’s habitat to the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. The agreement stated that the site would be used permanently as conservation land.

Due to shallow waters around its shore, access to the island will require the construction of a temporary unloading platform extending into Sippican Harbor.

Material for the construction and fill work will most likely be launched from staging areas at Island Wharf and New Bedford, Burnett said.

“We will have those final details once everything is approved,” he said.