Project Profiles - United States

This Bog's for You
by Scott Manley and Ross Melinchuk, Ducks Unlimited, Inc., and Jane Epperson, Missouri Department of Conservation

Less than 15 miles east of the Missouri-Kansas border in Vernon and Bates Counties lies the confluence of four rivers: the Osage, Little Osage, Marmaton, and Marias des Cygnes. Historically, this sprawling landscape represented a vast mosaic of prime wildlife habitats including wet prairie, emergent and shrub marsh, bottomland hardwood forests, and upland prairies. Fall and winter rains drove a natural cycle of flooding that once supported an immense wetland complex attracting hundreds of thousands of ducks, geese, and other migratory birds from the Central and Mississippi Flyways.

Humans have altered the natural geography of four river area over the past 100 years, but today, they are pledging to restore it. A coalition of corporations, private conservation groups, government agencies, and private landowners have joined forces to rededicate the four-rivers area to the wildlife creatures that once thrived amid the forests, wetlands, and uplands and to the people who enjoy the great outdoors.

The restoration of Four Rivers Conservation Area (Four Rivers) began in the 1980s when the Missouri Department of Conservation acquired two tracts totaling 7,000 acres along the Little Osage and Osage Rivers. Today, these areas have been linked by a third tract to form a contiguous mosaic of wildlife habitat totaling more than 14,000 acres. The area now represents one of the most valuable wetlands in the mid-continent.

Four Rivers is dedicated to waterfowl and other wildlife and also to the memory and honor of August A. Busch, Jr., a true conservationist and steward of the great outdoors. On what would have been his 100th birthday, a landmark fund-raising event supported by the Busch family, their national network of wholesale distributors, and Ducks Unlimited, Inc., generated $4.5 million to support not only the Four Rivers project but also other projects in Missouri and surrounding states. The area has been renamed the August A. Busch Jr. Memorial Wetlands at Four Rivers Conservation Area, a fitting tribute to an extraordinary man.

The August A. Busch, Jr., memorial project was successful due to the partnerships involved and the help they received from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (Act) grants program. Partners have received three Act grants since 2000, totaling more than $3 million, which supported acquisition, restoration, and enhancement activities. Nine partners expended nearly $16.9 million in matching and federal non-matching funds during the project's three phases.

The area now supports 260 bird species, of which one-third are neotropical migrants. Two Federally endangered and one threatened species along with 24 species of birds and plants listed as State-endangered or threatened will benefit from the project. In addition to 27 species of waterfowl, the area supports almost 40 species of wetland-dependent migratory birds, 50 species of non-game fish, 40 species of mammals, and 70 kinds of reptiles and amphibians. The August A Busch Jr. Memorial Wetlands at Four Rivers Conservation Area is an extraordinary example of what conservation partnerships can accomplish for the benefit of wildlife and the people that enjoy them.

For more information, contact Scott Manley, Ducks Unlimited Tri-state Initiative, c/o Missouri Department of Conservation, 2302 County Park Drive, Cape Girardeau, Missouri 63701, (573) 290-5730 extension 258, smanley@ducks.org, or Jane Epperson, Missouri Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102, (573) 751-4115, epperj@mail.conservation.state.mo.us.

Four Rivers Conservation Area Project Partners

Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Missouri Department of Conservation
Ducks Unlimited, Inc.
The Nature Conservancy
Missouri Prairie Foundation
Agridrain Corporation
Gator Pump, Inc.
National Wild Turkey Federation - Missouri Chapter
Grand Slam Waterfowl Weekend Committee

Finding the Right Mix in the Duck Factory
by Kevin Willis, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Don Hofmann is representative of the farmers who make their living from the land in a region known to waterfowl biologists as "the duck factory." In the course of doing chores on his 1,400-acre cattle-and-grain operation in North Dakota, Don daily passes by one or more of the 80-plus prairie pothole wetlands that dot his farm. Don also is representative of the nearly 1,000 farmers and ranchers who are partners in the Chase Lake Prairie Project (Project) enhancing and restoring wildlife habitat on their land.

"These folks have a special love for the land and the wildlife that use it," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) biologist Brad Jacobs, "and because they depend on this land for their living, any wildlife habitat improvements have to be a good fit with their agricultural operation."

Brad and other biologists who work with area farmers and ranchers make it their business to find a good fit. Since 1989, just over $3 million in North American Wetlands Conservation Act (Act) grants and matching funds have been used to restore, enhance, or protect more than 100,500 acres of wetlands and associated uplands in the Project area.

The Project encompasses a 5.5 million-acre area roughly covering the southern half of North Dakota's Missouri Coteau physiographic region—the heart of the duck factory. The Service estimates that annual duck production in this area exceeds 2 million birds under favorable climatic conditions. Containing numerous pothole wetlands, often in densities of 100 or more basins per square mile, this region supports 226 species of migratory birds, with 117 species breeding in the area.

The region also supports thousands of farms, the majority of which maintain a diversified operation of cattle and small-grain production. Here, cattle outnumber people by more than 5 to 1.

"This country is prime real estate for both ducks and agriculture," said John Takala, a Ducks Unlimited, Inc., biologist working full time on the Chase Lake effort. "We're working closely with landowners to find the right mix of projects that benefit both farmers and wildlife."

The right mix has definitely been found with cooperators like Don Hofmann, who has participated in the Project's first three phases. Don has cooperated with Project partners in establishing grazing systems beneficial to wildlife, planting marginal cropland back to native grasses, restoring drained wetlands, and protecting his part of the prairie pothole ecosystem with perpetual grass and wetland easements.

Don has deep feelings about what he's doing: "I have grandsons that may want to farm and ranch when they grow up. I think that taking care of the land, managing it properly, and working with the partners of the Chase Lake Project will allow them to succeed in farming this land and enjoy the wildlife that use it."

With landowners like Don Hofmann and the help of Act grants, the Chase Lake Prairie Project has proven to be good for the duck factory and good for the farmers living and working there—it's a good mix.

For more information, contact Kevin Willis, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 3425 Miriam Avenue, Bismarck, North Dakota, (701) 250-4403, kevin_willis@fws.gov.

Chase Lake Prairie Project Partners

Ducks Unlimited, Inc.
The Falkirk Mining Company
North Dakota Game and Fish
The Nature Conservancy
North Dakota Natural Resources Trust
South McLean Soil Conservation District
Sheridan Soil Conservation District
Stutsman Soil Conservation District
Delta Waterfowl Foundation
McClusky Sportsman Club
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Creating Solutions
by Eric Volden, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission

Less than 400 of the more than 4,000 wetlands that existed in southeast Nebraska's Rainwater Basin at the time of settlement remain. Historically, these clay-bottomed depressions held rain and runoff, providing crucial staging habitat for millions of waterfowl and shorebirds during spring and fall migrations. Those wetlands that remain still do.

The State and the Federal Government own most of the Waco/Spikerush basin's wetlands. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (Commission) manages a 194-acre tract known as Spikerush Wildlife Management Area. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) manages the adjoining 159-acre Waco Waterfowl Production Area. Both sites are managed as wildlife habitat and are open to regulated hunting and a variety of other recreational uses.

A few years ago, the Commission determined that restoration work was needed on Spikerush. To improve the management area, years of accumulated sediment would have to be removed, water-concentration pits eliminated, and dense stands of invasive reed canarygrass removed. A Nebraska Environmental Trust grant provided the funding needed to begin.

The first challenge was to find a dump site for thousands of cubic yards of sediment. The Commission approached the Service about using the spoil to fill a 15-acre water concentration pit on its lands. This pit, and a smaller one on Spikerush, had been dug by former landowners to concentrate runoff, allowing wetland conversion to cropland. The agencies concluded that it would be better to fill the large pit with its own spoil, which had been dumped around the pit, and to find other uses for the Spikerush sediment. The project's objectives broadened at this point to include work on the Waco tract; the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation joined in with funding.

The Commission's problem remained: Where to dump the Spikerush sediment? York County commissioners approved using the sediment to improve the county road that bisected the Waco and Spikerush tracts. The roadbed was raised almost 3 feet and its steep shoulders were re-worked to create a gradual incline that forced water away from the road, improving safety and maintenance.

The North American Waterfowl Management Plan's Rainwater Basin Joint Venture coordinated and focused efforts of the many groups that became involved in the project. Ducks Unlimited, Inc., handled project bidding, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service took care of the project's engineering and supervised construction. The Prairie Plains Resource Institute provided native-grass and forb seeds to restore disturbed areas, and a local tenant, who grazes cattle on Spikerush, replaced boundary fences.

Restoration plantings will continue for some time, and a groundwater well will be dug onsite to provide water during dry years. A portion of Spikerush also has been set aside for reed-canarygrass-management research.

Although there were initial concerns in the local community about future road flooding and filling the larger pit, which resident anglers sometimes used as a fishing hole, all parties were willing to work out their differences and see this project through to its completion.

The entire effort cost about $112,000. A heck of a deal for everyone involved: waterfowl, shorebirds, and people.

For more information, contact Eric Volden, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, 4005 Greenwood Drive, Grand Island, Nebraska 68803, (308) 382-1195, dvolden@hamilton.net.

Spikerush/Waco Restoration Project Partners

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Rainwater Basin Joint Venture
Nebraska Environmental Trust
Ducks Unlimited, Inc.
York County Highway Department
Prairie Plains Resource Institute
Private Landowners

Let the Music Live
by Margaret Comfort, WILDHEARTS

While paddling along a length of undisturbed shoreline in Lake Bellaire's North Arm in Antrim County, Michigan, I discovered a FOR SALE sign stuck in the middle of a bed of pitcher plants, classified as threatened in the State. North Arm is also home to another protected species, the melodic common loon.

At least six pairs of common loons once shared this lake, but only one pair remained. With the township's population having doubled in 10 years, the associated development activity had reduced the loon's habitat to only one-quarter mile of shoreline.

"If this is lost," I thought, "the loons would abandon this lake forever. What should I do?"

I knew what had been done. Elk River Watershed Loon Watch volunteers have been monitoring loons in Antrim County for more than 25 years. In 1989, middle-school students constructed a nesting island that loons have used every year since. In 1998, the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy (Conservancy) protected 535 feet of western-shore frontage, where the loons nest; however, the loons raise their young along 975 feet of the eastern shore, where the FOR SALE sign was posted and a 31-acre subdivision proposed.

I turned to my "loon-lover" friends for help. We formed an advocacy group, calling ourselves WILDHEARTS. We scheduled our first meeting with the Forest Home Township Planning Commission. The Commission supported our desire to protect the loons' habitat but was taken aback by its price: $300,000+ for 31.6 acres of wetlands. We contacted the Conservancy to explore our options. There was one: Property sales are slow in the winter; move quickly.

WILDHEARTS expeditiously formed a partnership with Michigan Loon Preservation Association, Three Lakes Association, Forest Home Township, and the Conservancy. We developed an acquisition plan: Get money. Our first application for a North American Wetlands Conservation Act (Act) grant failed, so we applied for a $202,000 Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant. Since this can take several years, the Conservancy secured an option on the property.

Spring 2000 brought loons to the lake, but violent storms coupled with warm weather that increased boating traffic during the nesting season left the loons with no surviving chicks by summer's end. "What if we save the land but not the loons?" we pondered.

Moving ahead, WILDHEARTS initiated its outreach strategy of mailings, direct contacts, educational programs, presentations to civic groups, and smaller grant applications, including a second try for an Act grant. We wondered if it would all come together before the option ran out.

Spring 2001 saw the return of the loons, in fact, more loon pairs than had been seen in 25 years, and they all produced chicks that fledged. Success for the loons, but what about the grants?

Good news came when 300 people made financial donations to the proposed Forest Home Township Loon Nursery Preserve. Better news came with the awarding of the Trust Fund grant. The best news came when the Act's $50,000 grant put us over the top, enabling us to buy the land and allowing the music of the loon will be heard for generations to come.

For more information, contact Matt McDonough, Land Protection Specialist, Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, 3860 North Long Lake Road, Suite B, Traverse City, Michigan 49684, (888) 929-3866, mmcdonough@gtrlc.org, www.grtlc.org.

Rice, Research, Ducks, and Degrees
by Jay Huseby, Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians

The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians' Department of Natural Resources and its partners have successfully completed the first phase of the Red Lake Farm/Kiwosay Waterfowl Habitat Restoration Project begun in 1998. Located within the prairie-forest transition zone of northwestern Minnesota, where about half of the State's wild rice is grown, the project's goal was to increase wildlife values of production-wild-rice paddies by restoring or enhancing adjacent habitats. Because the project area is within a major waterfowl migration corridor, and due to the attractiveness of wild-rice paddies to waterfowl and other wildlife, completion of project objectives has had an immediate positive effect on wildlife populations.

During the course of the project, partners restored more than 930 acres to wetland or upland nesting habitat, enhanced almost 600 acres, and placed and maintained 117 nesting structures. More than 20 waterfowl species per acre, including ducks, geese, and swans, have been recorded feeding in food plots or paddies during peak spring migration periods. Of the upland nesting ducks, an estimated 400 ducklings fledged each year of the project. Management efforts have increased local wildlife use of wetland and upland habitats, and baseline data collected will be used by other agencies to guide management of similar habitats.

The diverse assemblage of wildlife found at the site has provided a number of research and educational opportunities during the project's implementation. Four graduate students from three universities collected data on local populations of waterfowl and nongame birds, and three Tribal college students completed their summer internship requirements during the span of the project. Data has been presented in two master of science theses and will appear in two doctoral dissertations. Each year of the project, as part of the Red Lake High School's Job Shadowing Program, students interested in careers in natural resources fields visited project sites and assisted with activities. Project activities have been highlighted in a number of publications, for example, Minnesota Waterfowler and the National Wetlands Newsletter, and the project's activities have been the subject of presentations at several professional meetings.

The Tribe's participation in this North American Wetlands Conservation Act-supported project will provide benefits to its Department of Natural Resources that go far beyond the completion of specific project objectives. This project has facilitated new working relationships with federal, state, and private wildlife agencies and provided unique educational opportunities that will continue to benefit resident and migratory birds.

For more information, contact Jay Huseby, Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Department of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 279, Red Lake, Minnesota 56671, (218) 679-2115, jhuseby@paulbunyan.net.

Red Lake Farm/Kiwosay Habitat Restoration Project Partners

Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
Ducks Unlimited, Inc.
Minnesota Waterfowl Association
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Beltrami Company
National Audubon Society
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Life in a Montane Meadow
by Candy Lupe, White Mountain Apache Tribe

Montane meadows are an important habitat in the arid Southwest, since they support diverse and productive communities including amphibians, migratory birds, fish, wetland plants, and people. The White Mountain Apache Tribe has undertaken numerous projects to restore these habitats, locally known as "cienegas," using combinations of active and passive treatments. Two such projects, Maverick Cienega and Ess Cienega, were supported with a $26,000 North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant. The Tribe added $30,500 and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, $3,270, to take the projects to their completion.

In the 1960s, Maverick Cienega had been the site of a major logging town, which was located on a hill overlooking the meadow. When the town was abandoned in the 1970s, inhabitants left a lot of debris behind. The cienega's restoration began with partners hauling out the trash and closing a road that crossed the meadow. They fenced most of the meadow to rest it from grazing pressures, and transfigured the old town site into an outdoor recreation and education center. The fence on the upper half of the meadow protects the water supply for the center. Partners also pruned decaying willow trees to stimulate their growth and value for migratory hummingbirds. All together, these treatments have comprehensively transformed an intensively used "urban" area back to a scenic wetland.

At the Ess Cienega, project partners fenced a large area to allow the native wetland plants to flourish and built small riffle formations in the meadow from rocks and gravel available onsite. The riffles trap sediments and help raise the meadow's water level. The bare, eroding banks surrounding the cienega were contoured and seeded with native grasses to promote stabilization.

Both cienegas were reseeded and transplanted with native sedges. Recovery of wetland vegetation is already evident at both sites, and the Tribe's wetlands specialists are inventorying the wetland plants that grow in these protected areas.

The restoration of these cienegas provides a resource that can be used to demonstrate the value of wetlands to visitors at the sites, including Tribal youth, who participate in the annual summer ecological education camps held at the Maverick Cienega. Although the town is gone, the meadows still teem with life!

For more information, contact Candy Lupe, White Mountain Apache Tribe, P.O. Box 2109, Whiteriver, Arizona 85941, (928) 338-4346 extension 284, clupe@wmat.nsn.us.

Thanks for the Memories
by Tim McNeil, Western Rivers Conservancy

Located between the Cascade Mountains and the Coastal Range in western Oregon, the Willamette River once flowed through a broad, braided channel nourishing floodplain wetlands and great gallery forests on its way to the Columbia River. Agriculture, industry, and urban development have disconnected the river from its floodplain and constrained it to a single channel. Still, pockets of the old floodplain survive, containing old stands of ash and oak, along with sloughs and backwater habitat, where rare fish, reptiles, and waterfowl thrive.

The opportunity to protect one of the best of these relics, along with the potential to reconnect it to a restored floodplain unit, inspired a diverse coalition, fortified with a North American Wetlands Conservation Act (Act) Small Grant of $50,000, to acquire 236 acres in the Middle Willamette Valley. This area drew the attention of the coalition for simple reasons: 99 percent of native grasslands, 40 to 80 percent of emergent wetlands, and 70 percent of bottomland forests have disappeared from the Willamette floodplain due to development.

Despite this significant loss of habitat, migratory waterfowl thrive in the pockets of intact floodplain areas that remain in this area. Winter bird counts have tallied over 300,000 waterfowl in the Willamette Valley. In addition, the valley's Lower Columbia River Region winters about 90 percent of both the cackling Canada goose population and dusky Canada goose population.

With relic floodplain habitat diminishing, despite the urgent need for this habitat by migratory waterfowl, rare reptiles, and endangered fish, valley conservationists found a common focus. Western Rivers Conservancy (Conservancy), with guidance from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) habitat biologists, canvassed the valley for the last, best floodplain sites: those areas with historic river channels, gallery forest stands, and potential for reconnecting to the river.

After ODFW identified a 236-acre priority parcel containing ponds, sloughs, and backwater habitats for acquisition, the Conservancy negotiated the purchase terms. Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (Department), manager of 500 undeveloped acres downstream of the parcel, committed funds for the acquisition, along with the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde through its Spirit Mountain Community Fund. The Department agreed to take title to the property and manage it. The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board contributed the bulk of the acquisition dollars, and an Act Small Grant provided the balance needed to close on the property.

Habitat biologists hailed the acquisition not only for its present value but also for its future promise. Today, the Department is managing one of the oldest gallery-forest stands left in the Willamette Valley. The potential exists to connect the 236-acre parcel to its downstream property and to create a functioning, 1,200-acre unit of floodplain habitat, replanted, restored, and reconnected to the Willamette River. Another Act grant, awarded in the summer of 2001, will help partners to realize this potential.

What started with a diverse coalition of partners and a memory of a great floodplain may progress to a place where the memories comes to life and more are made.

For more information, contact Sue Doroff, Western Rivers Conservancy, 1411 NE Broadway, Portland, Oregon 97232, (503) 241-0151, sdoroff@westernrivers.org, www.westernrivers.org.

Willamette River Gallery Forest Project Partners

Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Spirit Mountain Community Fund
Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board
Oregon Parks and Recreation Department
Western Rivers Conservancy
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Test Question: What's a Carolina Bay?
by Lee Dane, Aiken County Open Land Trust

So, you think you know a lot about wetlands. Ever heard of a "Carolina bay"?

In case you haven't, these rare, self-contained ecosystems are isolated wetlands formed in elliptical depressions occurring across the southeastern coastal plain of the United States. They can be readily distinguished from other depressions by a unique set of characteristics, including shallow depth, oval shape, and a northwest-southeast orientation. The majority of bays dry out periodically, making them particularly valuable habitat for reptiles, amphibians, and aquatic invertebrates. These bays provide the water needed for breeding and the protection not found in permanent ponds, where they would be eaten by large-sized fish. However, there is no escaping danger when at the bottom of the food chain. Wet or dry, Carolina bays produce high weights of food species attractive to both resident and migratory birds.

Because bays are disconnected wetland "islands," they significantly influence plant and animal distribution and may affect the evolution of some species. Topographic setting, hydrologic regime, and history of human activities create a range of conditions favoring different vegetation associations. To see one in an urban setting, head to Aiken, South Carolina, where you'll find the Carolina Bay Nature Reserve. Of the reserve's 24 acres, 10 acres, including the bay, are owned by the City of Aiken. The Aiken County Open Land Trust (Trust) owns the remaining acres of surrounding upland. A $40,000 North American Wetlands Conservation Act Small Grant, matched by $60,000 from the City of Aiken and $210,000 from the Trust, allowed for the acquisition of the upland acreage. When a final 3-acre purchase is completed, the entire acquisition will be donated to the city and permanently protected by a conservation easement retained by the Trust.

In 1996, when the project began, the bay was worn-out farmland surrounded by 50-year-old pines and old-field succession. The Trust has begun the process of restoring the bay's biological diversity by enhancing soils and planting flora from other local bays. Many plants have taken hold and covered much of the naked bottom and sides of the bay. The sides have become brushy, reedy slopes that offer cover to birds.

Last year, as the bay dried up, small puddles concentrated the fish and frogs. Several pairs of little green herons and an American bittern spent the last 3 weeks of June feasting on fish soup. A Mississippi kite spent several months over the bay, attracted by the increased population of dragon flies and other insects. Other bird species are expected to visit the bay when the climate returns to a wetter pattern.

The reserve is the last refuge in an urban area for frogs, salamanders, and birds and is frequently visited by students and birders. They have the pleasure of watching the fast-forward evolution of an ecosystem occurring right in the middle of their neighborhood.

For more information, contact Lee Dane, Aiken County Open Land Trust, 437 Easter Branch Road, Ridge Spring, South Carolina 29129, (803) 685-7878, leedane@aol.com.