A Foot in the Door for Wildlife
January-February 1999
Restoring wetland values does not necessarily involve radical changes in local drainage. Sometimes, just adding a foot - or even a few inches - of water is all it takes to make a partially drained basin productive for waterfowl and other wildlife. That's what a couple of projects in Montcalm County have aptly demonstrated.
Working with Montcalm County drain commissioner Don Cooper, Michigan Wildlife Habitat Foundation has designed and constructed water control systems for two large basins. The first project was completed in 1995 north of Edmore and targeted over 70 acres of former cropland on muck soils. A previous owner had kept the basin drained with a system of dikes, ditches, and pumps, but eventually gave up farming the land and defaulted on a loan from the federal Farmer's Home Administration (FmHA). The land was subsequently sold by the FmHA with a conservation easement administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Meanwhile, it lay idle for several years, and beavers temporarily plugged the drainage outlet on the edge of the property. The resultant flooding attracted plenty of ducks and other waterbirds, but was short lived. Some sections of muck-based dike washed out and water again drained from the basin. It supported a thick stand of cattail and patches of other vegetation, but there was little permanent water and wildlife use dropped off markedly.
The new landowners wanted enough water in the basin so that good wildlife habitat could be maintained while minimizing maintenance costs. They sought help from drain commissioner Cooper and Habitat Foundation staff who analyzed the basin and came up with a solution. Part of the dike was rebuilt, and a water control system with three components was constructed. An 18-inch diameter fiberglass structure with sliding panels was installed to allow drawdowns and handle normal water flows. A 36-inch tube with a 42-inch riser was placed in the dike to carry excess storm water. Finally, a 50-foot wide emergency spillway was constructed to handle extreme flows. This three tiered system was necessary because of the poor soils, yet the cost was modest (less than $5,000). The Foundation and the Fish and Wildlife Service split most of the cost, with the landowners picking up the rest of the tab.
The results have been dramatic. The extra foot of water has changed the vegetation to a patchy network of open water and a variety of emergent plants - a condition biologists refer to as a "hemi-marsh." Wildlife use - especially birds and muskrats - has increased greatly.
"We had a couple of thousand ducks and over 500 geese using the marsh as a night roost and feeding area this November," said Calvin Beach, one of the owners of the property. "We're not sure how much waterfowl production occurred earlier in the year, but we suspect it was substantial. Even a pair of sandhill cranes hung around and may have nested in the marsh. The restoration project really made a difference, although the water is only knee deep at most."
Although the basin was adjacent to, but not actually on a dedicated county drain, Cooper assisted the landowners and Foundation staff in obtaining local and state approvals for the project and provided some technical advice. "I was surprised that Foundation staff determined only a foot of water was needed to achieve the desired results," said Cooper. "I had previously thought that wetland restoration involved much deeper impoundments and higher dikes. When you are talking just a foot or so, that opens up a lot of possibilities for projects that drain commissioners can support."
Cooper's positive experience let him to seek help from the Foundation for another project in the southern part of his county. There, the same type of water control system was installed on a county drain to put an extra foot of water on almost 20 acres of muck soil. Again, the Foundation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service covered most of the cost. Completed just a year ago, the project has converted a mostly drained basin overgrown with cattails and woody plants to a hemi-marsh used by lots of mallards, wood ducks, and geese. "I had some doubts it could be done (because of the muck soil)," said landowner Gerald Wright, "but the project turned out just the way it was designed to."
Hemi-marshes can develop in water just 6-18 inches deep. They form as the permanent water slows or stops the growth of cattail, willow, and other plants. The "hemi" part of their name derives from the fact that they are about half vegetation and half open water. Feeding of muskrats on cattail also helps to create openings which are colonized by underwater plants. These types of wetlands tend to support more kinds of wildlife species and produce more waterfowl than ones that are overgrown with vegetation or, at the other extreme, too deep and pond-like. The fiberglass control structures will allow landowners at the two Montcalm County sites to drop the water level in four-inch increments and reverse the process if their wetlands contain too much open water.
Patrick J. Rusz, Ph.D.
Director of Wildlife Programs
Restoring wetland values does not necessarily involve radical changes in local drainage. Sometimes, just adding a foot - or even a few inches - of water is all it takes to make a partially drained basin productive for waterfowl and other wildlife. That's what a couple of projects in Montcalm County have aptly demonstrated.
Working with Montcalm County drain commissioner Don Cooper, Michigan Wildlife Habitat Foundation has designed and constructed water control systems for two large basins. The first project was completed in 1995 north of Edmore and targeted over 70 acres of former cropland on muck soils. A previous owner had kept the basin drained with a system of dikes, ditches, and pumps, but eventually gave up farming the land and defaulted on a loan from the federal Farmer's Home Administration (FmHA). The land was subsequently sold by the FmHA with a conservation easement administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Meanwhile, it lay idle for several years, and beavers temporarily plugged the drainage outlet on the edge of the property. The resultant flooding attracted plenty of ducks and other waterbirds, but was short lived. Some sections of muck-based dike washed out and water again drained from the basin. It supported a thick stand of cattail and patches of other vegetation, but there was little permanent water and wildlife use dropped off markedly.
The new landowners wanted enough water in the basin so that good wildlife habitat could be maintained while minimizing maintenance costs. They sought help from drain commissioner Cooper and Habitat Foundation staff who analyzed the basin and came up with a solution. Part of the dike was rebuilt, and a water control system with three components was constructed. An 18-inch diameter fiberglass structure with sliding panels was installed to allow drawdowns and handle normal water flows. A 36-inch tube with a 42-inch riser was placed in the dike to carry excess storm water. Finally, a 50-foot wide emergency spillway was constructed to handle extreme flows. This three tiered system was necessary because of the poor soils, yet the cost was modest (less than $5,000). The Foundation and the Fish and Wildlife Service split most of the cost, with the landowners picking up the rest of the tab.
The results have been dramatic. The extra foot of water has changed the vegetation to a patchy network of open water and a variety of emergent plants - a condition biologists refer to as a "hemi-marsh." Wildlife use - especially birds and muskrats - has increased greatly.
"We had a couple of thousand ducks and over 500 geese using the marsh as a night roost and feeding area this November," said Calvin Beach, one of the owners of the property. "We're not sure how much waterfowl production occurred earlier in the year, but we suspect it was substantial. Even a pair of sandhill cranes hung around and may have nested in the marsh. The restoration project really made a difference, although the water is only knee deep at most."
Although the basin was adjacent to, but not actually on a dedicated county drain, Cooper assisted the landowners and Foundation staff in obtaining local and state approvals for the project and provided some technical advice. "I was surprised that Foundation staff determined only a foot of water was needed to achieve the desired results," said Cooper. "I had previously thought that wetland restoration involved much deeper impoundments and higher dikes. When you are talking just a foot or so, that opens up a lot of possibilities for projects that drain commissioners can support."
Cooper's positive experience let him to seek help from the Foundation for another project in the southern part of his county. There, the same type of water control system was installed on a county drain to put an extra foot of water on almost 20 acres of muck soil. Again, the Foundation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service covered most of the cost. Completed just a year ago, the project has converted a mostly drained basin overgrown with cattails and woody plants to a hemi-marsh used by lots of mallards, wood ducks, and geese. "I had some doubts it could be done (because of the muck soil)," said landowner Gerald Wright, "but the project turned out just the way it was designed to."
Hemi-marshes can develop in water just 6-18 inches deep. They form as the permanent water slows or stops the growth of cattail, willow, and other plants. The "hemi" part of their name derives from the fact that they are about half vegetation and half open water. Feeding of muskrats on cattail also helps to create openings which are colonized by underwater plants. These types of wetlands tend to support more kinds of wildlife species and produce more waterfowl than ones that are overgrown with vegetation or, at the other extreme, too deep and pond-like. The fiberglass control structures will allow landowners at the two Montcalm County sites to drop the water level in four-inch increments and reverse the process if their wetlands contain too much open water.
Patrick J. Rusz, Ph.D.
Director of Wildlife Programs