(Return matching records with ALLANY of these words.)    ................................................................ state Choose State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illiniois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississipi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming District of Columbia    regions Choose region Pacific Southwest Midwest Southeast Northeast Mountain-Prairie Alaska California-Nevada All Regions    ................................................................ ................................................................ Journal Entry   Back Rice Lake Refuge on the Cutting Edge of Aquatic Plant Management Midwest Region, August 3, 2004 Print Friendly Version Perennial plants like pickerelweed and water-shield have been increasing in cover on Rice Lake and in other northern Minnesota lakes. These perennials, although native, are out competing wild rice which is a major food resource for the fall flight of migrating ducks in Minnesota. Wild rice is an intermediate disturbance dependant species. Which means that it does best in areas that have perennial vegetation removed by flooding in the early spring before the rice seeds germinate. If major flooding occurs after germination the plants are often uprooted and killed. Stable water levels over the last several decades at Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge have maintained good rice production; however the stable water levels have also benefited the perennial plants. This year Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge started a perennial plant cutting experiment. A weed cutter attachment for the refuge airboat was fabricated by a local wild rice farmer that uses similar equipment to thin paddy rice. Several different cutting treatments were applied in July and August. So far the experiment is going well and of course the areas cut over the most times have the least amount of pickerelweed. We won?t know for sure how well it works until next summer's pickerelweed comes up, or hopefully doesn?t. Wild rice seed can remain good in the soil for several years but seeding is also an option to put rice back to an area after pickerelweed is gone. We?ll never remove all the pickerelweed and we don?t want to. It's a native plant that does provide good cover for wildlife. We just need to take back some room for wild rice. Contact Info: Midwest Region Public Affairs, 612-713-5313, charles_traxler@fws.gov Send to: From: Notes: ..........................................................................................

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