Assessment of a Mallard Model in
Minnesota's Prairie Coteau
Study Area
We worked in southwestern Minnesota's PPJV Prairie Coteau target area (Fig. 1). The region is a massive plateau separated from the Minnesota River Valley region by an escarpment rising approximately 200 m above the plain (Kratz, T. K., and G. L. Jensen, Minnesota's Landscape Regions, Minn. Dep. Nat. Resour., edited and revised by K. M. Wendt, Dec. 1986). The study area was gently to steeply rolling with lakes and wetlands occurring along the escarpment. Deciduous trees occurred primarily in river valleys, along lake margins, and around farmsteads. Wetland drainage has been extensive in this intensively cultivated landscape, and few remnants of presettlement prairie remain. The area encompasses approximately 10% of Minnesota's PPJV area and contains about 9% of Minnesota's PPJV mallards (J. Lawrence, Minn. Dep. Nat. Resour., pers. commun.).
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| Fig. 1. Locations of 3 study sites in southwestern Minnesota's Prairie Coteau target area, 1991-1992. |
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