New water control structure at Blakesley Waterfowl Production Area. - Photo by Matt Olson, Ducks Unlimited

New fish barrier bays at Nicholson Waterfowl Producation Area. - Photo taken by Matt Olson, Ducks Unlimited

Five water control structure construction projects were completed on the Fergus Falls Wetland Management District since November 2004.  Ducks Unlimited (DU) was an engineering and construction partner on four of the projects, which include six water control structures, three fish barriers, and one large equalizer culvert on Steinlicht WPA, Blakesley WPA, Nicholson WPA, and Benson WPA. Nearly $390,000 dollars were spent on updating and installing new water management facilities this year on Fergus Falls Wetland Management District lands.  These five wetland management projects will allow management of 278 acres of type four and five wetlands

District staff completed a new water control structure on Steinlicht WPA during November 2004.  This water control structure is a 48" diameter whistle tube that runs into a 12" tile.  This structure will allow us to manage a 48 acre shallow lake that is half on the WPA and half on private land.  In addition to that structure, a new culvert had to be installed through the county road that bisects the lake.  The old culvert had been crushed years ago when a phone line was trenched through the road and into the culvert.  This equalizer culvert was a large project also paid for by Ducks Unlimited and was completed in September 2005.  This basin is in full draw down and will remain that way through summer 2006.   We hope to eradicate any fish remaining in the wetland this winter and encourage new emergent plant growth during next summer.

A new structure was installed on Blakesley WPA to replace the existing sheet piling structure.  The structure has two 4.5' wide stop log bays.  The type four wetland we manage on Blakesley is about 62 acres in size and gets fairly heavy waterfowl use when it is full.  This basin had been in draw down for a couple of years and was badly in need of re-flooding.  The basin was immediately flooded during June 2005 to about three feet maximum depth.  It will be flooded to full pool next summer.

Two new structures were installed at Nicholson WPA during June and July to enhance management on the 100 acre Nicholson marsh.  Two new fish barrier bays were installed down stream of the existing west water control structure on Nicholson marsh.  Now that we have two barriers instead of one, we should be able to nearly double the flow-through capacity of the water control structure.  Hopefully this improvement will allow us to draw this basin down completely.  We also replaced the existing east structure which is primarily an overflow structure and was bent from frost heaves.  All three of these bays are concrete box culverts with steel inlet and outlet pipes, and they all house 60" rotating fish barrier screens.  They all have their own hoist system for raising and lowering the fish barriers.  All three of the fish barrier drums were also repaired over the course of the year.

During September, October, and November, we installed two new water control structures at Benson WPA in Douglas County.  One structure is a sheet piling diversion structure built in a previously channelized section of stream.  It will allow us to back water through the new 48" diameter whistle tube structure in order to flood and hold water in a 56 acre type four wetland.  A 750' long embankment was built to hold water in this marsh.  This basin is quite healthy.  It is almost completely covered in submerged aquatic plants and the water is crystal clear.  The marsh does have carp in it, so eradication of those fish is a priority.  It will be fun to manage a marsh that has such high wetland quality to start with. This wetland is included in the spring waterfowl breeding pair counts, and it has received high waterfowl use over many years.

In November 2005, a new structure was installed on Sellevold WPA to replace a structure that had rusted out and was not holding water anymore.  This half round riser is used to manage a 12 acre, type four marsh.  We will fill this wetland to full pool next summer also.  We had been trying to raise water levels in this marsh for two years prior to this replacement.  The marsh has become quite choked with cattails, and we need to re-flood and open those cattails up again.

The partnership between Ducks Unlimited and the US Fish and Wildlife Service has greatly improved wetland habitat throughout the Fergus Falls Wetland Management District for waterfowl and wetland dependant species.  As partners, we look forward to many successful wildlife habitat improvement projects to come.