Wetlands of North Dakota
North Dakota Wetlands
Wetlands once covered about 4.9 million acres of North Dakota--11 percent of the State. By the 1980's, the acreage had decreased to about
2.7 million acres, a loss of about 45 percent. Most of the losses have
been caused by drainage for agricultural development. The rate of
agricultural conversions in the future will likely depend on crop prices
and other economic factors. Most of North Dakota's wetlands are prairie
potholes, which provide nesting and feeding habitat for migratory
waterfowl and wading birds. About one-half the Nation's duck population
originates in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota and other prairie
States.
Prairie potholes, or sloughs, are water-holding depressions of glacial
origin that occur in 300,000 square miles of prairies in north central
United States and south-central Canada. These potholes provide the most
productive wetland habitat for waterfowl in North America. Although
comprising only 10 percent of the continental waterfowl-breeding, the
pothole region produces about 50 percent of the duck crop in an average
year and much more in bumper years (Smith and others, 1964, p. 39).
Potholes also furnish water for other wildlife and livestock.
(http://library.ndsu.edu/moved-government-documents/)
Information Resources
Data from Other Federal Agencies
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