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Saturday, June 23, 2007
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DNR pumps up Mission wildlife area
Outdoors Editor MERRIFIELD - Work started Monday on a project that will bring more waterfowl to north-central Minnesota.
A 45-acre wetland on the Mission Lake Wildlife Management Area is being restored through a partnership between the DNR, Ducks Unlimited and Mission Lake Property Owners Association.
The wetland wasn't very wet in recent years because the pump that regulated the water level stopped working. It was installed in the 1940s when the DNR wildlife division took over management of the wetland from DNR fisheries, which had used it to rear walleyes and northern pike. A new, submersible pump that can be operated via remote control is key to restoring the wetland to its former glory.
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This dried up wetland on the Mission Lake Wildlife Management Area once teemed with waterfowl. A year from now it will be again, if plans to restore the wetland are successful. A new pump that will regulate the water level is key to the project.
» Purchase reprints of this photo.
Brainerd Dispatch/Vince Meyer
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"This was a good duck rearing pond at one time," said Mike Loss, DNR wildlife technician in Brainerd. "I came out here once and counted 16 broods just in the small area I could see. In the fall there were oodles of ducks. It was perfect habitat. With waterfowl, if you create the habitat they will come."
The wetland has been dry for years and is choked with cattails. Good duck habitat features a 50-50 mix of cattails and open water. So a 20-acre area in the center of the wetland will be burned this fall to create an opening for water. Herbicide will be applied in the spring to check the cattails and then the new pump will be turned on and the area will flooded with fresh water. Wild rice will be planted to provide food. Beavers will be trapped and removed as needed. A wildlife viewing platform will be installed at a later date.
Cost of the entire project is estimated at $68,000. The North American Wetland Conservation Act contributed $38,000, and about $30,000 came from a heritage enhancement grant the DNR provided to Ducks Unlimited.
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DNR workers never know what they'll encounter in a day's work. Mike Loss, wildlife technician in Brainerd, went to the Mission Lake WMA to help with a wetland restoration project and ended up rescuing this fawn, which was trapped in a brush pile with its legs entangled. Loss freed the young deer and set it loose in the nearby woods.
» Purchase reprints of this photo.
Brainerd Dispatch/Vince Meyer
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"This project is part of our Living Lakes Conservation Initiative," said Jon Schneider, DU manager of Minnesota conservation programs. "Out west we focus our resources on shallow lakes, and in this part of the country its the wild rice lakes we're trying to enhance."
Said Warren Herold, president of the Mission Lake Property Owners Association, "We've been trying to get something done on this land for years. But the DNR didn't have the money and we certainly didn't have it. But now with DU getting into it, the time is right. We're very pleased."
When completed, the wetland might be turned into a waterfowl refuge and opened to hunting for disabled hunters for two days each year.
Work on the wetland was done by Sentence to Serve crews, the Minnesota Conservation Corps, Ducks Unlimited, DNR, Ron Harkess Excavating, Crow Wing Power and Tri-State Pump and Control.
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The old pumphouse on the Mission Lake WMA is being rehabilitated, with a new submersible pump that will operate with a float sensor that detects water levels. When the water gets low, the pump kicks in and fresh water is delivered to the wetland.
» Purchase reprints of this photo.
Brainerd Dispatch/Vince Meyer
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"We have a lot of water around here, but it's not a matter of quantity but quality," said Gary Drotts, DNR area wildlife manager in Brainerd. "This might not look like much right now, but within a year it will be operational."
And ducks will fly over Mission Lake WMA in great numbers once again.
VINCE MEYER may be reached at vince.meyer@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5862.
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