By Mark Pfost, Public Lands Ecologist – mpfost@wisducks.org
This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s June, 2024 Newsletter edition.
I first looked at aerial imagery of Peter Helland Wildlife Area fourteen months ago. At first sight, the network of ditches looked to be the type of project that WWA’s agreement with DNR was meant to take on.
Peter Helland Wildlife Area
DNR land managers had wanted to restore the area for a long time, but the obstacles were too big. Those obstacles included neighbors and property lines and the staff time required to do all the surveying, and “what-iffing” that might eventually lead to a plan.
Much of the site is dominated by Reed Canary Grass
We spent many hours developing restoration ideas and discussing different iterations with Peter Helland’s land manager and other DNR employees; we now have DNR’s blessing. We submitted the wetland permit application in May and now we wait. The permitting folks may have additional questions, but that’s to be expected for a project of this size. However, we don’t anticipate any major problems that could delay the project.
A typical ditch on the Peter Helland site
Once permitting is complete, the next step will be to write a “scope of work” and solicit bids. Although we are only guessing at this point, “dirt work” could start as early as this autumn or we may not begin until next year. Whatever else may come, weather will be the determining factor for when work will start.