By Anna Rzchowski, Public Lands Ecologist – arzchowski@wisducks.org

This article appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s March, 2025 Newsletter edition.

Pre restoration: this ditched spring drains to Lunch Creek.

Last month WWA completed its third wetland restoration on DNR lands at White River Fishery Area in Waushara County.

In February 2024, WWA identified an approximately 1,000’ ditch on this property at the headwaters of Lunch Creek in Waushara County, likely draining a spring. It isn’t clear exactly when this ditching occurred—between 1937 and 1979, probably in the hopes of draining the wetland enough to improve pasture.

The wetland scrape, which provided secondary fill material for the ditch, lies adjacent to forested wetland and upland prairie.

WWA first visited the property early last year, and additional survey work was completed in summer 2024. After several discussions, WWA and DNR agreed upon a restoration plan. Project goals were to balance diverse but complementary interests: improve habitat for nesting and migrating waterfowl where appropriate, restore native wetland vegetation and function to a unique but degraded wetland, and contribute to the health of the nearby trout stream. The restoration plan incorporated a 1,000’ ditch fill and a small scrape located to the northeast of the main wetland adjacent to upland prairie and floodplain forest. Spoil material located on the west bank of the ditch was used for initial fill material, with additional material obtained from the scrape as necessary.

3Restoring natural hydrology rehydrates the wetland soils, improving the overall health and habitat value of the wetland.

Construction began in February 2025, with WWA staff on-site occasionally throughout the project. With the ditch filled and hydrology restored, all that remains is to wait and see the results!

By Mark Pfost, Public Lands Ecologist – mpfost@wisducks.org

This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s December, 2024 Newsletter edition.

You may recall that WWA finished its first public lands wetland restoration project with the DNR on Navarino Wildlife Area in late July. Spring and early summer this year were very wet. I worried that all the rain and subsequent high water levels would delay construction until late summer – if the rains ever quit and our site dried out. Rainfall dominated my conversations with the contractor as we approached the end of July, but he thought conditions would be okay and we agreed to get started.

On the day the contractor arrived on site, the ditch was full and flowing. Not only were we losing water, but constructing a solid ditch plug wasn’t feasible with a ditch full of water. He built a coffer dam west of the plug’s position to hold back water, and then pumped water out of the ditch for a day so that he could construct the plug without working in water.

While that work was going on, I went for a hike. My route paralleled the ditch on its south side, but well outside of the ditch corridor. A belt of trees, mostly buckthorn, and aspen, extended from the ditch bank to twenty yards or so away from it. I walked outside of this belt in restored tall-grass prairie. Even with all the recent rains, there was not standing water in my path — my boots stayed dry. Occasionally I noted a few sedges or a clump of wool grass — all wetland indicator species —  but not a drop of water. Two days later, construction was completed and I sowed about eighty pounds of winter rye over the newly constructed plug and other disturbed areas.

After surveying another DNR site in early November, I detoured to Navarino to see how the restoration was looking. Little rain fell across much of Wisconsin from July to November, water levels in ditches and wetlands I drove past were low. I didn’t know what to expect. The first thing to catch my eye was how little the winter rye had grown. It appeared healthy but stunted — an indication of lack of rain since it was planted?

The second was that water in the ditch above the plug and water in the scrape built to construct the plug were much closer together now than when I last saw the site.

I walked the same path through the prairie again, but this time I was frequently walking in 4-6 inches of water – out nearly forty yards from the ditch. I circled the west end of the ditch, its origination point, and saw a pool wider than the ditch. I circled through a small one-acre patch of trees on the north side of the ditch (while getting bloodied by prickly ash) and observed numerous, scattered spots where water was beginning to pool within the trees.

Before and after, the ditch and the ditch plug—from the same point

The restoration still has room to “grow,” perhaps adding as much as another eighteen inches of depth near the plug. This increased depth, will also spread laterally, saturating soils further into the prairie and further into the forested area.

Water in ditch above plug (left) may soon merge with scrape (right).

Assuming more rains and a melting snowpack next spring, I anticipate visitors will observe more above-surface water, and at greater distances from the ditch, than I saw on my November walk. Increased water levels will eventually kill many trees and shrubs, transforming the site into a more open wetland.

Water expanding into prairie (left). Looking from above the point of origin of ditch; it’s now several times wider than before (right).

All indications point to a successful restoration.

This innovative public lands program is the result of an agreement with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources with Pittman-Robertson Funding derived from your hunting and fishing expenditures.  Other funding necessary to support this program was contributed by the Fund For Lake Michigan, The James E. Dutton Foundation, and the Wisconsin Bird Fund, ” A Legacy Fund of the Society of the Tympanuchus Cupido Pinnatus.

By Mark Pfost, Public Lands Ecologist – mpfost@wisducks.org

This article originally appeared in Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s November, 2024 Newsletter edition.

At the end of October, WWA ecologists met with contractors at Peter Helland Wildlife Area. It was an opportunity for WWA to walk the proposed project area with contractors and to explain the project and answer contractors’ questions. This was the most recent step in WWA’s efforts to restore and enhance wetland habitat on approximately 125 acres.

As a recap, in April of last year, using various aerial imageries, I identified a complex of ditches on Peter Helland that was worthy of further investigation. I first walked the prospective area with a DNR employee; shortly afterward, he and WWA’s Project Director, Peter Ziegler, surveyed the site. Analyzation of that data revealed knowledge gaps that required more trips to gather additional elevation data. More analysis followed. That led to multiple iterative meetings, first internal to WWA, and then between WWA and the DNR; eventually everyone agreed on a restoration plan. With that accomplished, WWA submitted the wetland permit application and other requirements. The last of the permitting requirements were approved in August. With that done, we wrote a Scope of Work for the project and sent it to a number of contractors.

Now we’re in a waiting game. Interested contractors have until the middle of November to submit bids. We’ll notify the selected contractor by the end of November. After that? Work can’t start until gun-deer season ends. Then? It all comes down to suitable weather conditions and the contractor’s schedule.

This innovative public lands program is the result of an agreement with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources with Pittman-Robertson Funding derived from your hunting and fishing expenditures.  Other funding necessary to support this program was contributed by the Fund For Lake Michigan, The James E. Dutton Foundation, and the Wisconsin Bird Fund, ” A Legacy Fund of the Society of the Tympanuchus Cupido Pinnatus.