Summary

Description

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY On July 10, 2008, partners from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the North Dakota Natural Resources Trust, Delta Waterfowl Foundation, and the North Dakota Game and Fish Department signed documentation that enabled the beginning of wetland habitat restoration within the Devils Lake Basin in northeastern North Dakota. The project, Removing Sedimentation as a Technique for Restoring Palustrine Seasonal and Temporary Wetlands in the Northeast Drift Prairie of North Dakota, was fully funded by the State Wildlife Grant SWG program at 20,000. The project entailed wetland restoration of at least 50 wetland basins totaling an accumulation of 12.41 ha. 30 acres. Project wetlands were located on either on public or private lands, were photo documented, and 10 basins were selected to measure hydrophytic changes over a 5 year period which served as a measurement of restoration success predicated on an increase in hydrophytic species richness. We began restorations during late summer of 2008, and completed work on 33 basins totaling 5.5 ha. 13.7 acres. By the end of the 2009, 40 more wetlands were restored totaling 4.9 ha. 12.3 acres. Finally, we continued into 2010 and restored an additional 13 wetlands totaling 2.1 ha. 5.1 acres. In summary, 89 wetland basins totaling 12.5 ha. 31.1 acres were restored during the life of the grant. Of the 89 restored basins, 48 wetlands were temporary, and 41 were seasonal. All SWG funding of 20,000 was completely exhausted by the end of 2010, and construction costs ranged 400 763 per restored wetland acreage. The wide range was due to wetter than average restoration conditions in 2009 and 2010, however, this cost is slightly below the 800 average costacre experienced with other sediment removal wetland construction projects. While we slightly exceeded our 12.41 ha. 30 acre restoration goal 12.5 ha, 31.1 ac., we superiorly exceeded our goal of 50 wetland basins by 39 wetland basins. A stepdown method for performing this restoration technique is given in this report. Funding for this project was made possible via nonfederal match dollars from the following agenciesorganizations: Delta Waterfowl Foundation 10,000, North Dakota Game and Fish Department 7,500, and the North Dakota Natural Resources Trust 2,500. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Service, while providing 0 match dollars, were the principal investigator for this project. The Services in kind contributions came from construction design, implementation, and documentation, and this above the line match of local federal USFWS support equaled 7,241. Wildlife response and hydrophyte species richness have exceeded expectations generally, and after 2 growing seasons, all 10 wetlands selected for plant inventory response have achieved the fully successful status. Fully successful was simply an increase of wetland vegetation richness by 50, which in the case of the preconstruction wetland condition, rarely more than 2 3 species of wetland plants existed hybrid or narrow leaved cattail, reed canary grass and slough sedge. By the end of the second growing season, abundant stands of rushes, sedges, grasses, and other hydrophytes were commonly observed, unfortunately some recolonization of cattail, albeit minimal, existed as well. As stated in our project proposal, we will continue to monitor these basins until the end of the 2013 growing season and provide a detailed addendum to this project at that time. Photos of many restored basins and their subsequent temporal development were also included in this document. This project represented an outstanding partnership with all participants desiring similar goals. Wetland functions were greatly improved and the ultimate benefactors were the natural resources each organization are responsible for maintaining for the American public. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the private landowners who graciously allowed us the opp