Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Plains CESU

archived

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research exploring restoration of a fen at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceâ¿¿s (FWS) Chase Lake Prairie Project near Woodworth, North Dakota. Fens are rare wetland habitat types within the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America. As such, they support many rare plant, invertebrate and wildlife species. Given the extent of land-use and land-cover change throughout the PPR, many of the regionâ¿¿s fens have been lost or degraded. One such fen occurs on FWS owned land near Woodworth, ND. The fen was highly degraded when a dam was installed on its down gradient side to pond water in an effort to enhance waterfowl habitat. The small lake formed behind the dam effectively destroyed the fen through perennial flooding. In the spring of 2017, the water-control structure in the dam washed out and FWS, rather than rebuilding the structure, is planning to remove the dam and restore the fen habitat. This presents a unique opportunity to study the recovery of a PPR fen through the entire restoration process.

High