Wisconsin Waterfowl Association contracted with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in January 2023 to provide wetland restoration planning and design services on public lands across the state, including wild rice restoration in the Ceded Territories. Mark Pfost joined the team as a part-time Public Lands Ecologist, with Anthony Hatcher hired to fill the full-time Public Lands Ecologist role. Anna Rzchowski was later brought on to fill the full-time Public Lands Ecologist role in September 2023. WWA ecologist Peter Ziegler serves as Project Director.
Sites are initially reviewed digitally and later in person for restoration opportunity, prioritized by the property’s Conservation Opportunity (CO) score. The CO is prioritization tool to focus limited resources where they will have the most impact. Efforts are further guided by site manager interest, restoration impact, and on-the-ground conditions. In 2024, WWA anticipates developing additional prioritization guidelines for restoration opportunity assessments.
To date, more than 150 properties have undergone desktop reviews, with 11 properties under further consideration for restoration. Three other projects are in the planning and design process, and one restoration moving forward through permitting (Navarino Wildlife Area).
Current and anticipated projects
Projects in Permitting: 1 restoration totaling 16 acres
Navarino Wildlife Area: approx. 16 restored wetland acres (Shawano County)
Projects in Planning and Scoping: 3 potential restorations approximately 255 wetland acres
Brooklyn Wildlife Area: approx. 50 acres (Dane County)
Peter Helland Wildlife Area: approx. 125 wetland acres (Columbia County)
Evansville Wildlife Area: approx. 80 wetland acres (Rock County)
Projects in Early Review: 11 potential restorations
Young Prairie SNA (Walworth County)
Kettle Moraine State Forest – Southern Unit (Waukesha County)
White River Fishery Area (Waushara County)
Koshkonong Wildlife Area (Jefferson County)
Swan Lake Wildlife Area (Columbia County)
Lower Wolf River – Conradt Unit (Outagamie County)
Deer Creek Wildlife Area (Waupaca & Outagamie Counties)
Poygan Marsh (Waushara County)
Meadow Valley Wildlife Area (Juneau County)
Jackson Marsh Wildlife Area (Washington County)
Sugar River Wildlife Area (Dane County)
Wild Rice Restoration Efforts
250 pounds of rice collected by volunteers and another 1500 pounds purchased and all of it seeded on priority waters in Wisconsin’s Ceded Territories.
GRANT FUNDING
This new program has already generated grant funding totaling $202,017. These funds will be further matched with state, local and federal dollars throughout the course of this two to three year contract. WWA expects to leverage these funds 2-3 times, optimizing the impact of each dollar.
The following organizations provided funding to help WWA get this program off the ground, covering ecologist staff expenses over the first years.
- Fund for Lake Michigan: $21,000
- The Wisconsin Bird Fund – A Legacy Fund of the Society of the of Tympanuchus Cupido Pinnatus: $3000
- James E. Dutton Foundation: $7,000
- The Waterfowl Hunters EXPO: $13,000
The following pools of funding have currently dedicated funding to on-the-ground restoration projects developed under this program.
- 2024 Waterfowl Stamp: $150,000. Waterfowl Stamp funding will be used for the actual restorations as projects move through planning and permitting.
- WI DNR GP Surcharge: $8,017. The GP Surcharge program allocated $8,017 to fund the restoration of Navarino Wildlife Area Site 5 in 2024.
LOOKING FORWARD: 2024 GOALS
Wisconsin Waterfowl Association’s public lands ecologists completed considerable up-front project identification and evaluation in 2023, setting the stage for breaking ground on wetland restorations in 2024. Navarino Wildlife Area is the first restoration to enter the contracting phase (with construction anticipated in 2024). We look forward to expanding restoration acres slated for 2024 and 2025 restoration, with several promising projects in the pipeline.
Wetland boundaries rarely follow property lines. This presents a significant challenge for restoration efforts on state properties as the project scope is limited to that which will not impact neighbors. But where there are willing neighboring landowners, WWA is positioned to provide complementary restoration services through its private lands programs.
WWA is applying lessons of the first year’s experience to strategically identify, consider and implement project groupings in the future. For example, WWA is excited to be exploring high potential restoration partnerships in two counties that could have watershed-level impacts. While individual property-level restoration efforts have real benefit, the benefits of combining effort and dollars with multiple restoration partners could yield even broader watershed health improvements.