northern minnesota du living lakes projects - Ducks Unlimited

Page 8 Summer/Fall 2011
The project sign at the water
control structure.
A pair of ring-necked ducks takes
flight from a canal along one of the
dikes. Several ringbill pairs were
using the lake this past May.
PROJECT HALL OF FAME— ELM LAKE RESTORATION
Ducks Unlimited has been
doing projects in Minnesota
since 1986. There are literally
hundreds of DU projects
scattered around Minnesota.
In fact, many of the water
control structures on Waterfowl
Production Areas
(WPAs) and State Wildlife
Management Areas
(WMAs) were designed and
build as Ducks Unlimited
projects. This column is a
regular feature devoted to
describing some of these
older projects.
The Elm Lake Restoration
project was a large project,
restoring 2,553 acres of wetland
in Marshall County.
The project was completed
in December 1990 at a cost
of almost $2 million,
through DU’s new, at the
time, “U.S. Habitat Program”.
The Elm Lake Restoration
consisted of a large
multi-bay water control
structure located on Marshall
County Ditch 200,
clean out of the several
miles of ditch, and construction
of two box culvert
bridges. Working in the
peat common in the area
made this project a considerable
challenge.
The project was the largest
and most expensive project
in the delivered by DU in
the U.S. at the time. A portion
of the lake is on the
Agassiz National Wildlife
Refuge and the southern
portion is on the Elm Lake
State Wildlife Management
Area.
The project was visited in
mid May and was being
used by several species of
ducks, with ring-necked
ducks being the most numerous,
but gadwalls and bluewinged
teal were also common.
The multi-bay outlet control
structure located at the
west end of the project.
The photo is looking east,
down the main ditch. On
the left is Agassiz NWR and
on the right is Elm Lake
WMA. The WMA is open
to public hunting.
Cattails Official Newsletter of Minnesota Ducks Unlimited