Wednesday, September 11, 2019

North Dakota Ducks Unlimited dedication, celebration planned at Long Lake

MOFFIT, N.D. – With funding from Ducks Unlimited (DU) donors, North Dakota’s Outdoor Heritage Fund and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, DU completed its portion of repairs to a dike on Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge, owned and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Conservation supporters will dedicate the DU Rescue Our Wetlands (ROW) project site on Saturday, Sept. 14, at 11 a.m. at the refuge, east of Moffit. (See map)

The dike is on the south shore of Long Lake and separates the lake from a 700-acre wetland area. In 2011, severe flooding damaged the dike and left several sections breached. DU repaired a section of the two-mile dike and increased its elevation to reduce future flooding impacts.

“The dike serves as a road for FWS staff to manage water levels of the marsh and access other portions of the refuge,” said Chad Haschen, DU engineering technician and lead designer for this project. “The dike is also a nesting area for piping plovers. We used gravel that plovers prefer for nesting during the dike repair.”

As part of the restoration, DU worked with FWS to determine an appropriate native grass mix to reseed the dike and surrounding areas. The marsh on the opposite side of the lake has significant waterfowl use, and refuge staff manually operate the water control structure to manage water levels. The completed project increased wetland vegetation growth and water bird use.

A cairn and bronze plaque will recognize those who made a formal commitment to Ducks Unlimited during the Rescue Our Wetlands campaign. The ROW national campaign raised $2.34 billion and conserved more than 2.2 million acres.

For more information, visit www.ducks.org, and be sure to Follow DU’s newest Twitter feed – @DUNews1937 – to get the most up-to-date news from Ducks Unlimited.

Ducks Unlimited Inc. is the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving North America's continually disappearing waterfowl habitats. Established in 1937, Ducks Unlimited has conserved more than 14 million acres thanks to contributions from more than a million supporters across the continent. Guided by science and dedicated to program efficiency, DU works toward the vision of wetlands sufficient to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow and forever. For more information on our work, visit www.ducks.org.

Media Contact:

Becky Jones Mahlum

(701) 355-3507

bjonesmahlum@ducks.org