INHF helps expand wetland complex in Wright County

The Lower Morse Lake Waterfowl Production Area in Wright County continues to expand, thanks to a combination of public and private partners.

The Lower Morse complex now stretches more than three miles southwest of Belmond, encompassing about 3,000 acres of state, county, and federal land, said Doug Janke, a wildlife management biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). The latest addition was made possible when the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF)—a private, statewide conservation group— bought a 149-acre tract of marginal farmland in 2004. Past INHF conservation efforts in Wright County include helping the county conservation board acquire additions to Rolling Acres Potholes, Horse Grove and other natural areas.

A tenant continued to farm the Lower Morse addition while INHF negotiated its transfer to public ownership, said Bruce Mountain, land projects director for INHF.

The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently bought the property from INHF, using money from the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture (PPJV). The land has been turned over to the IDNR for management. It will provide wetland and upland nesting habitat, and will be open to public hunting starting this fall.

Janke said part of the land already has been seeded to native prairie grasses. The remainder will be seeded with native grasses and forbs as soon as the crops are harvested this fall. The IDNR also is restoring six wetland basins, totaling about 17 acres, Janke said. The small wetlands will become part of the mix of diverse wetlands and uplands that provides the best habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife, he said.

The acquisition not only adds to the block of wetlands at Morse, but it also could help the IDNR limit and manage drainage on earlier additions to the complex without impacting other farmers in the district, Janke said.