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HABITAT
MANAGEMENT |
|
 Long
Lake NWR is managed to provide a variety of habitat types for wildlife.
The Refuge includes approximately 6,300 acres of rolling prairie and
previously cultivated uplands, and 16,000 wetland acres. A majority (4,400
acres) of the upland is mixed-grass native grassland. The balance is
tame grass, cropland, and woodland. A majority of the wetland acreage
(15,000 acres) is Long Lake and a variety of natural wetlands, man-made
wetlands, and Long Lake Creek. The upland areas are managed by cultivation, burning,
and grazing to provide nesting cover, winter
cover, and food. The wetlands are managed to reduce botulism losses,
to enhance waterfowl production, and to provide attractive habitat for
migratory birds. |
|
| The capability to manage the overall water level of Long Lake is severely limited, mostly by the lack of a low level outlet structure. Long Lake is divided by dikes into three large impoundments. Because the basin is flat, water control structures allow movement of water from one pool to another, however drawdown capability is limited. This has resulted in a history of periodic botulism outbreaks at Long Lake. Outbreaks are avoided many years, but occasionally conditions are just right to produce a major outbreak. | |
| Shelterbelts are scattered in some former cropland areas of the Refuge. They provide some diversity to an otherwise dominant grassland/wetland landscape. Occasionally, cottonwood trees and willows develop along the margins of wetlands that go through normal cycles of drought and deluge. The Russian olive also occasionally escapes plantings to scar the prairie landscape, however, in the sandy and firm clay soils of the Refuge, it doesn't expand as well as it does in more productive soils. In some areas sentinel trees develop in the prairie landscape over time, and provide raptors a place to build nests and perch. | |
There are 27 grassland units on Long Lake NWR, in addition to the fields that are seeded to cover in the farming units. They total 5,037 acres and vary in size from 75 to 400 acres. An upland management plan calls for use of a wide variety of techniques and treatment timings to promote maximum diversity of uplands. Grazing is planned to accomplish a grazing treatment in as short duration as practical along with variably timed treatments over a period of years. |
|
Grasslands are evaluated annually. Based upon these evaluations, units are left idle, burned, or grazed. With past farming history on fields, the option of farming and re-seeding will be considered. |
|
 Leafy
spurge is a problem weed species on the Refuge, as are absenth wormwood
and Canada thistle. Leafy spurge beetles were released in 2000 on a small
patch of Leafy Spurge located in G-4. All that remained of the spurge
surrounding the release site was the dead woody plant material that once
represented a healthy growth of spurge. This encouraging sign furthered
biological control efforts targeting small scattered patches of spurge.
The availability of beetles has also increased in the past few years,
so in 2001 staff released 130,000 beetles on G-4 and private land surrounding
Refuge property. Because the patches of spurge were small and scattered,
several releases were made. A burn was also conducted in the fall of
2001 an attempt to make it easier for the beetles to emerge in the summer
of 2002. With any luck beetles from these areas can be collected and
moved to other small patches infested with spurge. Release sites were
GPS’d and spurge areas were mapped using GIS software. |
|
Please direct questions and comments to: Long Lake
National Wildlife Refuge |
|
