Iowa Wetland
Management District
Contacting the Refuge:
District Manager: George Maze
email: MidwestNews@fws.gov
1710 - 360th Street
Titonka, IA 50480
Phone: 515-928-2523
Fax: 515-9282230
TTY: 1-800-877-8339 (Federal Relay)
The
district office is roughly 2.5 hours southwest of Minneapolis and northwest
of Des Moines. From Algona, take Highway 169 north to Bancroft; turn
right (east) on county road A-42, and proceed six miles to the office at 1710 360th St. From Interstate 90, take the Blue Earth, MN, exit and follow Rt. 169 south into Iowa. At Lakota, follow P60 south to A42, then west 0.5 miles on A42 to the office.
District Facts
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Wetland management
district encompasses a 35-county area in north central Iowa
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62 sites
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19,000 acres in 17 counties
Natural History
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The Iowa Wetland Management District is located in the area once covered by the Des Moines lobe of the Northern Iowa Glaciated Region.
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As the glaciers receded,
the lobe that extended into north-central Iowa left behind 7.6 million acres of grasslands and 2-3 million acres of wetlands. However, in the late 1800s, Iowa suffered significant losses in wetland and grasslands as settlers began converting these habitats to cropland. All in all, Iowa lost more than 90 percent of its wetlands and 99 percent of its grasslands to agriculture.
Highlight
The Iowa Wetland Management
District is part of Union Slough National Wildlife Refuge and is very
different from other wetland management districts. Under a Memorandum
of Understanding with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the State
manages the waterfowl production areas in the district. This is a partnership
that has been very beneficial to the Service. The State and the Service
have been able to develop large complexes of habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife species.
Public Use Opportunities
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