2008 Federal Duck Stamp Contest Phone: 573-222-3589 |
Prior to European settlement, about 2.4 million acres of bottomland hardwood forest (BLH) and associated habitats covered most of southeast Missouri . Today, less than 80,000 acres of BLH forest remains of which the largest contiguous block 15,000 acres occurs at the Refuge.
Bottomland hardwood habitats in the Mingo Basin support a rich biodiversity of plants and animals and have regionally and continentally important functions and values including flood water storage and conveyance, groundwater recharge, filtration, and transformation of sediments and contaminants, C and N sequestration, cycling of essential nutrients and minerals, fish and wildlife habitat, recreation, and educational opportunities.
Other than water level manipulations described below, the forested areas of the Refuge are not actively managed. The majority of the upland oak/hickory forest lies in or adjacent to the Wilderness Area, where policy prohibits active management. Until recently, lowland forests were too wet to allow timber harvest operations, but ditch system rehabilitation efforts and water level structure replacement and modifications have improved drainage throughout the Basin.
The presence of live trees and the ability to manipulate water levels define green tree reservoirs (GTR). These areas are ideally not flooded annually for more than 130 consecutive days between November and March. The Refuge GTRs includes 3,040 acres in Pools 5, 7, and 8. Water is drained out of the units during the growing season to encourage regeneration and avoid killing trees. Seasonally flooding these lowland forests makes mast available to wintering waterfowl, and emulates sheet flow flooding that occurred before ditches, levees, and roads altered the Mingo Basin 's drainage.
