Contacts
Steve Kallin 507-831-2220
Scott Flaherty, 612-713-5309
Restoring wildlife values and habitats on
drained wetlands and recovered tallgrass prairie in Minnesota is
nothing new for biologists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service). But a restoration project set to begin this spring
near Currie, Minn., will be significant not only for wildlife,
but for communities and families of southwest Minnesota that were
touched by a tragic chapter in state history. This month, the
Service will begin work on an upland portion of a long-drained
marsh known as "Slaughter Slough", a place where 11
settlers and a number of Dakota Indians were killed in August
1862.
Today, most of the site is either a dried
up soybean field or partially drained wetland. But in the summer
of 1862 it was a mix of native prairie and marshy wetland, filled
with reeds, cattails and other aquatic grasses. It was also the
place where on August 20, 1862, members of nine families took
refuge from an armed band of Dakota Indians, who with others from
their tribe, had begun attacking settlers along the Minnesota
River Valley three days before. In addition to the settlers, the
"Battle of Slaughter Slough" claimed the life of Dakota
Leader Grizzly Lean Bear and possibly other Dakota. The battle
was one of a handful of skirmishes and battles that became known
as the Dakota Conflict of 1862.
A stone monument and log cabin at Lake
Shetek State Park, near Currie, Minn., are the lone physical
reminders of the battle and the marsh. Slaughter Slough marsh,
like so many rural wetlands, was drained in 1912 to provide more
land for crops. The Service worked with local landowners to
acquire about 640 acres of the site and will soon begin planting
a mix of grasses and forbs harvested from native tallgrass
prairie on about 110 acres of uplands overlooking the former
marsh.
According to Steve Kallin, manager of the
Service's Windom Wetland Management District (WMD), the Service
hopes to restore the site to what it looked like in 1862.
"It's not much to look at now, just a soybean field and a
dry, partially drained wetland, Ï said Kallin. "We have a
long way to go, but when we're finished, the site will look a lot
like it must have looked during 1862."
Kallin's goal is to eventually return
roughly 800 acres of the site to its historic state of tallgrass
prairie and wetlands. "We're working with owners of adjacent
lands in hopes of expanding the project," Kallin said.
"Our aim is to restore natural water levels to Slaughter
Slough."
As could be expected, Kallin said that the
restoration project has drawn interest and support from
conservation groups, county and local governments, citizens,
Native Americans and even descendants of victims of the Slaughter
Slough battle.
"Of all the projects I've been
involved with in the Service, this one is special, it contains
the most diverse group of partners and people interested in all
aspects of this project," Kallin said. The project has lots
of interest and support from agencies in Murray County, Lake
Shetek Improvement Association, Minnesota Waterfowl Association
and Ducks Unlimited, which has already provided some funding for
the project.
Among those with a special interest in the
project are Native American artist Richard Bryan from Pipestone,
Minn., and Dr. Paul Carpenter of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Bryan, a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton tribe, is interested in
the interpretive aspect of the project, striving for historical
accuracy from both the settlers' and Dakota perspectives. Balance
and perspective are also important to Dr. Carpenter, who is a
descendant of settler Charlie Hatch, who was fortunate to escape
the battle site, but whose sister and two nephews were killed at
Slaughter Slough. Kallin recalls a recent visit he made to the
site with Dr. Carpenter. As both men stood on the upland area
overlooking the former battle site, Carpenter remarked, "If
they called that place Slaughter Slough, maybe we should name
this spot Reconciliation Hill."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the
principle Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting,
and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for
the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service
manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which
encompasses nearly 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of
small wetlands and other special management areas. It also
operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices
and 78 ecological service field stations. The agency enforces
Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act,
manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally
significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat
such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their
conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program
that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes
on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife
agencies.
For more information about the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes - Big Rivers Region,
visit our home page at http://midwest.fws.gov
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