Harvard Waterfowl Production Area

                Click on map to enlarge

Size:  1484 acres: 760 acres of wetland, 724 acres of upland

Aerial Map

Recent Management:  Management has remained fairly consistent over the years.  The wetland often contains surface water.  Short duration grazing is done on portions of the upland each year to encourage warm season grasses.  Three wells exist on the property to provide supplemental water during spring and fall migration.  In 2005, one of wells failed and was replaced with a submersible pump.  Submersible pumps require less maintenance than surface pumps do.

With the help of Ducks Unlimited and funding from the North American Wetland Conservation program, a water delivery pipelines were installed from two existing wells to the edge of the wetland.  Prior to the pipelines being installed, all water pumped to the wetland had to pass through open ditches, causing considerable water loss before reaching the wetland.  The pipeline has increased our water utilization dramatically.

A small wetland to the west of the main wetland is being restored during the fall months of 2008.  We expected to have the project completed by the middle of October, but the large amount of rain in October and November has kept the area too wet to complete.  What existed in the past was a small concentration pit in the wetland with a ditch flowing from the pit to the main wetland.  Our restoration plans are to fill the pit and install a water control structure which will give us the ability to hold some water in the wetland before it flows into the main wetland pool to the east.  We also expanded the size of the parking lot to allow for more parking and better turn-around area for vehicles.

Lead Shot Density:  In 2000 and again in 2001, the main portion of the wetland was disked with a heavy duty disk.  The purpose was to try to move some of the lead shot lying on the top of the soil further down into the soil substrate.  Soil samples taken at the more prominent waterfowl hunting wetlands were taken in the late 1990's to determine the density of lead near the soil surface.  Harvard and Mallard Haven were the two WPAs found to have lead shot densities above the level documented to cause problems in waterfowl.  Disking was done in those two years.

Harvard WPA looking south-southwest

Last updated: November 13, 2008

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