Victor Lakes Waterfowl Production Area

Location:    4 miles north, 2 miles west, and 1 mile north of Bertrand, Nebraska                         

                    Click on map to enlarge

Size:       238 acres; 168 acres of wetland, 70 acres of upland

Aerial Map

Victor Lakes was purchased in 1964 from four separate landowners.  Located on the western edge of the District, it receives lower amounts of rainfall.  The wetland is seasonal at best but does contain moist soil vegetation in the basin. It is common for the wetland to be flooded after a heavy rain and become dry within a matter of a couple of weeks.  

Recent Management: 

A large cottonwood grove located on the north edge were removed in recent years.  The area has had successive years of prescribed burning in the spring to control the growth of volunteer trees and to open the wetland area.  Leafy spurge is scattered throughout the property.  Spurge beetles (Apthona spp.) have been released on the area as a biological control.  We continue to treat leafy spurge and have mapped the infested areas.  Both a spring and fall herbicide treatment is applied. 

Tree management on Victor Lakes WPA has been put on hold.  The wetland area quickly dries after a flooding, encouraging willows to grow throughout the wetland.  Because of its low value for waterfowl habitat, management efforts are being redirected away from this property to areas were tree removal has a dramatic effect of waterfowl numbers.

Victor Lakes Waterfowl Production Area (April, 2005)

Last updated: September 25, 2008

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