NRCS and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Working for Montana’s Wetlands

The NRCS Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program are working in Sanders County, Montana, to restore a drained wetland.

The Ross WRP conservation easement project began in 1996 as a partnership between NRCS district conservationist Don Feist and USFWS Dean Vaughan who were looking for potential drained wetlands that could be restored with help from the two programs. They ultimately picked property owned by Barbara and Bruce Ross who liked the idea of an easement that would protect the wildlife on their property indefinitely.

Their property, which had a surface ditch running the length of the degraded wetland draining into the Bull River, was entirely overrun with reed canary grass – an invasive species that provides no habitat for wildlife. The reed canary grass was eliminated and tree/shrub sprigs planted restoring the native beaked sedge plant community that provides excellent wildlife habitat.

NRCS conservationists successfully re-established wetland hydrology to the land restoring it to its original state. Jeff Combs, NRCS conservation programs biologist in Montana, summed it up by saying, “The Ross WRP project is an excellent example of how NRCS can restore wetland hydrology and native endemic plant communities in the West.”

Your contact is Lori Valadez, NRCS State Public Affairs Specialist, at 406-587-6842, or lvaladez@mt.nrcs.usda.gov.

Image: Ross easement site. NRCS image.