Ducks Unlimited has partnered with farmers in the Midwest to adapt a piece of equipment used to create waterway diversions on large agricultural fields to help reduce the costs of building dikes for wetland restoration in Delaware.   The Malsam Terracer, an implement pulled behind a 150-horsepower agricultural tractor “cuts and throws” dirt to form a dike or levee around an area where water will be held to restore wetlands.

The terracer was used on one farm in Kent County, Delaware in the 2002 construction season.   Round Maple farms in Smyrna used the terracer to restore five acres of moist soil wetlands on a poorly drained section of one of their fields.

The terracer is not a stand-alone piece of equipment and does not eliminate the need for local contractors with pans and bulldozers.   In fact, using the terracer may make it easier for DU to “stretch” our restoration dollars--enabling us to put more contractors to work restoring more wetlands throughout the first state.