Nestled among the rolling hills, fertile farmland and rustling burr oak trees of northwest Iowa, another shallow lake is beginning to show signs of life once again.

Burr Oak Lake is a large 100-acre shallow lake located in southwest Emmet County. In 1981, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) purchased this tract along with 125 adjacent wetland and upland acres. This key acquisition helped protect 95% of the lake's shoreline habitat. In 1991, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) purchased two adjacent tracts totaling 105 acres that were restored to seasonal/temporary wetlands and native tall grass prairie. In 2004, the USFWS purchased another adjacent 80-acre parcel. These key additions by the USFWS were purchased using funds generated from the sale of federal duck stamps. The last addition, a 380-acre tract, was acquired by the DNR with the support of a variety of state, federal and private funding partners. As a result of nearly 30 years of dedicated conservation efforts by the Iowa DNR, USFWS, local landowners and U.S. waterfowlers, the Burr Oak Lake complex now comprises 777 acres of some of the most diverse restored grassland and wetland habitat in northwest Iowa.

Despite this conservation success story, Burr Oak Lake has experienced a significant deterioration in habitat quality and migratory bird use over the past 30 years due to a large infestation of exotic rough fish, increased water inputs and decreased water quality. Historic aerial photos confirm this wetland has not supported substantial emergent vegetation since the mid- to late 1970's.

That is until recently, when DU, the Iowa DNR and local private landowners partnered together to renovate this degraded shallow lake. In 2009, DU began surveying, designing and constructing a new functional outlet system, water control structure and downstream fish barrier to allow periodic draw-downs of the basin to eliminate undesirable exotic fish and promote healthy aquatic plant communities. This project would not have been possible without an easement donated by Bert and Shelly Refsell to allow the construction and maintenance of the downstream fish barrier located on their property. In 2010, construction activities were completed on this $379,000 large-scale renovation project thanks to the support of a number of different public and private funding supporters. In fact, over $50,000 of private funds were invested in this project by several DU major donors from the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area.

DU and the Iowa DNR will celebrate this conservation success story and formally thank all of the key partners that made this project possible by hosting a project dedication ceremony in spring/summer 2011. A concrete cairn and bronze plaque will be erected on-site to recognize all of the major project supporters and enshrine their names on the bronze plaque.

For more information on this project, contact Eric Lindstrom, Regional Biologist-Iowa, at (515) 232-9104 or elindstrom@ducks.org.

View highlights on this project in PDF format.