Located approximately four miles south of Clear Lake, Zirbel Slough is a large restored wetland complex that is owned and managed by the Cerro Gordo County Conservation Board. This public Wildlife Management Area provides critical wildlife habitat for a diversity of wetland-dependent species, as well as important recreational, educational and scenic enjoyment opportunities for area residents. Over the past several decades, the health and functionality of this important wetland complex has deteriorated due to extremely poor water quality, invasive rough fish, and a lack of effective management capabilities. In 2009, DU, Cerro Gordo County Conservation Board, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Iowa DNR and the Young Family Foundation of Waterloo initiated a plan to enhance this 104-acre degraded marsh by surveying, designing and installing new water control structures, fish barriers and pump system to improve water level management capabilities and optimize habitat conditions. Through a series of public and private grants, DU has secured over 90% of the funds needed to complete this large-scale wetland enhancement project.
Support from the Hanson Foundation will provide the critical funds needed to complete this project by a target completion date of fall 2011.
Total Est. Project Cost: $220,000
Project Status: Ongoing - anticipated completion date fall 2011
Project Partners:
Cerro Gordo County Conservation Board
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The Young Family Foundation of Waterloo, Iowa
The F. Maytag Family Foundation
Iowa DNR
Ducks Unlimited
(and) several individual DU Major Sponsors
For more information on this project, contact
Eric Lindstrom, Regional Biologist-Iowa, at (515) 232-9104 or
elindstrom@ducks.org.
View highlights for this project in PDF format.