DU and DNR engineers and biologists evaluate failing Buffalo Lake structure

Buffalo Lake in Waseca County is being temporarily drawn-down in preparation for Ducks Unlimited to reconstruct the water control outlet structure and outlet channel this fall. The new structure will improve the capability of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to conduct future temporary draw-downs to improve water quality and wildlife habitat. Shallow lakes depend on fluctuating water levels to consolidate sediments, improve water quality, and rejuvenate aquatic plants and invertebrates for waterfowl and other wildlife

The new structure will include a new fish barrier feature to inhibit carp and other invasive fish from re-infesting the 895-acre shallow lake.

“Buffalo Lake is one of the most important shallow lake improvement projects DU is implementing under our Living Lakes Initiative,” said Jon Schneider, DU manger of Minnesota conservation programs.

The project is a partnership between Ducks Unlimited, the DNR, the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources and private landowners. It addresses the habitat goals of both DU’s Living Lakes conservation initiative and DNR’s Duck Recovery Plan.

Historically, one of southern Minnesota’s most popular waterfowl destinations, Buffalo Lake has suffered in recent years due to high, stable water levels. The high water has allowed fish to proliferate and has limited the presence of aquatic plants and invertebrates attractive to ducks. The old existing structure did not effectively limit the entry of fish into the lake following management draw-downs, which limited their effectiveness.

DU engineers surveyed and designed the new water control structure and fish barrier while DU biologists worked with the Britton farm family, who own the property containing the lake outlet, to secure a conservation easement that allows for placement, access, management and maintenance of the new structures.

“Given its large size, relatively small watershed and very shallow nature, we are highly confident that active water level management combined with an effective fish barrier will result in the ducks returning once again, thus returning Buffalo to its status as a premier Minnesota waterfowl lake," Schneider said.

The two-year draw-down of Buffalo Lake will continue into the summer of 2010, at which time the new water control structure will be used to restore water levels in the lake.

"We know access for waterfowl hunters will be difficult at best during this draw-down, and we regret that,” said Ken Varland, DNR southern region wildlife manager at New Ulm “But we have a wonderful opportunity now to turn this once-great waterfowl lake around, and we hope hunters will be supportive of making a short-term sacrifice in exchange for the long-term gain it will provide through improved habitat."

DU’s engineering work was cost-shared by a DNR duck stamp grant and state Environment and Natural Resource Trust Funds approved for DU as a member of the Habitat Conservation Partnership. DU will construct the new structure and improve the outlet this fall and winter under another grant from the LCCMR to DU and the Partnership.

Ducks Unlimited’s Living Lakes Initiative focuses on creating 400 shallow lake complexes to provide high quality migration and brood-rearing habitat for waterfowl in Minnesota and Iowa.

Minnesota DNR’s “Duck Recovery Plan” calls for the improvement, protection and management of 1,800 shallow lakes throughout the state.

With more than a million supporters, Ducks Unlimited is the world’s largest and most effective wetland and waterfowl conservation organization with almost 12 million acres conserved. The United States alone has lost more than half of its original wetlands - nature’s most productive ecosystem - and continues to lose more than 80,000 wetland acres each year.

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For more information on DU’s programs in Minnesota, www.ducks.org/livinglakes.

Media contact: Becky Jones Mahlum, 701-355-3507 bjonesmahlum@ducks.org or

Jennifer Kross, 701-355-3515 jkross@ducks.org