Ducks Unlimited (DU) recently completed a vegetation-monitoring projecton Catahoula Lake in Louisiana. Project RECLAIM (Rehabilitating theEcology of Catahoula Lake through Analysis and Information Management)is a cooperative effort between the Louisiana Department ofWildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) and DU to facilitate best managementpractices for waterfowl with limited conservation and management funds.Funding for this project was provided by Ducks Unlimited.



Catahoula Lake, located in east-central Louisiana, nearAlexandria, encompasses approximately 30,000 acres of wetland habitatand is well known for its legendary status as a haven for tens ofthousands of wintering waterfowl each year. Historically important tonorthern pintails and mallards, in recent years the lake has accountedfor as much as 25 percent of the total North American population ofcanvasbacks. Some of the peak counts in past years have been 500,000total ducks, including up to 250,000 pintails and 128,000 canvasbacks.

The historic plant species composition of Catahoula's lakebedvegetation has been changing at an accelerated rate largely due toman-made changes to the Lake's drainage systems. Encroachment fromwoody vegetation, such as willow, swamp privet, and water elm, shadeout moist soil plants (i.e., chufa and millets) that naturally grow inshallow areas, and drastically reduce the amount of available foraginghabitat for wintering waterfowl.

"Catahoula Lake is an extremely important wintering area for waterfowlin central Louisiana," says Hugh Bateman, DU's Director of ConservationPrograms for Louisiana. "We are proud to be a partner with the LDWF infighting a continuing battle to maintain the waterfowl foraging habitatbase of the lake. Project RECLAIM represents a quantum leap forward inour ability to do just that."

DUand LDWF staff collaborated to devise a management strategy that willhelp control the destructive encroachment of woody vegetation. In orderto facilitate a management plan, woody vegetation had to be quantifiedand stratified into workable classes by relative density. Theobjectives of Project RECLAIM were to: 1) map the densities ofencroaching woody vegetation, 2) classify existing wetland vegetationtypes, and 3) evaluate change in woody vegetation from 1987-2003. Allthree objectives were accomplished using state-of-the-art remotesensing applications.

Results of this project indicate that woody vegetation densityhas increased approximately 20% over the last 15 years on CatahoulaLake. Natural resource managers will use the results of this project toprioritize areas for mechanical and chemical treatments, thusminimizing associated management costs and maximizing the benefits tomigrating and wintering waterfowl.



"Using state-of-the-art technology to deliver a dynamicwetlands application to on-the-ground waterfowl managers makes thisproject a prime example of how DU uses limited conservation dollars tobenefit our waterfowl resource," says Jerry Holden, DU's Manager of GISand Remote Sensing Programs.

For more information on Project RECLAIM, visit the website (http://http://maps.southern.ducks.org)