Rock County USFWS Wetland Easement Restoration

This project is located in the SW corner of Rock County, MN on the south end of the city of Hills. The property had a U.S. Fish and Wildlife wetland easement acquired in 1995. A 12 acre wetland was restored on the property during initial acquisition with a metal barrel type riser through a small dike as the outlet structure. The structure has since failed and the wetland is again drained as described below. A tributary of the mud creek which headwaters at the city of Hills is what feeds this wetland. Starting approximately at the top of the easement boundary this portion of the creek is designated as DNR protected public waters. The Mud Creek itself is also designated as critical Topeka Shiner (Notropis topeka) habitat so a tributary such as this also has the potential to contain these shiners. The Topeka shiner is a federally endangered minnow. It is largely affected by rapid shits in water level fluctuations due to increased wetland drainage as well as turbidity from soil erosion. Wetland restorations such as this will buffer and stabilize flow rates into the mud creek as well as provided lower velocities for sediment deposition helping to clean the water. Fish such as the shiner may also work their way up the tributary into back water basins such as this for as preferred habitat. This wetland restoration is also important for waterfowl as the surrounding area is nearly void of natural wetlands due to extensive agricultural drainage. The shallow portions of the wetland grow cattail which provides good winter cover for resident wildlife such as deer and pheasants.