Wetland Restoration Expanding Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge

A team of dedicated land management professionals and biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS), Openlands and Ducks Unlimited (DU), as well as additional partners and volunteers, are content to wait the few years it will take for the restored wetlands they build at Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge to become functional.

Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge was officially established on November 6, 2012, with the donation of a 12-acre conservation easement in McHenry County. That initial easement was purchased for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) by Openlands through a donation from the Friends of Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge and the McHenry County Conservation Foundation. Since 2012, several properties have been added to the Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge. These properties are open for public enjoyment and are located in both Wisconsin and Illinois.

Linda Masters, a Restoration Specialist with Openlands, a Chicago-based conservation organization actively acquiring and restoring native habitats for transfer in fee-title to the National Wildlife Refuge System, is overseeing much of the restoration process.

“Much of the restoration of the wetlands and uplands is funded under a North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant,” she explained. NAWCA provides matching grants to wetland conservation projects in North America that are designed to increase bird populations and wetland habitats. To date, more than 3,100 projects totaling in excess of $1.9 billion in grants have been funded nationally. Supporting this process have been 6,500-plus partners who have contributed another $3.9 billion. NAWCA grants have affected 31.5 million acres of habitat.

“The projects at Hackmatack NWR are just a couple of those funded through a $1 million NAWCA grant awarded,” noted Dane Cramer, Regional Biologist of Ducks Unlimited, who worked with biologists representing five different states and 14 other conservation organization and agencies in developing the proposal aimed at increasing the breeding population of mallards in the Great Lakes.

“Our grant covers the restoration of two sites within the Nippersink watershed,” Masters continued. “The Powell 3 tract is approximately 122 acres in size and the Sphar site is 145 acres.”

Grant funds have been used to hire a contractor for the construction phase of the project. Drainage tiles will be removed on approximately 100 acres of the Powell tract, restoring the site’s natural hydrology. The Sphar property lacks drain tiles, however, surface drainage ditches were dug to drain most of the natural basins for farming. Construction will entail filling in existing drainage ditches to recreate the natural swales and wetlands originally there.

Once construction is complete, both areas will be seeded with native prairie plants. Prescribed fire, maintenance mowing and selective herbicide use on invasive species will be necessary for several years as the prairie plants take root.

“Openlands and the USFWS Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge is an example of a successful public-private conservation partnership located just outside of Chicago,” noted Todd Boonstra, Hackmatack & Kankakee National Wildlife Refuge Manager. “The Chicago area is known for a rich history in conservation, but this is the first time a National Wildlife Refuge has been included in the discussions. I am excited to be a part of that discussion and look forward to this and future projects. The ability to assist Openlands with these prairie and wetland restorations is what the mission for the refuge and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is all about.”

The project area borders an additional 75 acres of prairie habitat previously restored by Openlands, Pheasants Forever, McHenry County Conservation District, and the USFWS, demonstrating the scope of the Refuge’s steadily expanding prairie pothole complex and increasing value to wildlife. Over time, the Refuge will become a shining example of the pre-settlement eastern tallgrass prairie and pothole wetland complex that used to stretch across the Midwest and unquestionably benefit breeding waterfowl such as mallards and blue-winged teal.

“We’re proud to be engaged with the strong public and private partnership that has come together to build Hackmatack NWR,” said Geoffrey Cripe, Regional Lands Manager for Ducks Unlimited’s Great Lakes/Atlantic Region. “Wildlife need this effort, and we and our children and grandchildren will increasingly come to depend on the ecological and recreational goods and services this effort will provide.”

“Our work here is focused on the conservation of breeding habitats for Great Lakes mallards,” Cramer said. “But the grasslands that hen mallards nest in and the small, emergent wetlands they lead their ducklings to support a myriad of other priority wildlife species. I’m equally satisfied knowing that our work benefits the monarch butterflies, Henslow’s sparrows and Blanding’s turtles that also call Hackmatack NWR home.”

All parties involved feel confident that these wetland restorations will mirror similar projects within the region.

“Once the hydrology and native flora is restored it isn’t long before wetland-dependent and other migratory birds start to arrive,” Masters remarked.

The ‘if you build it they will come’ strategy truly plays out with wetland restoration programs.

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Kathy Andrews Wright is retired from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources where she was editor of Outdoor Illinois magazine. She is currently the editor of Outdoor Illinois Wildlife Journal and Illinois Audubon magazine.