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New Fish and Wildlife Service Manager

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Brandon Jones

 

New McGregor District fish 

and wildlife manager settling in

By Ted Pennekamp

 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has a new manager for the McGregor District of the Upper Mississippi National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. Brandon Jones began his duties in January and has been settling into his new position.

“This Driftless Area is a neat area. It’s unique geographically speaking,” said Jones. “It has many interesting micro-habitats, algific talus slopes and other features.”

Jones, 33, and his wife Katie made the move from Kearney, Neb., where Jones was stationed in the Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District. “It’s pretty flat in Nebraska, so this scenery is quite a change,” he said.

Three main projects that Jones has been working on in the past few months include the Harper’s Slough Project, the Conway Lake Project and the McGregor Lake Project.

The Harper’s Slough Project is an island restoration project in a 2,200-acre backwater near Lynxville. The $11.9 million project includes constructing seven islands and three emergent wetlands. Construction began in April of 2015. Jones said it will hopefully be completed in 2017. 

Conway Lake is a project just north of Lansing. The project is estimated to cost $8 million and the study area involves 1,170 backwater acres. Dredging in various areas is being considered as well as the introduction of flow from a small creek in order to improve dissolved oxygen levels. Planning continues on feasible alternatives that will focus on maintaining and enhancing fish habitat and floodplain forest. A preliminary draft feasibility study was completed in the spring of 2016 and the final feasibility study will be completed in July 2017. 

Jones said the McGregor Lake Project between McGregor/Marquette and Prairie du Chien was put on hold for a number of years due to lack of funding, but is now back in the planning process. “It’s in the very beginning stages,” he said. When the McGregor Lake Project gets far enough along, Jones said he expects public meetings will then be held. The McGregor Lake Project is expected to encompass 580 acres. The draft feasibility report is expected to be completed in 2017.

Harper’s Slough, Conway Lake and McGregor Lake are Habitat Rehabilitation Enhancement Program (HREP) projects, and Jones said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wisconsin DNR and Iowa DNR are involved.

Another interesting project coming up, said Jones, will be forest inventory. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel will conduct the inventory in an effort to facilitate an eventual re-forestation of the floodplain forests, which would benefit fish and wildlife habitat.

Silver maples that are all approximately the same age, for example, have taken over in large areas, thus reducing diversity. Jones said re-forestation will help restore the mid-story forest so there will be diverse ages of trees as well as species of trees. “This effort will help to re-create what Mother Nature had before the lock and dam system was in place,” said Jones. A more diverse forest would improve the habitat for numerous birds, animals and other wildlife.

He has only been in his new position a few months, but Jones said things are going well so far.

“Everything seems to be going good,” he said. “Everything is rolling right along.”

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