The Northwest Montana Wetland Management District (WMD), established in 1970, is located throughout Lake and Flathead counties in northwestern Montana. The District consists of 14 Waterfowl Production Areas (WPAs) and the Conservation Easement Program. The WPAs, ranging in size from 28 acres to 2,370 acres, are located in the Flathead and Mission Valleys. The area consists of intermountain grasslands thickly dotted with wetlands caused by the 100,000-year Wisconsin glaciation, which carved stream valleys and formed the moraine and glacial outwash sections of the valley floor.
Wetland habitats found in the WPAs support abundant waterfowl species such as mallards, redheads, northern pintails, American wigeon, northern shovelers, blue and green-winged teal, and Canada geese. These WPAs also support high nesting concentrations of short-eared owls and northern harriers and are important wintering areas for rough-legged hawks, red-tailed hawks, and northern goshawks. Shorebirds use the WPAs during migration and for nesting and include killdeer, American avocet, black-necked stilts, Wilson's phalaropes, and yellowlegs. The upland areas support ring-necked pheasants and gray partridges and are nesting habitat for savannah sparrows, meadowlarks, and song sparrows. One of the WPAs supports a peregrine falcon hacking tower, which has had a successful nesting pair of birds for the past ten years. Smaller mammals include muskrats, striped skunks, mink, badgers, meadow voles, and porcupines. Grizzly bears occasionally visit the southern units.
Directions
Lake County WPAs and Conservation Easements are located south and southwest of Ronan, Montana. Flathead County WPAs are located south and west of the Kalispell area. Flathead WPA is along the north shoreline of Flathead Lake at the mouth of the Flathead River. Batavia and Smith Lake WPAs are located in Smith Valley westsouthwest of Kalispell. Blasdel WPA is located 1 miles north of Flathead Lake. McGregor Meadows WPA is located 28 miles west of Kalispell.
References and External Links
Posted by: recreation2 and last modified on Jul 05, 2007 by thoos
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