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Wetland work planned at Kiowa WMA

MORRILL, Neb. – The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission is lowering the water level at Kiowa Wildlife Management Area south of Morrill in efforts to improve the property’s wetland.

The Commission is employing multiple management methods to control cattails encroaching the wetlands. A lower water level will allow a firebreak to be created by disking. The break will be used for a prescribed burn of the cattails this winter.  

In spring 2019 the water level will likely return to normal, but will be manipulated multiple times through 2021 for management activities. Fencing will be installed for possible grazing and other habitat management practices.

The project is expected to benefit many species that use the wetland including waterfowl and shorebirds. The wetland portion of Kiowa, 326 acres of the property’s total 540, is a waterfowl refuge closed to access from Oct. 1 through the end of dark goose season.

About Justin Haag

Justin Haag has served the Commission as a public information officer in the Panhandle since 2013. His duties include serving as regional editor for NEBRASKAland Magazine. Haag was raised in southwestern Nebraska, where he developed a love for fishing, hunting and other outdoor pursuits. After earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Chadron State College in 1996, he worked four years as an editor and reporter at newspapers in Chadron and McCook. Prior to joining the Commission in 2013, he worked 12 years as a communicator at Chadron State, serving as the institution’s media and public relations coordinator the last five. He and his wife, Cricket, live in Chadron, and have two children.

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