Middle Bummer’s Flat

Highlights

The Middle Bummer’s Flat Project consists of 260 hectares of marsh and rangeland.

It is an extension of an existing Ducks Unlimited project. Bummer’s Flat consists of three separate marsh compartments along the Kootenay River that have been managed under a Ducks Unlimited Canada conservation agreement with MWLAP for the past few decades. A new agreement with the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection (MWLAP) has now been signed and incorporates additional altered grazing strategies and stock water facilities into a lease at Top of the World Ranch.

This is an Intermountain Wetland Conservation Program (IWCP) project that addresses the need to provide high quality breeding, staging and migration habitat for waterfowl through partnerships with key landowners.

Background

Bummer’s Flat is one of the largest wetlands in the Kootenay River Valley and is owned by the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection (MWLAP). It is particularly important to migrating and staging waterfowl using the Rocky Mountain Trench, and wetland habitats within it have been managed for decades under a Ducks Unlimited Canada conservation agreement.

The value of the Middle Bummer’s Marsh compartment as waterfowl habitat, however, has been limited by the excessive growth of cattail and bulrush to the extent that open water foraging areas, brood rearing areas and oxygen levels supporting aquatic invertebrates has been limited.

The current project is a multiple-benefit approach incorporating the needs of the grazing leaseholder (increased winter range) and the needs of wetland wildlife using this area. Stock watering troughs and fencing, together with strategically-placed feed, focuses the grazing of cattle on areas of vegetation which needs to be opened up, while protecting sensitive riparian and upland rangeland habitats. This winter use is limited to six weeks, and will create improved open water interspersion in the spring. This approach benefits elk, nesting waterfowl, and much other wildlife in the area.

Project Partners

The BC Ministry of Water, Land & Air Protection (MWLAP)
Habitat Conservation Trust Fund
Top of the World Ranch
Ducks Unlimited Canada