OAKWOOD BOTTOMS WATERFOWL WETLANDS A COOPERATIVE PROJECT

GRAND TOWER, Ill. -- John Walker wants to make a return trip to Southern Illinois.

"I'm a native Texan," said Walker, national president of Ducks Unlimited. "This is my first trip to Southern Illinois but I want to come back here during the fall waterfowl season."

Walker was a speaker during the dedication of a cooperative waterfowl wetland habitat enhancement project near here Thursday, at Oakwood Bottoms Greentree Reservoir located in Shawnee National Forest.

Walker; F. Dale Robertson, chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Washington D.C.; Shawnee Forest Manager Rod Sallee; Illinois Department of Conservation Wildlife Manager Jeff Ver Steeg; and Eastern Region Forest Supervisor James Jordan, Milwaukee, Wis., spoke at the dedication of the first phase of water conservation work in the 3,400-acre Oakwood Bottoms.

"Everyone knows about Southern Illinois and its great goose hunting, and I want to try it," said Walker. "Not many people know about a project like the Oakwood Bottoms. "Ducks have been scarce in recent years, but projects like these may turn that around."

Ducks Unlimited played a key role in the cooperative venture.

"We encourage wetland projects like these," said Walker. "During the first phase of this project, we provided funds and planning services, along with the Illinois Department of Conservation and Forest Service."

Tom Hagerty of the Shawnee National Forest Public Affairs office at Harrisburg, Ill., said Ducks Unlimited provided $85,000 in funding.

Ducks Unlimited, which was founded during the late 1930s, has been a cooperative partner in 434 wetland projects nationwide over the past six years, involving more than 350,000 acres.

"We have a project in every state," said Walker. "We've been involved in helping waterfowl for more than 50 years, and we want to continue our partnerships in creating wetlands for waterfowl."

The first phase of the Oakwood Bottoms Greentree Reservoir project involves water control for 30 100-acre parcels, utilizing pumps, floodgates and water from the nearby Big Muddy River.

"Each year this area Oakwood Bottoms serves as a food and rest area used by as many as 50,000 wild ducks," said Walker. "It is attractive to mallards, woodies and other puddle ducks."

Walker added that the area was especially critical as a stop-off point during migration from the northlands in the fall and on the return trip of the birds to Canadian areas during the spring.

"This swampland is rich in food for waterfowl," he added. "The bottom land hardwoods provide shelter for ducks and a vast array of other animals bald eagles, beaver, frogs, otter, songbirds, squirrels, turtles, and of course, mosquitoes and snakes."

The first phase of the Illinois project was completed at a cost of $400,000.

Robertson, head of the Forest Service, said the Oakwood Bottoms project is the largest one in the U.S. now.

"Waterfowl are important," he said. "We have more than 12 million acres of wetlands nationally, and with our `Taking Wings' program, you might say that the Forest Service is in the waterfowl business."

Following the official dedication of the first phase of the project, the area was opened up for tours.

The second phase of the project will cost about $1 million and is "already under way," said Shawnee Forest Manager Sallee.

"This area is not only a waterfowl area," said Sallee. "It's a recreational area. People can come here and view many species of wildlife."