DU and Delaware Wild Lands, Inc. Partner for Wetlands

Delaware Wild Lands, Inc. and DU will partner this summer on two wetland restoration projects in New

Castle County. After a year of weather delays, the two projects, the Kux Farm and Liston Farm, will start in late summer.

After touring many of the properties held by Delaware Wild Lands, we identified two low-lying areas that will be

dynamite for waterfowl and shorebirds. On the Liston Farm, a low-level dike will be constructed along the field/marsh edge to keep storm tides from pushing salt water into the fertile farmland. The dike will exclude the salt water and capture the surface water runoff from the higher agricultural land achieving two objectives. One objective is restoring a freshwater wetland for migratory birds. The second is to capture runoff and to protect the water quality of the Delaware Bay.

On the Kux Farm a cross levee will be constructed between the shoulders of a drainage way through a large agricultural field. This area will flood several acres and will be great habitat for waterfowl and shorebirds during their spring and fall migrations. On both projects, water control structures will be installed to give Delaware Wild Lands managers the ability to drawdown these wetlands in the spring and summer months if necessary.

Once these two projects are completed, we are looking forward to assisting Delaware Wild Lands with future waterfowl projects on their properties in Kent and Sussex counties. The partnership between DU and Delaware Wild Lands will yield many acres of prime wetlands for the wildlife of the First State.