Audubon Nice and the Wisconsin Division of Pure Sources (WDNR), lately introduced conservation companions collectively for a ship tour and luncheon at Allouez Bay close to Superior, Wisconsin – a web site that reveals first hand how years of collaboration with over 25 companions are serving to to serving to restore one of the vital important coastal wetlands within the St. Louis River Estuary.
With continued help from the Nice Lakes Restoration Initiative, a federal program that has funded 1000’s of restoration tasks throughout the Nice Lakes basin, Audubon and its companions are working to make sure Allouez Bay stays a thriving habitat for rails, bitterns, native crops, fish and the various different species that rely upon this area.
In the course of the tour, companions noticed thriving beds of Manoomin (wild rice), the restored hemi-marsh habitat, and efforts to handle invasive narrowleaf cattail. Members included the Wisconsin Division of Pure Sources Secretary Karen Hyun and different WDNR officers, Mayor of Superior Jim Paine, Tribal representatives from Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and St. Croix Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Nice Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Fee, Lake Superior Nationwide Estuarine Analysis Reserve, Pure Sources Analysis Institute (NRRI), St. Louis River Alliance, Tsuga Consulting, and U.S. Military Corps of Engineers.
Collectively, contributors realized in regards to the science and partnerships guiding the mission and noticed and visited areas the place restoration is already serving to create a more healthy, extra various wetland.
Allouez Bay comprises certainly one of the most important intact wetland complexes remaining within the St. Louis River Estuary. It is usually designated as an Necessary Fowl Space and is the final identified breeding web site for Black Terns throughout the estuary, making its safety and restoration particularly necessary for birds and different wildlife.
Restoring a Extra Numerous Wetland
Over time, parts of Allouez Bay have turn into more and more dominated by invasive narrowleaf and hybrid cattail. These invasive cattails can unfold quickly, forming dense stands that crowd out native crops and scale back the combination of open water and vegetation that marsh birds, fish and different wildlife want.
Audubon Nice Lakes, the Wisconsin Division of Pure Sources and mission companions are working to manage invasive cattail, restore hemi-marsh habitat and shield high-quality native wetland communities with help from the Nice Lakes Restoration Initiative.
Restoration started in 2024, when crews mechanically mowed and hand-cut roughly seven acres of invasive cattail. Later that 12 months, roughly 12 acres of hemi-marsh habitat had been created inside dense cattail stands by excavating channels and swimming pools and seeding native wetland species. Crews returned in 2025 to re-treat roughly six acres as a part of the mission’s adaptive administration method.
Early outcomes are encouraging. Manoomin and different native wetland crops have begun establishing in a number of the newly created channels and swimming pools, whereas seeded native crops are competing with regenerating cattail and different invasive species.
Letting Science Information Restoration
Restoration at Allouez Bay is designed to adapt because the wetland responds. Companions are monitoring vegetation and fowl populations to grasp what’s working and the place extra administration could also be wanted.
Audubon companions at Tsuga Consulting are monitoring adjustments in vegetation and the unfold of invasive cattail, whereas fowl monitoring performed with the Pure Sources Analysis Institute is documenting how marsh birds reply as habitat situations change. Researchers collected three years of fowl information earlier than restoration and are persevering with surveys afterward, creating an necessary alternative to measure the mission’s affect over time.
Virginia Rails stay an indicator of Allouez Bay, with monitoring additionally detecting species together with Least Bitterns, American Bitterns and Yellow-headed Blackbirds. What companions study right here will help inform restoration not solely at Allouez Bay, however at different coastal wetlands all through the Nice Lakes.
What’s Subsequent at Allouez Bay
In 2026, companions continued vegetation and fowl monitoring to evaluate how the wetland is responding and information the following section of restoration.
Upcoming work will embrace testing an extra methodology of invasive cattail management on roughly 5 acres. Crews will grind cattail vegetation and root materials nearer to the bottom to decide whether or not the method can extra successfully weaken dense stands and gradual regrowth. Extra selective strategies will proceed for use close to Manoomin and different high-quality native vegetation, whereas drone imagery will assist companions doc adjustments throughout the wetland.
The purpose is easy: study from the wetland, adapt administration accordingly and shield the high-quality habitat that stays whereas restoring areas which were degraded.
The current boat tour demonstrated what is feasible when conservation organizations, businesses, researchers, Tribal companions and native communities work collectively towards a shared purpose.
With continued help from the Nice Lakes Restoration Initiative and a dedication to long-term monitoring and adaptive administration, Audubon Nice Lakes and its companions are working to make sure Allouez Bay stays a thriving coastal wetland — for Black Terns, rails, bitterns, native crops, fish and the folks and communities that rely upon the St. Louis River Estuary.
