Getting closer on my Wetland Scrape permitting- over the last several years a lot of effort went into site selection for water retention, soil substrate etc., by contractors and engineering studies, this is where we landed and the site currently retains water year-round without the proposed elevation changes. The scrape location will abut my field border edge on a 29 acre food plot. The field border edge, shown and running the length of the plot, consists of a variety of bedding grasses and legumes. With a kidney shape design, hoping to achieve and attract waterfowl as a main goal and creating nesting opportunities with limited visibility of other nesting hens. To the south (down in the pic) is a tag alder and red osier dogwood lowland that joins an aspen edge further south.
I know from previous posts that Bryce, Tradervic and WIFE have extensive experience in these type of projects- hoping to solicit feedback from them and others. I will post progress pictures upon approval and start.

Looking for input on the design concept and complementary plantings that would be beneficial to waterfowl if I continue a horseshoe border edge around the scrape. Appreciate it.

Contact Ernst seed and Kester's wild game foods for seed mixes for waterfowl. They should have a mix or two that would be good for your area. Your NRCS and SWCD should also be able to help. Good luck

How do you control cattails?

I own a WRP property that I intensively manage for ducks, and I manage 2 adjoining properties for the owners.
Around here we refer to these type projects as creative borrow.
What are you doing with the spoil?
What is going to be an average depth at full pool?

Deepest spot would be 4' from current elevation, with and 8:1 slope I want to achieve average terraced depths of 18"-24"- most productive for our duck species.

How many total acres of water at full pool?
What are the plans for the spoil?

A little over 14,000 sq. ft. or1/3 of an acre of water- I have no idea on the spoil, I assumed they would berm it around to prevent field soil runoff from filling it up. But that's a good question to ask.

I'm concerned with that- especially in shallower areas

330... Aqua-neat works really good at managing cat tails...I second Kester's wild game foods, of course they are in the town I live in, but seriously they are very knowledgeable

1/3 acre?
Says 15,000 ft2

ETA
Boy, I must REALLY type slow, lol

You’ll want to make sure that the spoil doesn’t stop the natural drainage into your pool.
Cattails are one of the easiest wetland plants to control, especially on an area that small.
Any glyphosate will melt them.

But.
Do the agencies allow the " control "

yup- I rounded down for pooled water

You guys don't have phragmites up there, do you?
Now THEY are hard to control!

I'm in agreement with that Dave. Once the phragmites take root they're even choke out the cattails. Stay ahead of the phragmites with a vengeance!

They do down here.
I battle reeds canary grass, cattails, and bulrush in some of my pools.
I have 5 pools totaling 110 acres of water when all are full. I have one pool that I promote cattails in. It’s managed as a semipermanent marsh. Basically I’m managing for muskrats and otter in that pool. I never drain it. Lots of green sunfish. Otter food plot. I’ve taken over 100 otter out of that pool since I’ve owned the place.

Reeds canary grass is by far the most invasive and in turn the hardest to control wetland plant.

I worked with a guy 40 years ago who was trying to develop an effective way to control phrag.
He had a grant from Monsanto, I believe.

Last I heard, he was still trying!

We do not.

Whoever figures it out is gonna be worth a fortune. I've paid attention to them and the only deterrent I've seen is they don't do well around staghorn sumac. I'm guessing it may be the tannins. But even that is minimal.

I normally use Deer Creek Seed... Kester's has a lot of good options and good wetland info also- thanks for the lead.