The Ball Creek Ranch was a major match project of the Kootenai Valley Wetlands NAWCA project. Upon acquisition of the ranch, The Nature Conservancy of Idaho offered to its value to leverage NAWCA grant funds for other wetlands restoration and acquisition projects in the Kootenai Valley. This generous match donation helped secure a $1 million grant to Ducks Unlimited from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant program. This large scale NAWCA project was a partnership effort to collectively conserve nearly 6,000 acres in the Kootenai River watershed.

 

Ball Creek Ranch Cows in the Grassland
More than half of the Ranch is still in agricultural production.

The Ball Creek Ranch is a working ranch that Ducks Unlimited partially restored for waterfowl and other wildlife. Much of the Kootenai River Valley was historically a mixture of seasonal and semipermanent marshes. With the construction of the Libby Dam and river levees, these once rich wetlands were converted to fertile agricultural fields.

Construction overview of Ball Creek Ranch going back to Wetlands
From wetlands, to wheat, back to wetlands.


Designed to restore 900 acres of wetlands by recreating historic floodplain wetlands in a natural depression. With a strategically placed dike and water control structure allowing for seasonal management, the project attracted flocks of waterfowl as soon as water was added in the fall of 2001.

 

 

Restored back to Wetlands at Ball Creek Ranch
The completed Ball Creek Ranch Project.