Wetland water management at the Kern National Wildlife Refuge is complicated and difficult. Hot, dry summers, a limited water supply, deteriorating infrastructure and other factors all limit wetland water management. Ducks Unlimited has been working with the refuge for the last decade to improve habitat conditions by improving water management infrastructure. The Unit 7 project was completed in 2004 and is just one of several recently completed projects that benefit habitat, water management and hunting at Kern National Wildlife Refuge
 

 

Grassland and Wetland at Kern National Wildlife Refuge (Unit 7) Unit 7 at Kern National Wildlife Refuge completely restructured to Wetlands
The Unit 7 levee before.... ... The Unit 7 levee afterwards.

 

A 1998 flood breached a Unit 7 levee, causing it to become unmanageable and overgrown with salt cedar. Utilizing funds from Ducks Unlimited, the California Duck Stamp program and a North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant, DU rebuilt and improved the Unit 7 levee and added new water control structures. The restored water management capabilities improved 440 acres of waterfowl habitat. This project will not only bring lasting habitat and management benefits for years to come, but it will allow the expansion of other public hunting areas on the refuge. This project was completed in 2003.