Many of the marshes on Market Lake WMA are characterized by having an excess of tall emergent vegetation. To combat this old, decadent vegetation, nearly 160 acres of random strips have been aerially sprayed across the Main, Triangle, and East Springs Marshes to kill cattails over the past three years. To remove the dead material from spraying, IDFG has contracted with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to implement prescribed burns. The results will reveal a younger age class of vegetation with better quality and quantity of foraging resources.
Burning of the marshes creates open spaces and eliminates the excess vegetation across the wetland cells. Without disturbance, wetlands will continue to close in with cattails and other dominant vegetation, choking out new growth and limiting benefits to waterfowl. To maintain the preferred 50:50 split of cattail/bulrush to open water, fires set the wetland back to early successional stages that are more productive. These early successional stages have more openings for waterfowl to land in and provide them with access to annual wetland plants, submerged vegetation and aquatic invertebrates for foraging. Waterfowl hunters will also benefit from improved access into areas that were previously inaccessible prior to the burn.
For more information about the prescribed burns at Market Lake WMA, please contact Habitat Biologist Brett Gullett 208-525-7290.