Powell Marsh Habitat & Wildlife

Powell Marsh Habitat

• Open water flowages with submerged and floating aquatic plants
• Emergent marsh vegetation associated with the flowages
• Northern sedge meadows surrounding some of the flowages
• Fen vegetation of willow and alder along the upland edges and islands
• Bog vegetation of low shrubs, sphagnum moss, and tamarack and black spruce across much of the interior of the area
• Black spruce in some locations that have not been disturbed for many years
• Grassy upland islands, some of which are planted to winter rye
• A fringe of upland forest including aspen, white birch, red maple, red oak and white pine

Common Wildlife of Powell Marsh

The plant communities of Powell Marsh support a wide variety of wildlife. Many birds make use of the flowages and open areas common to Powell Marsh, including a variety of waterfowl, waterbirds, migrant shorebirds, and open-area birds, such as sharp-tailed grouse and sandhill crane. Raptors include short-eared owls, northern harriers and merlins. Bald eagles and osprey occasionally hunt the flowages.

Mammals common to the area include muskrat, beaver, otter, mink, red squirrel, snowshoe hare, star-nosed mole, the southern bog lemming, and various species of shrews, mice and voles. There are also a variety of reptiles and amphibians found on Powell Marsh, such as wood frog, American toad, spring peeper, several species of snakes, red-backed salamander and four-toed salamander, western painted turtle, snapping turtle and wood turtle. Uncommon amphibians are northern leopard frog, eastern gray tree frog, green frog, western chorus frog and mink frog.

Opportunities and Limitations for Wildlife at Powell Marsh

Large, open peatland habitat is rare in northern Wisconsin. Powell Marsh is a regionally important wetland because of its large size and open character. Without management, this open, peatland habitat will succeed to tamarack forest and black spruce muskeg. A combination of prescribed fire, hand cutting, mowing and shearing can be used to limit the growth of shrubs and tamarack, while increasing the abundance of grasses and sedges.

Overall, Powell Marsh is characterized by nutrient-poor bog vegetation. Planting to crops such as corn, buckwheat or legumes is not possible because of the infertile soils and frequent frosts. About 100 acres of upland field are available for planting winter rye to attract migrating Canada geese.

The upland fields can be managed for grasslands by establishing permanent cover and periodically burning or mowing. The small amount of upland forest can be managed as young, brushy forest or left to mature. The forest fringe could be converted to grassy upland to benefit wildlife of open habitats.

Flowages can be managed with periodic draw-down or at full pool. Construction of new flowages would be very expensive.

Powell Marsh contains a small, remnant population of sharp-tailed grouse. Sharp-tailed grouse are regionally scarce and occur in small, scattered locations in northern Wisconsin. Maintenance of this small population of grouse would require managing much of the wildlife area, as well as adjacent lands, for open, brushy habitat.