Creating wetlands for waterfowl in Wyoming

Over 1500 wetlands have been created in northeast Wyoming as a result of bentonite mining. The potential for future creation is high and many groups are interested in modifying wetland creation during the construction/reclamation stage to improve habitat for waterfowl. We examined a sample of 92 bentonite wetlands for waterfowl use in 1991 and 1992. Our main objective was to relate waterfowl use with variables that could be modified during the construction phase. In general, waterfowl use wetlands that are >1.0 ha in size, located within complexes of >5 wetlands within a 1 km radius, and have abundant emergent and submersed vegetation. Wetlands created through bentonite mining tend to be small (