Natural sloughs and ponds can both provide important habitat for aquatic and wetland species but may need to be improved to offer maximum benefit. Read this page to learn how you can enhance these habitats to bring in more wildlife.
Natural Sloughs
Natural sloughs are often abandoned stream channels that may or may not be connected to nearby streams. Sloughs exist across Missouri and can be important wetland habitats for a range of species. Their value to fish and wildlife varies depending on water levels, surrounding habitat, and how water flows through the old channel.
Title
High Quality Sloughs
Sloughs with water levels that vary naturally throughout the year from precipitation and connect to an adjacent stream offer the best habitat. High quality sloughs can have different features depending on where they occur.
In western Missouri, high quality sloughs may fall within an intact prairie and be dominated with grasses and forbs that like wet soil. Deeper sloughs or swales may even have aquatic plants that emerge from the water or reside submerged below the water's surface.
Elsewhere in the state many high-quality sloughs are wooded, especially in southeast Missouri where bottomland forests were once common. Shade from the forest canopy can help keep the water cooler in the summer for fish and other aquatic species. These are great locations for wood ducks to raise their broods as they forage on seeds and bugs. Sloughs that are more isolated from streams can be great breeding places for frogs or salamanders
Title
Lower Quality Sloughs
A history of degrading land uses and stream alterations can reduce the quality of slough habitats.
Excess sediments
Although wetland plants can be great water filters, they can also be overwhelmed. If the adjacent land lacks native plants to buffer these wetlands, sloughs can fill in with sediment and become shallower. The reduced depth can cause shorter periods of flood duration, minimizing the window for wetland plants and animals to thrive.
Concentrated nutrients
High concentrations of nutrients can also be a problem. In flooded conditions, concentrated nutrients can lead to harmful algae blooms in the summer. In drier situations, invasive plants such as reed canary grass, common reed, or hybrid cattail can grow into dense stands and choke out other plants.
Stream alteration
Past efforts to redirect stream channels can negatively impact sloughs by creating "flashy" conditions where water levels move up and down too quickly to benefit wetland species that are adapted to more gradual changes in water level.
Management and Restoration
How you manage and improve slough habitat depends on the condition of the slough, surrounding land use, and water levels and movement. High quality sloughs may need little maintenance and require periodic monitoring for invasive species. Lower quality sloughs may be enhanced by using water control structures to better mimic historic water levels, both seasonally and across years. Flooded sloughs (2–3 feet deep or more) can complement adjacent wetlands that may be shallower and they can provide more habitat diversity for wetland species. Contacting a local biologist is the best avenue to consider your options.
Recommendations for Managing Sloughs for Wetland Species
- Establish or maintain buffers of native plants and riparian corridors along old sloughs to catch sediment and nutrients, provide cover, and keep water temperatures cool.
- Control invasive species through periodic monitoring and the use of aquatic herbicide.
- Consider planting aquatic native species if conditions permit.
- If a water control structure exists, work with a private lands conservationist on a water regime to reflect the site's natural cycle.
Ponds and Small Lakes
Ponds and small lakes can have a variety of uses. Some small shallow ponds, which are fishless, are good locations for breeding amphibians. Other ponds may be used as wildlife watering holes or for livestock. Still, large ponds or small lakes may have been designed for fishing or to provide waterfowl hunting opportunities. No matter what the original intent was, native wetland or aquatic plants can often benefit the water quality and habitat.
The desired use and physical characteristics of the pond need to be considered to determine the best plan of action. Consulting with a private lands conservationist about your options is a good first step.
Pond Conditions
Many Missouri ponds are recharged with spring rain. Water levels often gradually recede during the hot, dry summer months. If the pond bank has a gradual slope, this seasonal drying can create conditions suitable for native annual plants to germinate and grow along the exposed mudflats. Shorebirds can use the shallow water and mudflats to forage on aquatic invertebrates and refuel during migration. Fall rains can recharge these vegetated areas later in the year and make the seeds and bugs available for migrating waterfowl.
Deeper ponds that stay flooded throughout the year are primed for native aquatic plants that may emerge from the shallow water, have floating leaves, or grow submerged in the clean cool water. A gradient of water depths provides a range of conditions that help increase water quality, biodiversity, and structure for fish and wildlife.
Once pond habitat is established, it doesn't take long to see bugs scuttling around in the shallows, and dragonflies and bees patrolling the air. Fish, birds, and frogs are often not far behind.
Recommendations for Managing Ponds for Wetland Species
- Limit livestock direct access to ponds.
- Control invasive species through periodic monitoring and the use of aquatic herbicide.
- Consider planting aquatic native species if conditions permit.
Establishing Aquatic Plants
If a slough, pond, or small lake doesn't have existing native aquatic plants, you can establish a thriving population with a little bit of work. Whether it is an old slough, a sprawling pond, or a small lake, adding a diversity of wetland and aquatic plants provides more opportunities for wetland species to thrive.
- Set goals for what you hope to achieve.
- Consider the physical characteristics of the pond when choosing which aquatic plants are most suitable. Native species from Missouri are the most likely to thrive because they are adapted to our soils and weather extremes.
- Control invasive species that may unintentionally tag along. Repotting your plants and quarantining them for 60 days before planting in your pond will help you catch any hitchhikers and could save you a lot of extra time and money in the end.
- When planting, put your plants where they will have adequate water levels.
- Consider the seasonal fluctuation of your pond.
- Place emergent plants in water 6 to 12 inches deep.
- Put submerged or floating species in water closer to 3 feet deep.
- Use protective cages or fences to help young plants become established and to keep them safe from hungry turtles, muskrats, or deer.
