From here, you can see how the old glacial lake bed has been subdivided by dikes into eight marsh impoundments. Control structures allow for the diversion of water into these units. These concentrations often attract endangered species such as bald eagles and peregrine falcons which feed primarily on those ducks they can catch. This marsh, on your left, has all the elements of a classic duck marsh. Its shallow waters teem with microscopic animal life.
Plant growth is profuse above and below the water's surface.
Graceful stands of bulrush and cattail are broken up in irregular fashion by expanses of open water. Marsh Unit I. Yet, hundreds of other wildlife species make this and other Refuge marshes their home. Colonial nesting eared grebes, gather marsh plants to form floating nests. Benton Lake was dependent solely on natural runoff in the Lake Creek Drainage. Often too little water was received to last throughout the summer resulting in poor conditions for waterfowl during critical periods of brood rearing and migration.