The Upper Mississippi River Waterfowl Conservation Region
(Region 19*) includes portions of the Eastern Tallgrass Prairie,
Prairie Hardwood Transition and the Central Hardwoods of the
Commission for Environmental Cooperation (IAFWA 1998). This
region is bisected by the floodplain of the Mississippi River
and its larger tributaries in all states of the watershed. The
floodplains of the river systems include diverse wetland
habitat, including temporarily and seasonally flooded bottomland
hardwoods, permanently and semi-permanently flooded shrub and
wooded swamps, emergent wetlands, mudflats and submerged aquatic
beds, all of which are utilized by migrating waterbirds. The
Mississippi River and its major tributaries, the St. Croix,
Chippewa, Wisconsin, and Rock Rivers, drain approximately 75% of
Wisconsin's landscape. The Upper Mississippi River basin in
Wisconsin has nearly 38,057 ha of riverine and bottomland
habitat, 371 km river length, and almost 3,226 km of shoreline
(USFWS 1998). This region provides impo