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goals of providing food and cover. It may therefore be necessary to occasionally remove <br /> woody vegetation by disking or other means. <br /> Moist soil management will be adopted in order to encourage a mixture of annual an d <br /> perennial wetland plant species. This mixture of species allows for increased diversity of <br /> invertebrate species. The native seed bank and seed sources available in local waters will <br /> respond to moist soil management techniques. <br /> Water Control And Wetland Management <br /> Predictable water levels are necessary to restore and manage desirable wetland plant <br /> communities; in turn, these will influence wildlife use. The best way to achieve the growth <br /> of desired plant communities is to regulate water depth. The periodic raising and lowering <br /> water levels in the fall and winter will foster a dynamic inundation/draw-down zone along <br /> the shallower portions of the wetlands which will foster emergent plant growth and <br /> production of invertebrates. The complete and periodic draining of marshes may also be <br /> necessary to aerate soils, stimulate plant growth, promote the decomposition of organic <br /> matter, expedite nutrient release, and control unwanted fish populations. <br /> Water circulation positively affects water quality,the presence of certain species of plants, <br /> and the control of avian diseases. Poor water circulation in flooded areas, for example,is <br /> a contributing factor to anaerobic conditions that lead to botulism epidemics, which can <br /> cause massive bird die-offs. <br /> Moist-soil management will encourage the germination of desired emergents, thereby doing <br /> away with the need for manual seeding. The timing of drawdown and irrigation events <br /> utilized on the Cosumnes River Preserve and other Sacramento Valley refuges have been <br /> Buckeye Ranch Resource Plan (November, 1993) <br /> 189 <br />