Wetlands are shallow water filled marshes, river backwater oxbows, ponds or lake edges where this primarily aquatic mammal finds all it needs for its life cycles. A common site in wetlands are little huts, actually an accumulation of plant materials and lots of mud, pushed up into an above water mound.

Muskrats build these and later dig out an underwater tunnel into the mound center so that above water-line chambers can be excavated. In those spaces they eat, raise their young and sleep. A significant population of muskrats in a wetland is just one indicator of a healthy and numerous population.

Many a high school lad of many years ago could earn good money by trapping muskrats and selling the furs. Muskrat pelts have a dense soft and thick underfur that is waterproof.

Longer glossy guard hairs cover the outside in a less dense mat. Oil glands and constant preening help keep the fur in good condition for underwater forays this mammal may make as it searches for food.

Muskrat populations are cyclical, lower during dry or drought years. Then when rains return and wetlands and marshes are renewed, it does not take long for a few adult muskrats to find these new homes and recolonize them. Population swings can quickly go from boom to bust and repeat the process all over a few years into the future.

The scientific name Ondatra is from the Iroquis Indian name for this animal. Its species name zibethicus is the Latin word for “musky-odored.”

It is not hard to see how this large rodent, that resembles a very very large rat, became known as a Muskrat. They are much smaller than the beaver, another and largest rodent that may also occupy wetland habitats.

Muskrats are medium sized rodents with a large stocky body, short legs and a vertically flattened scaly tail. Its eyes are small. The ears are small, barely projecting beyond the fur.

As an aquatic critter, its lips can close behind its front incisor teeth, thus allowing the animal to find food, clip it off, and gnaw on those foods while underwater. Muskrat front feet have four claws and a small nailed thumb.

Rear feet are much larger and have five clawed toes and large webbing between toes. Those rear feet provide the propulsion to swim. Its fur color is dark brown.

An adverse factor about muskrats is their capability to burrow into man-made dams, and inadvertently create a water pathway that potentially could erode the dam during heavy rain and high water levels in the pond.

In fact, since there is no way to keep muskrats out of farm pond waters, a bit of defense can be built into the dam by installing a full length series of cement board sheets in the final backfilling soil fills made by the contractor. If and when a muskrat burrows into a dam, it will reach this boundary it cannot penetrate.

The design of the dam is also important to have enough material above normal waterline. There is lots to think about for folks building a farm pond correctly. Many of the design features are aimed at preventing potential damage from a little mammal called the muskrat.

Distribution of the muskrat is just about everywhere in North America. Locally, they can be found and observed in the Iowa River, area ponds and lakes, and of course wetlands. Look for them this spring when rains and warm sunshine begin the regeneration process of the landscape after a long winter.

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TIP of Iowa is a very worthwhile program. TIP is the acronym that stands for Turn In Poachers. Iowa, and many other states, have a system by which anonymous information can be submitted to conservation law enforcement officers concerning illegal fishing activities, illegal hunting or illegal fur taking activities.

The major contributors of information tend to be other fishermen, hunters or fur harvesters. Why? Because they understand the correct and legal ways of dealing with natural resources, and they know some of the tricks poachers may use to cheat.

Last week, the Izaak Walton League held a wild game supper. It is an annual event that sees a large selection of meats and meal offerings from fish or wild game.

A good crowd sampled the foods. The speaker at the event was a TIP of Iowa, Inc board member Steve Dermand from Indianola. He reviewed TIP of Iowa history and methods by which they work. TIP of Iowa is authorized to pay monetary rewards to confidential informants for illegal actions against natural resources.

Every piece of information, the tip as it is called, can be a fit in a larger investigation. If the tip leads to citations, arrest, and conviction, the person who anonymously provided the tip may receive a reward.

Dermand cited statistics from the year 2022 year end summary to illustrate the value of information that was called into Iowa’s TIP hotline, 800 532-2020. During 2022, 55 cases were reviewed by the TIP of Iowa Board of Directors that led to rewards totaling $28,750.

In addition, offenders paid a total of $43,913 in court ordered restitution, which is outside of Iowa’s TIP program.

Some cases also have a condition whereby restitution ordered by the district courts for liquidating damages comes into play. This is for the value of lost fish and wildlife resources. That 2022 total was $310,371.

Those fines get paid to the Iowa Fish and Wildlife Trust Fund. Conservation officers wrote 165 tickets/citations.

When those cases were finalized by pleas or trial, seizures of equipment used in the offenses saw 37 guns being confiscated/condemned. 100 deer were taken illegally and seized as evidence.

Also seized were 2 ducks, 5 wild turkeys, 24 songbirds, 8 hunting bows, 5 traps and 115 fish. Courts also ordered license suspensions totaling 52 years! One violator was already a convicted felon, and he or she is part of the data in the above stats.

TIP of Iowa, Inc. obtains its funding from a simple $2 fee charged to those who purchase fishing, hunting or fur harvesting licenses. Support among legal fishermen/women, hunters and fur harvesters is very high.

They want to help turn in poachers who cheat, use illegal methods or other nasty means in their wildlife crime actions.

Simple tips of things seen or suspected can become important first steps to stop wildlife crimes, and sometimes those tips are part of a larger puzzle that leads to multi-year and multi-state cooperative investigations.

Examples of TIP of Iowa, Inc actions can be viewed at an exhibit trailer that will be on the show floor of the Iowa Deer Classic March 3-5 at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines. Make sure to stop by and say hello to TIP of Iowa volunteers at their booth located next to Iowa DNR exhibits.

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Wildlife species are feeling the itch of spring even though Spring season is a full month away. Last weekend, about 100 white-fronted geese were resting on the ice at Green Castle Recreation Area’s south silt pond area.

Along with them were about as many Canada geese, four Trumpeter Swans and one Redhead duck. You may have also noted lots of geese, primarily Canada geese, flying north.

So you ask, why are they doing that? The short answer is food, and their tendency to go as far north as to stay just at the edge of the snowpack line.

The snowpack shifts north and south with winter storms. A big snow event in Minnesota that may cover crop fields can make the birds return southward to wherever the snow line ends. This back and forth series of flights is common.

In the big picture, spring type weather is gradually going to gain strength. All kinds of waterfowl are registering longer day lengths in their brains. The urge to migrate will dominate by this time next month.

Keep watching.

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Iowa tax time is approaching. There is an easy and simple method to contribute money from your potential refund to Iowa’s non game wildlife programs.

It goes by the nickname Chickadee Checkoff. Make sure to ask your tax preparer to not overlook this method of helping programs devoted to some of the smallest of wildlife critters.

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Garry Brandenburg is a graduate of Iowa State University with BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology. He is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. Contact him at PO Box 96, Albion, IA 50005.