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ND 8. Turtle Mountains. Acreage: 20,000 estimated. 



Location: Bottineau and Rolette counties; Devil's Lake 1:250,000, and 

 Metigoshe Lake, Boundary Lake, International Peace Garden, Carpenter Lake, 

 Lake Upsilon, Bottineau, Lords Lake, Dunseith, Lake Upsilon SW, Lake Up- 

 silon SE quadrangles; 10 miles W of Rolla. 



Description: The Turtle Mountains are a stagnant-ice moraine filled with all 

 types of wetlands. It is impossible to describe a single one as being worthy of 

 preservation, but a larger area containing a good representative sample of the 

 potholes, lakes, and marshes would be highly desirable. Some areas are partially 

 preserved, including Metigoshe State Park and the Wakopi Game Management 

 Area. The mountains stand 200-300 ft above the surrounding Drift Prairie, with 

 steep scarp slopes on all sides. Up on top the surface is rolling, with numerous 

 depressions containing the wetlands. Natural vegetation is a mixture of hard- 

 wood forest (aspen, elm, ash, oak) and mixed grass prairie (high knobs and 

 south-facing slopes), along with the wetlands. The most frequently encountered 

 wetland species are Carex atherodes, Typha latifolia, and Scolochloa festucacea. 



References: Disrud, D. T. 1968. Wetland vegetation of the Turtle Mountains of 

 North Dakota. Ph.D. Thesis, North Dakota State Univ., Fargo, N.D. 



Encroachments: Some agriculture is practiced in the area and some lumbering 

 goes on, but most of the habitat is in pretty fair shape. 



Ownership: Several private owners; Federal Government; some state land. 



Data source: Robert L. Burgess, Botany Department, North Dakota, State 

 University, Fargo, N.D. 58102. 



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