[4] The marsh is recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA) for its globally significant numbers of waterfowl and shorebirds.

[5] It is a designated Ramsar site due to its international importance as a breeding and staging area for waterfowl and other migratory birds.

[6] This wetland underwent drainage for agricultural purposes beginning in 1897 and by the early 1960s all but 60 ha had been drained.

Measures to restore a portion of the wetland began in 1967 when the Governments of Manitoba and Canada embarked on a cooperative program with Ducks Unlimited Canada and other wildlife conservation organizations to restore marginal agricultural lands to a state suitable for wildlife.

The marsh is a re-constructed and managed wetland, designed for the creation of a waterfowl breeding and migratory habitat.

It is common during wet years (when waterfowl have an abundance of alternative nesting sites) for the water level in one or more of the compartments to be lowered for the summer, creating an extensive area of dried mudflats.

[citation needed] More than 280 species of birds have been reported from the area, many of them during the spring and fall migrations.

[8] The area is an important migration support for several shorebird species—White-rumped sandpiper, Short-billed dowitcher, Hudsonian godwit— as well as Sandhill crane, American white pelican, and Tundra swan.

[9] In the southeastern corner, a second tall grass prairie remnant abuts an area of aspen-oak forest.